Shopping to survive or shopping to surprise? Exploring the role of crisis awareness in consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in consumer perception, awareness, and behavior in response to policy modifications and health concerns. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of crisis awareness on consumer behavior mechanisms. This study employed an empirical approach and collected data from 788 Taiwanese consumers through an online survey. The collected data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis with SPSS, confirmatory factor analysis with AMOS, and structural equation modeling with SmartPLS. The study findings indicate that crisis awareness of COVID-19 has a positive and significant impact on hedonic motivation towards purchase intention (shopping to be surprised), while it does not strongly interact with utilitarian motivation and purchase intention (shopping to survive). This study is an early attempt to explore consumer behavior from a crisis awareness perspective, which contributes to a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The practical implications of the study’s findings can assist businesses and policymakers in understanding how crisis awareness affects consumer behavior during a pandemic. Businesses can tailor their marketing strategies to better serve the needs of customers, while policymakers can develop effective policies to mitigate the negative impact of crises on the economy and society.