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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Impact of pricing and product information on consumer buying behavior with customer satisfaction in a mediating role.

• 1 Department of Product Design, School of Fine Arts, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, China
• 2 School of Mechanical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China
• 3 School of Data Science and Information Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, China
• 4 School of Mechanical Engineering, Guiyang University, Guiyang, China

The relationship between product pricing and product packaging plays an important role in the buying behavior of consumers, whereas customer satisfaction plays a mediating role. To test these hypotheses, research was conducted on university students in China. Questionnaire-based convenience sampling was conducted on 500 students for data collection using online and offline sources. A total of 367 (73%) students responded, and 17 questionnaires were rejected due to missing information. SPSS and AMOS software were used for the data analysis. Product pricing and product information were independent variables in this study, whereas consumer buying behavior was a dependent variable. Customer satisfaction is mediated by one dependent and two independent variables. Confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, and discriminant validity in structural equation modeling revealed that product pricing and packaging had a statistically significant relationship with the buyer decision process. The introduction of satisfaction as a mediating variable led to the observation of full mediation in the case of product pricing and partial mediation in product packaging. Given the results of this research, product managers should adopt pricing tactics along with product packaging to influence the buying intentions of consumers.

Introduction

In the competitive market of commodities, products, varieties, consumers, ethnicities, and preferences, product pricing and product packaging information descriptions have a considerable influence on the buying behavior of consumers. To explore the cumulative effects of product pricing and packaging on the buying behavior of consumers of different ethnicities, it is essential to research these aspects of marketing. It is worth mentioning that consumer satisfaction also plays a decisive and mediating role in the development and molding of buying behavior of consumers ( Larsen et al., 2017 ). It is believed that pricing has a significant effect on the buying behavior of consumers because the higher a product is priced, the fewer units are sold. By contrast, products selling at prices lower than the market rate are assumed to sell at a higher volume ( Sadiq M. W. et al., 2020 ). Several studies have shown that pricing is more critical and relevant to consumer buying behavior ( Huo et al., 2021 ).

When discussing the combined effect of product pricing and packaging relationships on consumer buying behavior, pricing alone plays a more critical role than packaging, which has a partial role in buying behavior ( Jabarzare and Rasti-Barzoki, 2020 ). Thus, using this analogy, products can be sold, surprisingly, at a much higher volume. One can increase the prices of the products if the competitor products are scarce in the market or if the manufacturers are low in number. This behavior may not affect the number of sales or the attitude of the consumer toward buying. If the product is already in abundance in the market, then pricing will definitely play an important role because the increase in price will discourage customers from buying it. Similarly, if prices are lowered under such market conditions, then consumers will increase the amount that they purchase significantly.

Even though product pricing has a greater influence than product packaging on the decision process of a buyer ( Pratama and Suprapto, 2017 ; Abdullah et al., 2021 ), high prices in a highly competitive market can lose customers permanently due to the effect of increased pricing ( Kotler et al., 2012 ). While talking about the packaging of products, it should be kept in mind that packaging has a significant relationship on consumers and their decision making about product purchases ( Sadiq M. W. et al., 2020 ). For example, quality, color, and material can have a positive effect on consumers ( Rambabu and Porika, 2020 ). Most consumers desire a range of product choices when purchasing, in terms of packaging. Thus, marketers should place a premium on creative and exclusive packaging that is distinctive in scale, instruction, convenience, product design, and form when compared with rivals in the market segment ( Li et al., 2021 ). Marking a product with accurate information adds to its value. Consumers are attracted to detailed labels, content, and packaging. Many people are influenced by the way a product is packaged and presented in the market. While the product itself may be of any quality, the relationship it produces through its packaging has a strong influence on the purchasing attitude of the consumer. Nowadays, eco-friendly packaging is essential. Thus, advertisers should prioritize this factor and employ best practices to the maximum degree possible, including eco-friendly recyclable packaging ( Abdullah et al., 2021 ). Consumer buying behavior also has a lot to do with product selling and buying ( Brun et al., 2014 ), although some customers are not influenced by the packaging or labeling of products, buying is demand-driven or need-oriented by most consumers.

However, super packaging or labeling of products may not attract the consumer for several reasons. One of the primary reasons may be the high price and packaging, announcing the excellent quality of the product. In such cases, there may be a lack of interest by the consumer toward attractive packaging; instead, they may prefer to buy local products that are cheap and readily available in the market. According to Tu and Chih (2013) , consumer satisfaction is another aspect of product selling and consumer buying behavior. It also plays a mediating role in product buying behavior, pricing, and packaging ( Rambabu and Porika, 2020 ). Even though a price might be negotiable and the product is provided with helpful information and good, decent packaging, there is a lot to do to satisfy a consumer. All of these factors are correlated with consumer satisfaction. If the consumer is satisfied with all these, they may buy the product, but there is no guarantee of this. Thus, consumer buying behavior is also influenced by satisfaction ( Brun et al., 2014 ). This study seeks to answer several questions to explain consumer buying behavior in relation to product pricing and packaging, with consumer satisfaction as a mediating factor. In this work, we first present a brief review of this research, which differs from the current literature in various respects. The research has generated several findings.

• Product prices significantly correlate with consumer buying behavior.

• The product information available on packaging influences the consumer’s buying behavior.

• Satisfaction plays a mediating role in consumer buying behavior.

• Pricing of the product plays an essential role in customer satisfaction.

• Product information available on labels plays a significant role in customer satisfaction.

The remainder of this work is structured as follows: Section “Review of Literature and Hypothesis Development” presents a review of previous studies supporting different theoretical frameworks. Section “Research Methodology” presents the methodology adopted for the empirical analysis. Section “Data Analysis and Results” presents the results of this analysis. Section “Conclusion and Recommendations” concludes the present study, limitations and future directions.

Review of Literature and Hypothesis Development

Product pricing and consumer buying behavior.

Product pricing seems to be the only direct element that generates revenue and indicates the success or failure of a product or service. As a result, the researchers in this study chose to emphasize this aspect. Manali (2015) carried out research into the theoretical dimensions of consumer purchasing behavior and the factors that affect it. He analyzed the relationship between consumer buying behavior and factors affecting the buying process and decisions of the consumers. His research provides enough evidence to show that the internal and external influences of a consumer have a major relationship with their purchasing behavior.

According to Al-Salamin et al. (2015) , good prices of well-known brands negatively affect the purchasing process. Young people are eager to buy brands, but their low income hinders them from doing so. The only aspect of the marketing mix that generates revenue is price, whereas the others generate costs. The authors also noted that the purchasing decisions of consumers focus on their price perception and what they think about the actual price of a product. The main goal of marketing is to understand how customers move toward their price perception. We are all customers, no matter how old, educated, wealthy, or talented. Understanding customer behavior thus becomes a critical challenge for advertisers, distributors, and salespeople. Therefore, we hypothesized the following:

H 1 : Product pricing is significantly correlated with consumer buying behavior.

Product Packaging and Consumer Buying Behavior

Packaging a product with relevant product details contributes positively to consumer buying behavior. Names, features, and product packaging attract consumers. Many people are influenced by the packaging and marketing of items. While a product may be of any quality, the impact on customer purchasing is essential ( Rundh, 2009 ; Li et al., 2021 ; Naseem et al., 2021 ). The aim of this study was to determine the effect of product pricing and information about product packaging on the buying behavior of consumers. Innovation in product labeling and packing often has a major relationship with demand, which is why there are many methods for this type of action plan if a company wants to pursue this strategy with regard to its product packaging. When it comes to packaging, many buyers want a range of product choices. Therefore, marketers should pay high prices for innovative and exclusive packaging that differentiate their products from the competition in terms of size, guidance, functionality, product innovation, and shape ( Rundh, 2009 ; Li et al., 2021 ; Sarfraz et al., 2021 ). For the target consumer, product packaging acts as an outstanding networking tool, ultimately increasing their awareness levels. Packaging must highlight key aspects of the product and brand, such as material composition, purpose, and quality. To show respect for customers, packaging should include all of this information in regional languages. Not only is efficient packaging important for storing and preserving products, but it is also important for creating an interest in and generating actions toward purchasing the product. Packaging that is environmentally friendly has become increasingly important. As a result, marketers should place a high priority on this aspect and use best practices to the greatest possible extent, including the use of environmentally friendly recycled materials ( Deliza and MacFie, 2001 ; Abdullah et al., 2021 ; Mohsin et al., 2021 ).

H 2 : Product information on packaging is significantly related to consumer purchasing behavior.

Satisfaction of Consumers and Their Buying Behavior

Customer value and customer satisfaction are considered important parameters for the relationship between customer value and the willingness to sacrifice ( Zechmeister et al., 1997 ). This sacrifice is made in accordance with an exchange mechanism that includes transaction costs and the risk of the goods of the company. According to Larsen et al. (2017) , customers will be disappointed in the future if the ratio value considered by the economic sacrifice of customers with the goods sold by the company does not meet their expectations. Customers will be satisfied if the ratio value is sufficient or exceeds their expectations. Another analysis of consumer value examines the understanding of customers of the quality and benefits of toothpaste in relation to price sacrifice. Social, emotional, and functional values are all aspects of customer value ( Keller and Kotler, 2012 ).

Customer satisfaction is evaluated by obtaining feedback from customers after purchasing products or services, and then comparing it with their expectations. Customer satisfaction is calculated using the performance requirements of products or services that are capable of satisfying the needs and desires of customers. A satisfied consumer is a consumer who believes that the products or services were worth purchasing, which would encourage them to buy the products again. On the other hand, a frustrated consumer will persuade other consumers not to buy the same brand, which ultimately causes switching to rival brands. According to Tu and Chih (2013) , “customer satisfaction is perceived as affecting repurchasing intentions and actions, which, in turn, contributes to an organization’s potential sales and income.”

H 3 : Satisfaction plays a mediating role in consumer buying behavior.

Role of Product Pricing on Consumer Satisfaction

Price is regarded as something that can be calculated according to several measures, such as a reasonable price, a competitive price, a discounted price, a retailer’s price, and price suitability. Value is a higher-level definition than quality and price because it is more individualistic and personal. A satisfied consumer believes that the value of goods and services is comparable with the price, which will encourage them to repurchase the products. According to Zeithaml (1988) , “quality can be characterized as superiority or excellence in a broad sense.” From the customer’s perspective, “The price is given up or sacrificed to get the product or service” ( Zeithaml, 1988 ). According to Bei and Chiao (2001) , “[P]rice is described as giving or sacrificing for the acquisition of a service or product,” while Kotler et al. (2012) proposed that “the price is the amount paid for a product or service and the sum of the value exchanged by consumers for the advantages of a product or service available or being used.” The perceptions of customers of a given price can have a direct relationship with the their decision to buy a product ( Zechmeister et al., 1997 ). Customers will pay attention to the prices paid by their peers, and no one wants to spend more money than their peers do. The fairness of a price can affect the perception of consumers of the product, and ultimately their desire to become a consumer.

H 4 : The pricing of a product plays a significant role in customer satisfaction.

Role of Product Packaging on Consumer Satisfaction

Packaging and labeling can be considered one of the most important tools in marketing and communication, which means that a thorough examination of their components and their relationships with consumer buying behavior is necessary. According to Joewono and Kubota (2007) , consumer satisfaction results from product and service reviews based on customer perceptions and a broad assessment of the overall consumption experience. It is suggested that customer satisfaction affects repurchase intentions and actions, which, in turn, determine potential sales and revenue for a company. According to Zeithaml (2000) , consumer satisfaction is measured on a multidimensional scale that includes service quality, product quality, scenario factors, personal factors, and price factors.

Product packaging plays a variety of roles. It provides information about the product and the company, connects them with customers, and ensures product quality ( Naseem et al., 2020 ; Rambabu and Porika, 2020 ). It is important to remember that packaging has a significant influence on customers and their purchasing decisions. Consumers react positively to quality, color, and content. Similarly, if a product is labeled with accurate information about the product, it increases the value of the product. Consumers respond to a product’s specific name, ingredients, and packaging. Many consumers are concerned about the way a product is designed and advertised. Although the quality of the product itself may vary, the effect of packaging on customer purchasing decisions is important.

H 5 : Product information available on labels plays a significant role toward customer satisfaction.

Theoretical Support of the Study

The following research was conducted to investigate underlying issues. This study is a continuation of expectancy disconfirmation theory (EDT) and social cognitive theory (SCT). Both theories provide a strong background for conducting this research. According to EDT, the satisfaction of consumers is linked to the expectation and perception of product quality. A consumer sets an expectation before examining a product in real time. This comparison of preset expectations with real-sense performance is the basis of EDT. In this study, consumer satisfaction plays a mediating role between product pricing, product packaging, and consumer buying behavior. The expectations of consumers are based on the price of the product, information on product packaging, and perceived quality.

The other central backbone of this research is SCT, developed by Bandura (2012) , which explains that learning takes place in a social context with a complex and reciprocal relationship between the individual, their environment, and their actions. The emphasis on social relationships, and also external and internal social reinforcement, is a distinctive feature of SCT. SCT considers the specific ways in which people maintain their behavior and interact with others. It also considers the specific ways in which people learn and sustain behaviors and the social context in which they do so. According to this theory, past experiences strengthen ideas and expectations, all of which affect whether a person maintains his/her attitudes. Many behavioral models that are used in studies related to health do not include behavior maintenance; instead, they focus on behavior initiation. This is a shame because the real purpose of public health is to maintain conduct rather than initiate it. SCT aims to illustrate how people monitor and reinforce their actions to achieve goal-directed behavior that can be managed. Thus, the product pricing and packaging of a product with useful information on labels will surely correlate with consumer buying behavior that will persist. The customer will buy or not buy in the future on the basis of the expectations and perceptions of the product once his behavior about the product has already been initiated. A conceptual framework was developed to focus on the specific variables. The framework consists of the hypotheses shown in Figure 1 .

Figure 1. Theoretical framework.

Research Methodology

The research methodology of a study represents an essential and integral part of the entire process and explains how science contributes to aims. The behavioral approach of respondents, i.e., expectations, evidence, observations, knowledge of reality, and individual point of view, can be summarized by analytical parameters. According to James and Vinnicombe (2002) , the assurance of objectivity in the scientific procession is compulsory. Furthermore, a perspective emphasizing social variable is considered essential by the society for practical implications ( Blaikie, 2007 ). Their innovative discoveries and interpretation are leading activities of label research.

Research Design

In this research, the structure of behavior science by Zechmeister et al. (1997) is followed with mediation and description for the problem-solving process. The main focus of this research is the state of mind, mood swings, variations in feelings, and behavior toward the specific situation of the respondents. In addition, the organizational performance in the market and consumer buying behavior can solve many problems by approaching the cooperative feedback process with peers and accumulating knowledge. The analysis of buying behavior may be categorized as “co-oriented” or “comparative.” According to behavioral science, these two factors have real meaning. This study seeks to understand the effect of product pricing and packaging on the buying behavior of consumers. At the same time, satisfaction plays its role as a mediating variable ( Zechmeister et al., 1997 ; Bollen and Pearl, 2013 ). For data collection, self-administered questionnaires were used for quantitative analysis.

Study Population

The sample of this study comprises students from different universities in China. The main reason for choosing university students is that recent research concentrates on product pricing with consumer buying behavior while considering university students as their population. The population selection is based on the area of interest and importance, which covers the objectivity of this research. Divergent online and offline sources were used to collect analytical data. The questionnaires were circulated among 500 students, and the 367 replied to us regarding that, and so the aggregate received response was 73%. Seventeen answers received from respondents were rejected due to incomplete information, and 350 were finalized for the analytical process. This study used convenience sampling for data collection. Bonds-Raacke and Raacke (2012) suggested that field examinations should use a questionnaire. The researcher used a questionnaire to collect the data in this study. SPSS software was used to check the quality, validity, and scale reliability of the instrument.

Data Analysis and Results

SPSS and AMOS software were used for the data analysis. Table 1 presents the reliability analysis results. Product pricing and product information are independent variables in this study, whereas consumer buying behavior is a dependent variable. In this study, satisfaction is mediated between two independent variables and one dependent variable. All variables have acceptable reliability alpha values.

Table 1. Reliability analysis.

Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics. The mean value of product pricing is 3.4, where product information has a mean value of 3.9, satisfaction has a mean value 3.6, and consumer buying behavior has a mean value of 3.8.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics.

The product price measuring scale was introduced by Lichtenstein et al. (1993) . The Likert scale ranges from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and this scale was used in this research with slight modifications. The Lichtenstein et al. (1993) ranking was further verified by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) analysis to meet the requirements of this research. The measuring scales of Brun et al. (2014) and Zekiri and Hasani (2015) were used to measure the product packaging and customer satisfaction. The behavior of consumers toward buying decisions, the measurement scale of Bagga and Bhatt (2013) is used with slight modification to fit the scale for scope and broaden the view of this research. All predefined models/scales were rated on 5-point Likert scale, with higher numerical values indicating greater satisfaction.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The pooled CFA is more reliable than other versions and the most up-to-date approach. The AMOS 24 is used to check the relationship among variables ( Afthanorhan et al., 2014 ; Chong et al., 2014 ).

The results of Table 3 declare the structural fitness of the model by meeting all criterion requirements. The reliability values or factor loading of individual items are presented in Figure 2 . The findings of Table 4 have also covered the composite reliability of a wide scale. The composite reliability is indicated by the reliability of the measurement scales while reporting reliability ( Netemeyer et al., 2003 ).

Table 3. Pooled CFA model fitness tests.

Figure 2. Pooled confirmatory factor analysis.

Table 4. Factor loading of items.

Assessment of Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity was measured using HTMT analysis by considering two determinants, i.e., supposed to be related or unrelated. The value of cut-off criteria for strict discriminant validity was 0.850, and for liberal discriminant validity it was 0.900 ( Henseler et al., 2015 ), obtained by employing discriminant validity. The following discriminant validity criteria have provided the results of Table 5 .

Table 5. HTMT analysis.

Path Analysis in Structural Equation Modeling

In this study, structural equation modeling was used to determine the proposed relationships. Exogenous variables were included in this analysis to allow for the study of endogenous variables using AMOS 24. Here, we can see whether the independent and dependent variables are linearly related to each other. The analytical observations and their mean values are tabulated and linked with the collected information. The results of Table 6 declare the structural fitness of the model by meeting all criterion requirements.

Table 6. SEM, model fitness tests.

Figure 3 shows the direct effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable. In this figure, the mediator variable is missing from this path analysis diagram to capture the direct correlation of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Figure 3. Direct effects of path analysis.

Table 7 shows that H 1 , H 3 , and H 5 are statistically significant, and their P-value is less than 0.05, which shows the 95% confidence interval. The structural equation modeling with the path analysis is presented in Figure 4 . The path analysis declared the nature of variables, i.e., two variables are independent: one is the mediator and the other one is dependent.

Table 7. Results of indirect effects.

Figure 4. Indirect direct effects of path analysis.

The findings of Table 8 indicate that both hypotheses are statistically significant, but the observed mediation values for these hypotheses differ. H 2 is statistically significant but has a full mediation effect, whereas H 4 is statistically significant and has a partial mediation effect.

Table 8. Results of indirect effects.

Hypothetical Results

The results of the hypothesis are shown in Table 9 in a more detailed and comprehensive manner. To calculate the standard error with T and P-values and the significance of the path coefficient, bootstrapping (1,000 subsamples) was used, which provided direct evidence of the hypotheses being accepted or rejected. The structural model analysis results show the path coefficients and their significance levels, as presented in Table 9 . The findings confirmed that all five relationships were significant, and it can be concluded that H 1 , H 2 , H 3 , H 4 , and H 5 were supported.

Table 9. Hypothesis results.

According to Sisodiya and Sharma (2018) , the marketing mix has a significant influence on the buying behavior of consumers. In this study, the main principle in packaging is to “reach a greater height of opportunity.” It is often regarded as a critical component of purchase decision making, and has often been shown to be a way of building market awareness and connecting with consumers outside the product itself and across several channels ( Rambabu and Porika, 2020 ; Sadiq W. et al., 2020 ). Packaging performs multidimensional functions. It can not only offer knowledge about products and business entities, but it is also a technique for communicating with consumers and safeguarding product quality ( Silayoi and Speece, 2007 ). Pricing can be considered one of the most vital and essential elements that can influence consumer buying behavior or the buyer decision process ( Dhurup et al., 2014 ; Sadiq W. et al., 2020 ).

According to Kotler et al. (2012) , customer satisfaction “is the extent to which a product’s perceived performance matches the buyer’s expectations.” Aslam et al. (2018) stated that price has a positive and significant correlation with customer satisfaction. Furthermore, they believed that the success of the sector was based on price fairness and customer satisfaction. Previous studies have also discussed this phenomenon in connection with other geographical locations. The price factor is more relatable to consumer buying behavior than product packaging ( Jabarzare and Rasti-Barzoki, 2020 ; Huo et al., 2021 ). Product pricing has a greater influence than product packaging on the buyers’ decision processes ( Pratama and Suprapto, 2017 ; Abdullah et al., 2021 ). Innovation in product packaging also has a significant relationship with the consumer; however, if any organization wants to follow a strategy that is relevant to its product packaging, then there are several strategies for this kind of plan of action. Most consumers desire a range of product choices when purchasing, in terms of packaging. Thus, the marketer should place a premium on creative and exclusive packaging that is distinctive in terms of scale, instruction, convenience, product design, and form when compared to rivals in market segmentation ( Rundh, 2009 ; Bollen and Pearl, 2013 ). Product packaging serves as an excellent networking medium for target customers, eventually increasing their knowledge levels. Packaging must convey pertinent details about the product and brand, including ingredient composition, intent, and consistency. In addition, packaging should provide all of this material in regional languages to demonstrate respect for consumers. Efficient packaging is critical not only for storing and protecting goods but also for generating interest in and action toward buying the commodity. Currently, eco-friendly packaging is essential. Thus, advertisers should prioritize this factor and employ best practices to the maximum degree possible, including eco-friendly recyclable packaging ( Deliza and MacFie, 2001 ; Abdullah et al., 2021 ).

Conclusion and Recommendations

The study results clearly show that both product pricing and packaging have a statistically significant relationship with the buyer’s decision process. At the same time, the introduction of satisfaction leads to the observation of full mediation in the case of product pricing and partial mediation in product packaging. Despite knowing that both the variables have a statistically significant relationship with the consumer buying behavior, it is essential to understand the managerial implications. Suppose, we would like to report and recommend these findings to different organizations looking to cut their operational costs in any possible way without compromising product quality, we suggest in such cases that they focus on pricing strategies for a better consumer response. A focus on the product packaging design process, packaging material, or the information available on product packaging positively influences consumer buying behavior. However, its effect is lower than product pricing. Therefore, it is recommended for managers that if they want to connect with their target customers more efficiently and effectively, they should focus on both product pricing and packaging options. However, if they can afford only one option from the product’s operational cost perspective, they must focus on product pricing strategies.

In future studies, it must be kept in mind that these findings pertain directly to the individuals listed as respondents. To make it more accurate, other demographic, psychographic, and geographic samples should be used. It is likely that when data are thus obtained, the findings will differ. To ensure more lasting and repeatable corporate outcomes, several studies are required to obtain results that are more accurate and reliable.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author Contributions

HZ, XY, and ZL contributed to conception and design of the study. HZ organized the database, performed the statistical analysis, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. XY, ZL, and QY wrote sections of the manuscript. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52065010), Open Fund of Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education (GZUAMT2021KF[07] and GZUAMT2021KF[08]), Natural Science Research Project supported by the Education Department of Guizhou Province [Grant Nos. (2018)152 and (2017)239], Humanities and Social Science Research Project of Guizhou Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. 2018qn46), and the Guiyang University Teaching Research Project (Grant No. JT2019520206).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Abbreviations

CFA, Confirmatory Factor Analysis; RMSEA, Root Mean Square of Error Approximation; CFI, Comparative fit index; EDT, Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory; SCT, Social Cognitive Theory.

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Keywords : product pricing, product packaging, consumer buying behavior, consumer satisfaction, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling

Citation: Zhao H, Yao X, Liu Z and Yang Q (2021) Impact of Pricing and Product Information on Consumer Buying Behavior With Customer Satisfaction in a Mediating Role. Front. Psychol. 12:720151. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720151

Received: 03 June 2021; Accepted: 08 October 2021; Published: 13 December 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Zhao, Yao, Liu and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Huiliang Zhao, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Bachelor's thesis IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR – Decision Making Process

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Impact of COVID‐19 on changing consumer behaviour: Lessons from an emerging economy

Debadyuti das.

1 Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, Delhi India

Ashutosh Sarkar

2 Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kozhikode India

Arindam Debroy

3 Symbiosis Institute of Business Management Nagpur, Nagpur Maharashtra, India

Associated Data

The authors declare that the data used in the paper is collected through a questionnaire survey and have not used any proprietary data from any source. The data collected through the primary survey may be made available on demand.

The present study investigates the impact of COVID‐19 on Consumers' changing way of life and buying behaviour based on their socio‐economic backgrounds. A questionnaire survey was carried out to understand the impact of COVID‐19 on consumers' affordability, lifestyle, and health awareness and how these effects influenced their buying behaviour. A total of 425 usable responses were analysed using the structural equation modelling considering Consumers' socio‐economic background as exogenous variables and Consumers' changing way of life and Adaptation in consumers’ buying behaviour as endogenous variables. The study reveals that COVID‐19 has affected the consumers in the unorganised sectors more than others and induced an increase in the demand for affordable substitutes for daily necessities. The demand for wellness and entertainment products is found to depend upon the occupation and family earning status of consumers which is jointly mediated by affordability and lifestyle changes. Further, the findings show that the demand for health and hygiene products depends on the current employment status and family earning status of consumers which is jointly mediated by affordability and awareness towards health and hygiene. The model developed in the present study allows the decision‐makers to identify which segments of the population with certain socio‐economic backgrounds could be targeted for wellness products and which ones could be targeted for health and hygiene products. In addition, the model provides rich insights to the managers as to what kind of product substitution would be viable in the market during the pandemic.

1. INTRODUCTION

COVID‐19 has disrupted humankind in a manner not seen in recent times, infecting 6.5 million people while leaving millions unemployed (Hensher,  2020 ). While the loss of life, occupation, and livelihood are well‐articulated impacts of COVID‐19, the loss of routine social and economic life over a prolonged period is having long‐lasting effects on people (Chriscaden,  2020 ). COVID‐19‐imposed ‘self‐isolation and social lockdown’ has increased mental stress and inflicted psychological and behavioural changes (Witteveen,  2020 ). Under constant fear of infection and restricted mobility, people are becoming more aware of health and changing their lifestyles and eating habits (Sánchez‐Sánchez et al.,  2020 ). Reported preliminary studies also suggest that the nature and extent of the impact of COVID‐19 is not similar across all citizens and depend on their condition of poverty, age, residential status, and other demographic variables (U n ited Nations, n.d.).

As a consequence of the economic, social, and psychological impact of COVID‐19, people have altered how and where they should spend their money (Rogers & Cosgrove,  2020 ). Kirk and Rifkin ( 2020 ) argued that consumers react, cope, and adapt to environmentally‐imposed constraints such as the COVID‐19 pandemic. During the pandemic, consumers have displayed a variety of unusual behaviours (Laato et al.,  2020 ; Pantano et al.,  2020 ) and forced them to spend more on essentials while cutting back discretionary spending. Consumers are also observed to have changed brands and products, substituted spends when stocked out, and become more sensitive towards health and hygiene. Market studies pertaining to the impact of COVID‐19 on consumers have also indicated increased spending on groceries, and health and hygiene products (Rogers & Cosgrove,  2020 ). The above changes have motivated researchers to explore how the consumers behaved during the pandemic and the reasons for such behaviour.

Some of the COVID‐19‐induced behaviours that were studied include consumption shifts (Kansiime et al.,  2021 ; Pakravan‐Charvadeh et al.,  2021 ), impulsive buying (Naeem,  2020 ), stockpiling, and panic buying (Billore & Anisimova,  2021 ; Keane & Neal,  2021 ; Naeem,  2020 ; Prentice et al.,  2021 ), product and brand substitution (Knowles et al.,  2020 ), and shifts in channel preferences (Mehrolia et al.,  2021 ; Pantano et al.,  2020 ). Researchers have attributed such behaviour to COVID‐19‐induced impacts on consumers' socio‐economic status, changing way of life, and influence on predisposed beliefs (Milaković, 2021 ), changes in the consumers' buying environment such as stockouts, supply and demand disruptions (Prentice et al., 2021 ), and external stimuli such as information and social media exposure. (Laato et al.,  2020 ; Naeem,  2020 ). It was also reported that a significant number of people have lost their jobs (Montenovo et al.,  2020 ) and family income dwindled as a consequence of COVID‐19 (Kansiime et al.,  2021 ). COVID‐19 has affected consumers' disposable income or affordability (Mahmud & Riley,  2021 ), lifestyle (Sánchez‐Sánchez et al.,  2020 ), and awareness (Li et al.,  2021 )—in short, their way of life—making them change their pre‐COVID spending habits. We, however, did not come across research studies that analysed the nature of changes in consumer behaviour due to changes in consumers' affordability, lifestyle changes, and awareness level. This suggests an opportunity to investigate the impact of COVID‐19 on Consumers' changing way of life and consequently on their buying behaviour based on the varying socio‐economic background of the population. Our research primarily focuses on studying consumption shifts and substitution behaviour and connects such changes to the changes in consumers' way of life. Such studies are very important for market researchers and firms in terms of segmentation of the market when a pandemic of this nature affects the entire population. Such studies would help firms in devising targeted marketing strategies during the ongoing pandemic and beyond. With this background, the present study seeks to address the following research questions:

• How has the socio‐economic background influenced Consumers' way of life including affordability, lifestyle changes, and awareness towards health and hygiene arising out of COVID‐19?
• To what extent has the Consumers' changing way of life arising out of COVID‐19 influenced Adaptation in their buying behaviour?
• How has the socio‐economic background led to the Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour arising out of COVID‐19?

The methodology followed in this study involves investigating the influence of exogenous variables including occupation, current employment status, and family earning status on the intervening variables representing Consumers' changing way of life and finally on the dependent variables which reflect the Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour. The study provides important insights to managers in terms of designing affordable substitute products of daily necessities for the vulnerable section of the society. In addition, it also provides insights to the policy planners in terms of developing appropriate intervention strategies for the affected consumers.

2. BACKGROUND LITERATURE

Adaptations in people's buying behaviour due to COVID‐19 are in line with the existing literature encompassing changes in consumers' needs and preferences induced by events that are environmental, social, biological, cognitive, and behavioural in nature (Mathur et al.,  2006 ). Such disruptions often force consumers to seek stability (Minton & Cabano,  2021 ) and, as a result, they display conservative and planned behaviour (Sarmento et al.,  2019 ). Such stability‐seeking behaviour induces austerity measures among consumers affected by economic recession or slowdown making consumers more price‐sensitive (Hampson & McGoldrick,  2013 ). While, in the past, pandemics such as influenza have affected economic activities significantly (Verikios et al.,  2016 ), some changes in consumers’ behaviour are not entirely due to the economic impacts. For example, during the outbreak of the Asian flu, consumers have displayed risk‐coping strategies that influenced their consumption of chicken meat (Yeung & Yee,  2012 ). Similarly, natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina contributed to stress‐induced compulsive and impulsive buying behaviour among the affected residents of the US Gulf Coast (Sneath et al.,  2009 ). During natural disasters, consumers have been observed to have spent on luxury brands and premium categories displaying both cross‐category indulgence (Mark et al.,  2016 ) and impulsive buying behaviour (Kennett‐Hensel et al.,  2012 ).

Recently, adaptations in consumers' buying behaviour due to COVID‐19 have been studied under various themes (Kansiime et al.,  2021 ; Laato et al.,  2020 ; Pakravan‐Charvadeh et al.,  2021 ; Pantano et al.,  2020 ; Rayburn et al.,  2021 ). Gordon‐Wilson ( 2021 ) noted that external influences such as COVID‐19 affected ‘consumer's feelings for self‐control’ by changing their shopping behaviour, type of shopping and preference of store format, and consumption of unhealthy snacks and alcohol. Kim et al. ( 2021 ) highlighted the influence of protection motivation in explaining consumers' commitment to hygienic behaviour, prioritization of local restaurants, and conscious consumption. Guthrie et al. ( 2021 ) employed the react‐cope‐adapt framework to understand how consumer behaviour has evolved in terms of their usage of e‐commerce as a result of stressful events such as the COVID‐19. Eroglu et al. ( 2022 ) revealed that the crowding in retail stores significantly affects the shopping satisfaction of consumers during COVID‐19, which is mediated by customer‐employee rapport. They further argued that such relationships significantly differ based on consumers' perceptions about the appropriateness of retailer precautions, the severity of threats, and vulnerability to COVID‐19. Milaković ( 2021 ) demonstrated the moderating effect of consumer adaptability in explaining the influence of consumer vulnerability and consumer resilience on purchase satisfaction and finally on the repurchase intention of consumers. Yap et al. ( 2021 ) introduced a new dimension called technology‐mediated consumption as a coping strategy adopted by consumers in coping with pandemic‐induced stress and anxiety during the pandemic. They further discussed paradoxes explaining the nexus between the consumption of technology and consumer vulnerability. Nayal et al. ( 2021 ) identified various coping strategies for firms to take care of the employee and customer well‐being. Digitalization and innovation emerged as the two focus areas for adoption by firms for their survival post‐COVID‐19. In addition, the study further revealed that consumers have demonstrated a shift in their consumption behaviour during the present pandemic in favour of hygiene, sustainability, and local products.

The present study also deals with the shifts in consumption behaviour and product substitution behaviour among consumers that were observed during COVID‐19. However, our study is quite different from the existing studies in the sense that we attribute such shifts in consumption and product substitution behaviour to how COVID‐19 has impacted the Consumers' way of life. COVID‐19 pandemic has induced changes in consumers' demand—both in magnitude as well as in their preference (del Rio‐Chanona et al.,  2020 ). The pandemic has also resulted in increased consumption of certain products which were either consumed in lesser quantities or not consumed at all before the event (Kirk & Rifkin,  2020 ). Such effects have led to significant upward shifts in the market demand for these products. We refer to such shifts as ‘new demand’. Examples of ‘new demand’ include cleaning and personal hygiene products such as Lysol and hand sanitizers (Chaudhuri,  2020 ), health and wellness products such as vitamins, healthy foods, and other immunity boosters (Hess,  2020 ), packaged goods and beverages, household care products, fresh and organic foods, personal care products (Knowles et al.,  2020 ) and digital platforms (Debroy,  2020 ), which displayed a surge in demand during COVID‐19. Consumers have also displayed substitution behaviour during the pandemic (Knowles et al.,  2020 ) thereby changing significantly the consumption both by volume as well as product preference. Product substitution is also observed during this pandemic due to lifestyle changes while the change of preference is observed due to awareness of health. The literature on product substitution is characterized by several factors prompting substitution behaviour by consumers (Hamilton et al.,  2014 ). However, while studying new demand and product substitution behaviour under disruptive events, we observed that most of these studies are limited to the economic impacts of the events (Martin et al.,  2020 ) and hence, there is still scope for studying such behaviour considering the non‐economic impacts of the pandemic.

Disruption affects people's lives in a variety of ways derailing their normal ways of living. Earlier studies on disruptions dealt with disruption‐induced depression, lifestyle changes, changes in information, awareness, and education (Mathur et al.,  2006 ; Sneath et al.,  2009 ). During the present pandemic also, significant changes in lifestyle and health awareness (Arora & Grey,  2020 ) were observed. The fear of getting infected with COVID‐19 and the government‐imposed lockdowns have reduced mobility and physical activities (Sánchez‐Sánchez et al.,  2020 ); changed dietary and consumption behaviour (Kansiime et al.,  2021 ; Pakravan‐Charvadeh et al.,  2021 ), and sleep behaviour (Chopra et al.,  2020 ). COVID‐19 has also increased health concerns and awareness impacting consumption of health and wellness products in a significant manner (Baiano et al.,  2020 ; Hess,  2020 ). However, lifestyle changes, awareness towards health, and change in consumption behaviour arising out of COVID‐19 were not found to be uniform across people of diverse socio‐economic groups (Laato et al.,  2020 ). As COVID‐19 has affected the entire population in varying degrees based on their socio‐economic background, there exists a scope for research as to how different consumer groups have adapted their buying behaviour.

3. THEORETICAL MODEL AND DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES

In order to understand how COVID‐19 has impacted consumers’ way of life and consumer buying behaviour, we mainly draw from preliminary studies, market surveys, and published research articles on the impact of COVID‐19. This study mainly has three dimensions: (1) Consumers' socio‐economic background, (2) Consumers' changing way of life, and (3) Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour as shown in Figure  1 , which serves as the theoretical model of the present work. Consumers' changing way of life has been captured through ‘Change in affordability’, ‘Lifestyle changes’ and ‘Awareness towards health and hygiene’ arising out of COVID‐19 while Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour has been represented through ‘Creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products’, ‘Creation of new demand for health and hygiene products’, ‘Substitution of daily necessities due to affordability’ and ‘Substitution of daily necessities due to awareness towards health’.

Theoretical model of the impact of COVID‐19 on consumer behaviour

3.1. Consumers' socio‐economic background and affordability

COVID‐19 has significantly influenced individual and household incomes and spending habits. However, such economic hardships varied based on their occupation, employment status, and socio‐demographic background (Witteveen,  2020 ). The adverse effects are estimated to be strongest for those occupations that are characterized by lower levels of skill, education, and income, have lesser possibilities of working remotely (Adams‐Prassl et al.,  2020 ), and require more face‐to‐face interpersonal contacts (Avdiu & Nayyar,  2020 ; Montenovo et al.,  2020 ). We have observed that some people have received lower than the regular salary in their current employment while a few others have lost their jobs during lockdowns which has adversely affected their capacity to sustain the household expenditure. Many studies have observed that family income, personal savings, and occupational status affected the ability of a household to continue their pre‐COVID spending (Kansiime et al.,  2021 ; Pakravan‐Charvadeh et al.,  2021 ; Piyapromdee & Spittal,  2020 ). In addition, the ability to support the household expenditure is found to depend upon the number of earning members, which further reflects the earning potential of a family (Addabbo,  2000 ). Hence, based on the above discussion, we postulate the following hypotheses:

Occupation significantly influences the affordability of consumers.

Current employment status significantly influences the affordability of consumers.

Family earning status significantly influences the affordability of consumers.

3.2. Consumers' socio‐economic background and lifestyle changes

COVID‐19 has brought a dramatic change in the lifestyle of people. However, the change is different for people belonging to different socio‐economic backgrounds. While occupations such as travel, restaurants, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) have seen reduced business activities, there are people in other occupations, for whom work from home during the pandemic is like a much‐needed break from their monotonous schedule. Thus, the nature of occupation seems to have an impact on the work schedule and lifestyle changes of people. Many studies have noted that occupational social class and status are associated with the lifestyle of people (García‐Mayor et al.,  2021 ). Likewise, receiving a reduced salary or having lost their job during lockdown seems to have had a considerable influence on consumers' lifestyles in terms of daily routine, thought process, and social habits (Khubchandani et al.,  2020 ; PTI,  2020 ). On the other hand, the lifestyle of a family with multiple earning members may be significantly different from a family with a sole earning member (Pew Research,  2008 ). Thus, we advance the following hypotheses:

Occupation significantly influences the lifestyle changes of consumers.

Current employment status significantly influences the lifestyle changes of consumers.

Family earning status significantly influences the lifestyle changes of consumers.

3.3. Consumers' socio‐economic background and awareness towards health and hygiene

COVID‐19 has resulted in people becoming more conscious about their health and personal hygiene (Baiano et al.,  2020 ; Hess,  2020 ). Government advisories and campaigns for maintaining personal hygiene through regular hand washes and wearing masks have resulted in people becoming concerned about their hygiene like never before. However, as occupation varies with the level of education, so does the awareness towards health and hygiene (Teisl et al.,  1999 ). Similarly, awareness towards health and hygiene varies with employment status and family earning status (Prasad et al.,  2008 ). Based on this, we posit the following hypotheses:

Occupation significantly influences the awareness level of consumers towards their health and hygiene.

Current employment status significantly influences the awareness level of consumers towards their health and hygiene.

Family earning status significantly influences the awareness level of consumers towards their health and hygiene.

3.4. Affordability and consumers' buying behaviour

Due to reduced affordability, a large number of people are restricting their expenditure to mostly essentials and healthcare products while cutting down on non‐discretionary products (Martin et al.,  2020 ). This has led to a reduction in sales of many non‐essentials. The pandemic, however, has witnessed a significant rise in the demand for wellness and entertainment products delivered through digital platforms (Bakhtiani,  2021 ; Madnani et al.,  2020 ). Since such subscriptions by consumers are discretionary (Singh,  2020 ), we expect an influence of reduced affordability due to the pandemic on the creation of new demand. Equivalently, it could also be stated that a positive change in affordability would have a positive impact on the usage of such products (Bakhtiani,  2021 ; Madnani et al.,  2020 ). Earlier studies in economics and public health have noted that family income significantly influences demand for hygiene products and associated practices (Aunger et al.,  2016 ; Jacob et al.,  2014 ). In many cases, consumers with lower affordability also explored cheaper alternatives such as private labels and affordable brands (Mishra & Balsara,  2020 ). Therefore, based on the above arguments, we postulate the following hypotheses:

Creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products is significantly associated with the change in affordability.

Creation of new demand for products relating to health and hygiene is significantly associated with the change in affordability.

The demand for affordable substitute products of daily necessities is significantly associated with the change in affordability.

3.5. Lifestyle changes and demand for wellness and entertainment products

Lifestyle changes due to COVID‐19 have made people more sensitive to fitness that caused a surge in demand for wellness products (Ojha,  2020 ). Many people are now preferring organic and herbal products and are subscribing to fitness classes and channels (Wernau & Gasparro,  2020 ). Furthermore, institutional lockdowns imposed by governments have forced people to stay at home and spend time with their families (Debroy,  2020 ). Additionally, with a regular source of entertainment such as restaurants and movie theatres remaining restricted, people have turned to online platforms for recreation. Even online yoga classes have experienced a spike in their viewership with the spread of this virus (Debroy,  2020 ). Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

Creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products is positively associated with Lifestyle changes.

3.6. Awareness towards health and hygiene and demand for health and hygiene products

Marketing experts have always emphasized the importance of increasing awareness among consumers to increase product demand (Baiano et al.,  2020 ; Hess,  2020 ). COVID‐19 has resulted in people becoming more conscious about their health and personal hygiene. As part of maintaining a proper and healthy lifestyle, regular hand washes and wearing masks are considered to be the defence mechanisms of protecting oneself from the virus. Common people have been spending more on buying healthcare products (Rakshit,  2020 ). Moreover, the current times have witnessed an incomparable urge in people to substitute unhealthy food items and daily necessities with healthy ones (Master,  2020 ; Renner et al.,  2020 ). Thus, the following hypotheses are advanced:

Creation of new demand for products relating to health and hygiene is positively associated with consumers' awareness towards health and hygiene.

The demand for healthy substitute products of daily necessities is positively associated with consumers' awareness towards health and hygiene.

3.7. Consumers' socio‐economic background and creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products

During this pandemic, fitness and wellness products, and digital platforms such as Netflix have become very popular (Debroy,  2020 ). However, the nature of demand for wellness and entertainment products varied across people with different socio‐economic backgrounds. A person's occupation, employment status, and family income influence consumers' preference for wellness products (Suresh & Ravichandran,  2011 ) and also have a considerable impact on the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products (Madnani et al.,  2020 ). Therefore, we propose to investigate further the relationship between consumers with diverse socio‐economic backgrounds and the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products. Thus, we postulate the following hypotheses:

Occupation significantly influences the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products.

Current employment status significantly influences the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products.

Family earning status significantly influences the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products.

3.8. Consumers' socio‐economic background and creation of new demand for health and hygiene products

This pandemic has also seen an increased demand for health and hygiene products (Dsouza,  2020 ). People have been forced to spend on hand washes, sanitizers, and masks to protect against this rapidly spreading virus. As there are occupations that would put an individual and her/his family into different levels of vulnerabilities (Avdiu & Nayyar,  2020 ), we expect variations in the consumption of health and hygiene products based on their occupation (Riise et al.,  2003 ). Earlier research has established the relationship between family income and consumers' preference for healthy food (Galati et al.,  2019 ; Pakravan‐Charvadeh et al.,  2021 ). The reduced income and job losses would have a significant bearing on both mental stress as well as disposable income (Witteveen,  2020 ) which, in turn, influence the choice of consumers for health and hygiene products (Khubchandani et al.,  2020 ). Therefore, the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products seems to vary depending on the types of occupation, current employment status, and family earning status. Thus, we propose the following hypotheses:

Occupation significantly influences the creation of new demand for products relating to health and hygiene.

Current employment status significantly influences the creation of new demand for products relating to health and hygiene.

Family earning status significantly influences the creation of new demand for products relating to health and hygiene.

4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.1. design of survey instrument and its reliability.

The findings of Paul and Bhukya ( 2021 ) reveal that the impact of COVID‐19 on consumer behaviour is one of the important contemporary topics of research. However, we could not find any suitable questionnaire in the extant literature with specific reference to the hypothesized research model depicted in Figure  1 which could be directly utilized for data collection purposes. We came across several items in the literature for other kinds of disasters, which were found relevant for our study. In addition, we also observed through newspapers, electronic media, and social media the challenges faced by the consumers in respect of reduced salary, job losses, health issues, the surge in demand for products relating to health and hygiene, etc. arising out of COVID‐19. We took cognizance of all these aspects and framed an open‐ended questionnaire in the initial phase to develop an understanding of different types of challenges faced by the consumers and their impact on changing consumer behaviour. The open‐ended questionnaire was translated into Hindi, Malayalam, and Bengali with the help of three bilingual experts having expertise in Hindi, Malayalam, and Bengali languages respectively along with English. We administered this questionnaire to consumers with different linguistic and socio‐economic backgrounds. We identified five respondents from Government/Public Sector organisations, five from Multinational/Private sector firms, and five from MSMEs. In addition, we identified three independent businessmen and seven daily wage‐earners. All these respondents were requested to participate in the study after thoroughly explaining to them the purpose of undertaking this particular exercise. They agreed to take part in the study. However, the daily wage‐earners had to be given INR100/‐ each to motivate them to take part in the study. Amongst these respondents, some of them could understand Hindi well, some of them could understand Malayalam well while a few others could understand Bengali well. In the case of employees of Public sector and Private sector firms, the questionnaire was sent through email with the request to provide unambiguous responses within a week. In the case of the employees of MSMEs and independent businessmen, we took separate appointments through telephonic calls and requested that one of the authors would seek responses from them in person by maintaining the protocol of social distancing. One author from Delhi and another author from Kozhikode separately conducted this exercise in Delhi and Kozhikode respectively. Finally, in the case of daily wage‐earners, we directly talked to a few rickshaw‐pullers, a few street vendors, and a few masons and managed to secure their responses after incentivizing them. We asked the questions verbally to this category of respondents and they replied to the specific questions based on their experience. Thus, we had to record the conversations which were later transcribed.

Based on the responses received from the preliminary study, we summarized them under different sections and designed another open‐ended questionnaire. The purpose of designing the second‐round open‐ended questionnaire was to cross‐check the same with the experts and to ensure adequate and appropriate coverage of the items under different sections thereby taking care of the content validity of the questionnaire. For example, we identified several items reflecting the financial distress faced by the common people due to COVID‐19 and put them under ‘Affordability’. We requested the experts to exercise their judgment in terms of whether those items represent the essence of ‘Affordability’. Those experts were chosen who had considerable experience in selling essential items either through the offline or online channel. In addition, a few more experts were also selected who conducted research in consumer behaviour for a sufficient period. Accordingly, we selected experts from both academia and industry, which included one Professor of Marketing, two researchers doing research in consumer behaviour, one manager from an offline store selling essential items, and one executive from an online retailer. These experts were known to be thoroughly conversant with the impact of COVID‐19 on the consumers’ way of life and also their changing buying behaviour across consumers of varying socio‐economic backgrounds. The experts recommended the retention of most of the items and the removal of very few ones. Subsequently, we designed the close‐ended questionnaire based on the recommendation of the experts. The close‐ended questionnaire was divided into three sections. The first section contained questions relating to the socio‐demographic profile and earning status of the respondents. The second section carried questions about the factors influencing Consumers' changing way of life arising out of COVID‐19. Finally, the third section contained questions pertaining to the adaptations on consumers' buying behaviour due to COVID‐19. A five‐point Likert scale ranging from 1 = Not at all True to 5 = Absolutely True was used as a response format in the second and third sections. The questionnaire was shown to the same experts once again to elicit their opinion for evaluating its ease of understanding from the perspective of potential respondents. Based on the recommendation of experts, some questions were rephrased. This exercise helped us in ensuring the content validity of the questionnaire. Table  1 presents the first part of the questionnaire while Appendices  1 and 2 show the second and third parts of the questionnaire respectively.

Distribution of the respondents based on socio‐demographic background ( n  = 425)

Subsequently, the reliability of the questionnaire was tested by administering the survey on 30 respondents chosen carefully. Cronbach's alpha of the scale representing Consumers' changing way of life turned out to be 0.795 while the same for the scale showing Adaptation in consumers’ buying behaviour was found to be 0.895. Both the scales showed high corrected item‐to‐total correlations which indicated the presence of high internal consistency. Since the alpha value of both scales was well above the threshold level of 0.7, these scales were considered reliable (Hair et al.,  2009 ).

4.2. Target respondents and collection of data

The survey was administered amongst the respondents with diverse socio‐economic backgrounds in India. The questionnaire was circulated among people working in Government organisations, private sector organisations, MSMEs, and also among the daily wage‐earners. Given the diversity of the languages, we administered the survey in four languages including, English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Bengali. The above languages were chosen as a substantial percentage of the population of India speaks these languages. Efforts were also made to ensure that only one response is received from a single household. Because of the lockdown and the restrictions on mobility, we chose a variety of mediums to reach out to the potential respondents. We approached the potential respondents both through online and offline mode. In the case of online mode, the questionnaire was circulated on social media mainly through LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Facebook urging people to respond to the questionnaire. These mediums were chosen for their immense popularity in India in terms of the number of users. They were further selected as the authors also have their active networks and groups in these platforms. In the case of offline mode, some respondents were sent questionnaires via email while others were administered through hard copies of the questionnaire in a language of their choice. Field‐workers were hired against remuneration who physically received the responses directly by visiting the respondents' doorsteps or by reaching out to them in public places like, malls, popular restaurants, and shops. Field‐workers were clearly instructed to explain the essence of the questionnaire to the respondents thoroughly before asking them to fill out the questionnaire. They were further advised not to fill out the questionnaire on behalf of the respondents. The questionnaire survey was administered over two months during August and September 2020. During this period, different parts of India were experiencing a variety of restrictions depending on the number and severity of COVID‐19 cases in different places. A total of 494 responses were received out of which 69 responses were found to be incomplete and incoherent. Thus, we were left with 425 usable responses for the final analysis.

4.3. Tests for potential bias in survey data

Non‐response bias was assessed by performing a t ‐test on the scores of early and late respondents based on the assumption that the opinions of late respondents are representative of the opinions of non‐respondents (Krause et al.,  2001 ). A total of 241 responses (56.7%) were received in the first month (i.e., August 2020) while 184 responses (43.3%) were received in the second month (i.e., September 2020). Respondents giving responses in the first month were considered as early respondents while those giving responses in the second month were treated as late respondents. T ‐tests were carried out between early respondents with 241 responses and late respondents with 184 responses on individual items. The results did not reveal any significant difference between the two groups for most of the items. This indicates that the data was relatively free from non‐response bias.

As this study relied on single respondents for doing the final analysis, the potential for common method bias to influence the results was also evaluated. We applied Harman's one‐factor test to evaluate common method bias separately on the scale representing Consumers’ changing way of life and the scale reflecting Adaptation in consumers’ buying behaviour . We carried out the above test separately for both the scales in IBM SPSS (version 25) by doing exploratory factor analysis without rotation. All 13 items representing Consumers’ changing way of life were allowed to be loaded into one single factor and again all 16 items reflecting Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour were loaded into another single factor. It was found that the common factor representing Consumers' changing way of life explained only 25% of the total variance while the common factor capturing Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour explained only 30.4% of the total variance. Since the total variance of a single factor was less than 50% in both the scales, the common method bias did not seem to be a concern for the present study (Podsakoff et al.,  2003 ).

5. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The 425 usable responses were also checked for missing values and inconsistency. An overview of the respondents' demographic profile, descriptive statistics, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and the validation of the conceptual model using the Structured Equation Modelling (SEM) is presented in the following sub‐sections. We utilized IBM SPSS (version 25) for finding out the descriptive statistics of manifest variables and the demographic profile of the respondents. In addition, we also employed IBM SPSS AMOS (version 24) for carrying out CFA and SEM. Regarding descriptive statistics, we determined the minimum score, maximum score, mean and standard deviation of all items of both the scales and presented the same in Appendices  1 and 2 .

5.1. Demographic profile

The socio‐economic profile of 425 respondents revealed that most of them were of working age with a sizeable number of respondents (71.53%) turning out to be male. A majority of the respondents were employed (74.83%). However, a substantial portion of respondents lost their jobs or was receiving reduced salaries after the imposition of lockdown (35.76%). In terms of educational qualification, a major portion of the respondents (69.88%) were graduates with 56% of them having earned their degree in a professional course. The family earning status of the respondents showed that 29.88% were the sole earners in their family. The details of the demographic profile are provided in Table  1 .

5.2. Confirmatory factor analysis

The questionnaire developed through several rounds of an iterative process and validated by the experts allowed us to determine the underlying constructs. We observed that Consumers' changing way of life consists of three constructs while Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour comprises four constructs. We applied CFA to assess how well the observed variables including 13 items relating to the Consumers' changing way of life and another 16 items representing Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour arising out of COVID‐19 reflect unobserved or latent constructs in the hypothesized structure. In the CFA model, all seven constructs were allowed to be correlated with each other forming a composite measurement scale representing the Consumers' changing way of life and Adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour due to COVID‐19. The model was assessed by utilizing the maximum likelihood (ML) method. One of the prerequisites of the ML method is the normality of the endogenous variables (Kline,  2016 ). Thus, for ascertaining whether the data of the endogenous variables follow a normal distribution or not, we computed the kurtosis value. We observed that the values of almost all variables remained within the range of −7 to +7, which assuaged the concern regarding the non‐normality of the data (Mueller & Hancock,  2019 ).

All items were evaluated based on several criteria including items standardized regression weights, squared multiple correlations, and standardized residual covariance. In addition, the theoretical importance and practical significance of every item were taken into consideration while refining the model. This resulted in the removal of five variables of the Consumers' changing way of life and another three variables of Consumers' buying behaviour from the model thereby leaving eight items of Consumers' changing way of life and another 13 items of Consumers' buying behaviour in the final measurement model. This, however, did not significantly affect the content validity of the scale. Rather the model became further parsimonious. We found that one construct namely ‘lifestyle changes’ was left with only two items. However, it did not give rise to the problem of under‐identification of the measurement model. The findings of Das ( 2018 ) and Pullman et al. ( 2009 ) revealed several constructs which contain only two items. The presence of such constructs with two items did not create the problem of under‐identification of measurement models in the above research findings. Goodness of fit (GOF) measures of the final measurement model were as follows: χ 2  = 338.939, degrees of freedom ( df ) = 162, p  = .00, χ 2 / df  = 2.092, goodness fit index (GFI) = 0.931, Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) = 0.902, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.951, Tucker‐Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.937, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) [90% CI] = 0.051 [0.043, 0.058], Standardized Root Mean Residual (SRMR) = 0.0512. For an adequate model fit, the fit indices of GFI, CFI, and TLI should be at least 0.9 while the same of RMSEA and SRMR should be less than 0.08 (Hair et al.,  2009 ). Thus, based on the fit indices, it could be inferred that the measurement model fits well with the data on all major indices. The details of the measurement results are shown in Table  2 , which includes the descriptive statistics of the constructs pertaining to the Consumers' changing way of life and Adaptation to consumers' buying behaviour . This includes the mean, standard deviation, and reliability value (Cronbach's alpha) of each construct and also the inter‐construct correlations.

Summary of the measurement results and inter‐construct correlations

The above table shows that Cronbach's alpha coefficients of six constructs out of seven have exceeded 0.7 thereby indicating sound reliability of these constructs (Hair et al.,  2009 ). Alpha coefficient of the remaining one construct reveals acceptable reliability value over 0.6 (Hair et al.,  2009 ). In addition, Table  2 also shows that almost all inter‐construct correlations are significant at 0.1% or 1% level. Only one inter‐construct correlation is significant at 10% level. These inter‐construct correlations help us in ascertaining the discriminant validity of all the constructs, which is discussed in the later part of this section.

This model was systematically evaluated for Construct Reliability (CR), convergent validity, and discriminant validity in order to validate the constructs of the Consumers' changing way of life and Adaptation to consumers' buying behaviour due to COVID‐19. In the present study, we have estimated the CR coefficient of all constructs which is shown in Table  3 . The estimate of CR lying between 0.6 to 0.7 is considered acceptable while the value above 0.7 suggests good reliability of a construct (Hair et al.,  2009 ). Thus, the six constructs may be considered to possess excellent reliability while the remaining one construct is characterized by an acceptable level of reliability.

Results of Reliability, Convergent and Discriminant validity of the consumers' changing way of life and consumers' buying behaviour

Abbreviations: AVE, average variance extracted; CR, construct reliability.

Convergent validity requires that the indicator variables of a given construct share a high proportion of variance in common. It was evaluated by following two different approaches. The first method involves the inspection of estimated factor loadings of items on the constructs in the final CFA model (Anderson & Gerbing,  1988 ). It was found that the standardized loadings of all items are greater than 0.5 and statistically significant ( p  < .001). The second method involves the assessment of convergent validity with the help of Average Variance Extracted (AVE). An AVE of 0.5 or more of a construct indicates a high level of convergent validity (Hair et al.,  2009 ). The seven constructs have AVE ranging from 0.477 to 0.648 as shown in Table  3 . Six constructs have more than the threshold level of AVE (0.5), thus indicating a high convergent validity of the above constructs. Only the lifestyle changes construct is found to have an AVE slightly below the threshold value. However, since this construct meets the criteria of convergent validity in the first method and in the second method, the value of AVE is somewhat close to the threshold value, the lifestyle changes construct may be considered to possess a reasonable level of convergent validity.

Discriminant validity is a measure of how a construct is distinct from other constructs in the same model and whether each construct is measuring different concepts (Hair et al.,  2009 ). Discriminant validity was also assessed by following two different approaches. The first method involves the investigation of the correlation between each pair of constructs in the CFA model. If the correlations between constructs are well below 0.9; then there is very little possibility that a group of items loading significantly on one construct would also load on another construct (Kline,  2016 ). The correlations between the constructs occurred within the range of −0.282 to 0.616, which were well below 0.9. This is reported in Table  2 . The second method involves the comparison of the AVE of each construct with the shared variance of each pair of constructs. If the square root of the AVE of each construct is more than the correlation of each pair of constructs, then this implies that the constructs account for a greater proportion of variance of the items that are assigned to them (Fornell & Larcker,  1981 ). Table  3 shows that the lowest value of AVE of a construct is 0.477. Its square root is 0.690, which exceeds the maximum correlation coefficient of 0.616 between a pair of constructs as reported in Table  2 . Thus, the seven construct CFA model demonstrates a satisfactory level of discriminant validity. This facilitated the SEM on the final measurement model to be carried out for investigating the relationships hypothesized in Section  3 .

5.3. Structural equation modelling

The final measurement model has been taken as the main input for developing the structural model. In the structural model, demographic variables of the respondents including occupation, current employment status, and family earning status were considered as the exogenous variables while Consumers' changing way of life and consumers’ buying behaviour arising out of COVID‐19 were treated as endogenous variables. This was investigated through SEM and the hypotheses formulated earlier were tested. The model was assessed utilizing the ML estimation method. GOF measures of the structural model were as follows: χ 2  = 887.533, df  = 324, p  = .00, χ 2 / df  = 2.739, GFI = 0.878, AGFI = 0.825, TLI = 0.840, CFI = 0.881, RMSEA [90% CI] = 0.064 [0.059, 0.069], SRMR = 0.075. The fit indices indicate that TLI and CFI are below the acceptable level of 0.9 while RMSEA and SRMR are within the acceptable range of 0.08 (Hair et al.,  2009 ). In this context, it is to be mentioned that the model complexity in terms of the number of observed variables, number of parameters estimated, etc. has a significant negative impact on GFI, AGFI, and CFI. Thus, the general rules of thumb with the cut‐off values of GFI or CFI being at least 0.9 may sometimes be misleading for complex models (Baumgartner & Homburg,  1996 ). A similar observation was also made by Srinivasan et al. ( 2002 ) in respect of model complexity. In one of the measurement models developed by them, both CFI and TLI were found below 0.9. However, since both RMSEA and SRMR remained within the acceptable range of 0.08, the model was considered reasonably fitting to the data. Based on the above argument, we can infer that the present findings indicate an acceptable level of fit to the above indices. The final structural model is shown in Figure  2 . We have shown only the significant paths in this model, which include both direct effects and total effects covering both direct and indirect effects. The interpretation of these paths has been provided in appropriate places of the following section.

Final model of the impact of COVID‐19 on consumer behaviour

6. MAJOR FINDINGS

6.1. influence of occupation, employment status and earning status on affordability.

The profile of the socio‐demographic and economic background of the respondents provided in Table  1 reveals that they differ in terms of their occupations, current employment status, and also their earning status. The respondents were categorized into five types of occupations described as Job1 through Job5. In terms of employment status, they were categorized into four types which have been shown as Emp1 through Emp4. Finally, the respondents were classified into three categories in terms of the earning potential of their family, which have been designated as Earn1 through Earn3. All these categorizations in terms of occupation, employment status, and earning status have been indicated in Table  4 . The categorical variables were transformed into binary variables individually before considering them as exogenous variables. In the structural model, Job1, Emp1, and Earn2 were considered as the reference categories for occupation, employment status, and earning status respectively following Cohen et al. ( 2003 ), as each one of them was the most dominant category in the respective socio‐economic classes and least likely to be affected compared to other categories by the pandemic. Out of 21 hypotheses formulated in Section  3 , 15 hypotheses had a direct effect while the remaining six hypotheses involved both direct and indirect (mediating) effects. Tables  4 and ​ and5 5 present the results of hypotheses that only have a direct effect, based on standardized regression weights (β), critical ratios (t‐value), and p values. Table  4 specifically describes the results of the effect of Consumers' socio‐economic background on their changing way of life. The results of Hypothesis  1a showing the relationship between occupation and affordability reveal that the affordability of people with four types of occupations (Job2 through Job5) was negatively affected due to COVID‐19 compared to the affordability of people belonging to the reference category, i.e., Job1. However, the negative effect was found to be significant only for people with occupation categories Job3 and Job5. This suggests that the lockdown affected the affordability of people in the unorganised sector more than the organised sector. The results of Hypothesis  1b explaining the relationship between current employment status and affordability indicate that there was a significant negative effect on the affordability of people of three types of employment (Emp2 through Emp4) due to COVID‐19 compared to the same belonging to the reference category, i.e., Emp1. This directly demonstrates that people having lost their job or receiving reduced salaries due to COVID‐19 were severely affected in terms of their affordability compared to the people who were receiving full salaries. Hypothesis  1c describing the relationship between family earning status and affordability shows that the affordability of people with two categories of earning status (Earn1 and Earn3) was not affected due to COVID‐19 compared to the reference category, i.e., Earn2. This further illustrates the fact that the respondents with a single earning member, multiple earning members, or non‐earning members cannot be differentiated in terms of their affordability due to COVID‐19. The significant impact of occupation with categories Job3 and Job5 on affordability and again the significant effect of employment status including categories Emp2 through Emp4 have been indicated in the final structural model (Figure  2 ).

Results of structural model for socio‐economic factors (direct effects) ( n  = 425)

Job1: Respondents who are working in government or public sector jobs; Job2: Respondents who are working in private sector jobs; Job3: Respondents who are working in MSME sectors/ Contractors/ Daily wage earners;

Job4: Respondents who own their own business or startups; Job5: Respondents with other job profiles.

Emp1: Respondents who are currently employed and getting full salary; Emp2: Respondents who are currently employed but are getting reduced salary; Emp3: Respondents who have lost their jobs during lockdown; Emp4: Respondents with other employment status;

Earn1: Respondents who are the sole earners of the family; Earn2: Respondents who are one of the earning members of the family; Earn3: Respondents who are the non‐earning members of the family.

Results of structural model of consumers' way of life (direct effects) ( n  = 425)

6.2. Influence of occupation, employment status and earning status on lifestyle changes

Following a similar approach, we investigated the influence of occupation, current employment status, and earning status on lifestyle changes of people due to COVID‐19. Hypothesis  2a showing the relationship between occupation and lifestyle changes reveals that the lifestyle changes of people with Job2 through Job5 were significantly affected in opposite direction compared to the lifestyle changes of people with reference category, i.e., Job1. This demonstrates that people other than those engaged in the Government or Public sector did not indulge themselves in lifestyle changes arising out of COVID‐19. Hypothesis  2b explaining the relationship between current employment status reveals that the lifestyle changes of people with Emp2 and Emp3 were positively affected compared to the lifestyle changes of people with reference category, i.e., Emp1. The effect was found to be significant. This signifies that the people receiving a reduced salary or having lost their jobs are becoming more concerned with doing yoga and using herbal products in their day‐to‐day life compared to the people receiving full salary. Hypothesis  2c delineating the relationship between family earning status and lifestyle changes shows that the lifestyle changes of people with Earn1 and Earn3 were not affected compared to the reference category, i.e., Earn2. This indicates that the lifestyle changes of people cannot be differentiated based on their earning status. The significant effect of occupation with categories Job2 through Job5 on lifestyle changes and further the significant effect of employment with categories Emp2 and Emp3 on lifestyle changes have been shown in Figure  2 .

6.3. Influence of occupation, employment status and earning status on awareness towards health

Hypothesis  3a describing the relationship between occupation and awareness towards health reveals that the health awareness of people with occupations Job2 through Job5 was negatively affected compared to the awareness of people with reference category, i.e., Job1. However, the effect was found significant only in the case of Job2. Hypothesis  3b showing the relationship between employment status and awareness towards health indicates that the awareness of people with categories Emp2, Emp3, and Emp4 was not affected compared to the reference category, i.e., Emp1. This implies that the awareness of people towards health cannot be distinguished based on their employment status. Finally, Hypothesis  3c outlining the relationship between earning status and awareness towards health shows that the awareness of people with Earn1 and Earn3 was not affected compared to the reference category, Earn2. This further explains that the awareness of people towards health cannot be discriminated against based on their earning status. The significant effect of occupation with category Job2 on awareness towards health is shown in Figure  2 .

6.4. Association of Affordability, Lifestyle Changes and Health Awareness with Demand for Wellness Products, Health Products, Substitution of Affordable necessities etc

Table  5 presents the results of the impact of different constructs constituting Consumers' changing way of life on the Adaptation in consumers’ buying behaviour . Hypothesis  4a reveals that the increase in demand for wellness and entertainment products was associated with a fall in affordability. However, the effect was not significant. Similarly, the increase in demand for products relating to health and hygiene was associated with a non‐significant decrease in affordability as specified in Hypothesis  4b . Hypothesis  4c shows that the fall in affordability had a significant influence on the demand for affordable substitute products of daily necessities. Hypothesis  5 shows that lifestyle changes had a significant positive influence on the demand for wellness products which explains the reported rise in demand for wellness and entertainment products during the pandemic. Further, increased awareness towards health and hygiene had a significant positive influence on the demand for products relating to health and hygiene as also on the demand for healthy substitute products of daily necessities as described in Hypotheses  6a and 6b respectively. The significant results of Hypotheses  4c , 5 , 6a , and 6b have been delineated in Figure  2 . Thus, our study validates many of the anecdotal explanations that are observed in market surveys and news reports on the effect of COVID‐19 on consumers' changing buying behaviour.

6.5. Influence of occupation on the demand for wellness products

Test results of the remaining six hypotheses involving both direct and indirect effects of socio‐economic background , Consumers’ changing way of life, and consumers' buying behaviour have been shown individually in Tables  6 , ​ ,7, 7 , ​ ,8, 8 , ​ ,9. 9 . These tables show the direct effect, indirect effect, and total effect of the relationships. We utilized the AMOS plugin developed by Gaskin and Lim ( 2018 ) for estimating the specific indirect effect in IBM SPSS AMOS (version 24). Table  6 presents the results of Hypothesis  7 explaining the influence of occupation on the demand for wellness and entertainment products. We considered Job1 as the reference category and tested the scores obtained by categories Job2 through Job5 against the reference category. The results show that the occupation with category Job3 had a significant negative influence on the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products compared to the reference category. The association is moderate which is mediated through two mediating constructs: (1) Change in affordability and (2) Lifestyle changes. Further, the mediation is partial. However, it was observed that the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products by the remaining categories of occupations including Job2, Job4, and Job5 did not significantly differ from the demand created by the reference category. We present the results of Hypothesis  7 in Table  6 for occupation with category Job3 only. We further show the results of the total significant effect of occupation with category Job3 on the demand for wellness and entertainment products in Figure  2 through a bold arrow.

Hypothesis  7 Influence of occupation on the demand for wellness products (direct, indirect and total effects) ( n  = 425)

Hypothesis  9 Influence of earning status on the demand for wellness products (direct, indirect and total effects) ( n  = 425)

Hypothesis  11 Influence of emp. Status on the creation of new demand for health products (direct, indirect and total effects) ( n  = 425)

Hypothesis  12 Influence of earning status on the creation of new demand for health products (direct, indirect and total effects) ( n  = 425)

6.6. Influence of employment status and earning status on the demand for wellness products

We investigated the results of Hypothesis  8 describing the influence of current employment status on the demand for wellness products considering Emp1 as the reference category and observed that the current employment status of people with categories Emp2 through Emp4 did not have a significant influence on the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products compared to the reference category. Since the results of Hypothesis  8 involving all categories of employment status were insignificant, we have not reported the results. We analysed the results of Hypothesis  9 explaining the influence of family earning status on the demand for wellness products considering Earn2 as the reference category. The results are presented in Table  7 . The results reveal that the earning status of people of category Earn1 had a significant negative influence on the creation of new demand for wellness and entertainment products compared to the reference category. The relationship is mediated by two mediating constructs: (1) Change in affordability and (2) Lifestyle changes and the mediation is full. It was further observed that the earning status of people of category Earn3 did not have any significant influence on the demand for wellness and entertainment products compared to the reference category. The significant effect of Hypothesis  9 explaining the influence of earning status with category Earn1 on the demand for wellness and entertainment products is represented in Figure  2 .

6.7. Influence of occupation, employment status and earning status on the demand for health products

We analysed the influence of occupation on the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products considering Job1 as the reference category and found that the occupation with categories Job2 through Job5 did not have a significant influence on the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products compared to the reference category. We, therefore, have not reported the results of Hypothesis  10 . We investigated the results of Hypothesis  11 delineating the influence of current employment status on the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products considering Emp1 as the reference category. The results show that the employment status of category Emp3 had a significant positive influence on the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products compared to the reference category. The association is mediated by two constructs: (1) Change in affordability and (2) Awareness towards health and hygiene and the mediation is partial. We did not observe any significant influence of employment status with categories Emp2 and Emp4 on the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products compared to the reference category. Table  8 presents the results of hypothesis Hypothesis  11 for employment status with category Emp3 only. We have further shown the total significant effect of Hypothesis  11 in respect of employment status of category Emp3 in Figure  2 . Finally, Table  9 outlines the results of Hypothesis  12 explaining the influence of earning status on the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products considering Earn2 as the reference category. The results reveal that the family earning status of category Earn3 had a significant positive influence on the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products compared to the reference category. The association is mediated by two constructs: (1) Change in affordability and (2) Awareness towards health and hygiene and the mediation is partial. The significant total effect of Hypothesis  12 in respect of earning status of category Earn3 is depicted in Figure  2 . The earning status of people of category Earn1 did not have any significant influence on the demand for health and hygiene products compared to the reference category.

7. DISCUSSION

7.1. theoretical contributions.

The main theoretical contribution of the study involves understanding the impact of the socio‐economic background of the respondents in terms of their occupation, employment status, and family earning status on Consumers’ changing way of life and subsequently on consumers’ changing buying behaviour at a granular level in the context of the pandemic. While earlier researchers had studied consumption shifts during the pandemic (Laato et al.,  2020 ; Pakravan‐Charvadeh et al.,  2021 ), we are not aware of any study that investigated the Consumers' changing way of life and their changing buying behaviour arising out of COVID‐19 based on the socio‐economic background of the consumers. Although the survey was carried out in India in the backdrop of COVID‐19 pandemic, the findings of the study could provide important insights to other emerging economies afflicted with COVID‐19. Thus, it may be considered as a significant contribution to the existing body of consumer behaviour literature.

Second , we have gone beyond panic buying and stockpiling behaviour, which are extensively covered in the earlier works (Kirk & Rifkin,  2020 ; Laato et al.,  2020 ), with an attempt to link affordability, lifestyle changes, and health awareness with consumer behaviour. The findings of the study demonstrating the impact of consumers' socio‐economic background on their affordability, lifestyle changes, and awareness towards health and finally on the adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour arising out of COVID‐19 have enabled us to develop a theoretical model which seems to be generalisable for other similar kinds of pandemics in the emerging economies. Third , the extant literature suggests that during the period of the pandemic, consumers focus mostly on essential products and exercise control on discretionary expenditure. However, the present study notes that the demand for some discretionary products (e.g., the demand for wellness and entertainment products) has shown a varying pattern depending on the occupation and earning potential of a family during the pandemic. We have further demonstrated that this change in demand for wellness products among consumers of certain socio‐economic groups is not merely due to the economic impacts but also due to the pandemic‐induced lifestyle changes. By including lifestyle changes, we have added a new dimension to the understanding of consumers’ behaviour during the pandemic and enriched similar studies by earlier researchers such as Naeem ( 2020 ) who attributed consumers’ impulsive buying to information overload. Fourth, the study reveals that the creation of new demand for health and hygiene products was found to depend upon the current employment status and family earning status of consumers which is jointly mediated by affordability and awareness towards health and hygiene. These findings enrich our understanding of consumers' behaviour in terms of their demand for wellness products as also the demand for health and hygiene products during the pandemic (Pakravan‐Charvadeh et al.,  2021 ). Finally , the study further reveals that the consumers demonstrated product substitution behaviour due to the availability of affordable substitutes of daily necessities and also due to the availability of healthy substitutes of daily necessities. Therefore, our study confirms product substitution behaviour during the pandemic as noted by Knowles et al. ( 2020 ). Thus, it may also be considered to be another unique contribution of the present study.

7.2. Managerial implications

The study reveals that the affordability of the most vulnerable section of people including daily wage earners and those working in MSMEs has been affected due to COVID‐19. The study also finds that the affordability of the people receiving a reduced salary or having lost their jobs has also been severely affected. This provides an important insight to the policy planners in terms of developing targeted intervention strategies with a view to providing economic aid to the affected people. In addition, the study provides insights to marketing managers in terms of designing and introducing affordable substitute products of daily necessities for a substantial section of the population. Thus, there lies an opportunity to penetrate the market with inexpensive substitutes in a market already occupied by established brands.

The study shows that people engaged in most of the occupations other than Government or public sector jobs are not much concerned with lifestyle changes arising out of COVID‐19. However, it shows that people receiving a reduced salary or having lost their jobs have become quite active in practicing yoga and utilizing herbal products. This possibly indicates that these consumers have become sensitive in maintaining their health due to the fear of contagion despite the challenging situation faced by them in their professional lives. On further scrutiny, we observed that the demand for wellness products by people working in the unorganised sectors is significantly lower than those working in the organised sectors. It is significantly less in a family with a sole earning member than in a family with multiple earning members. In addition, the demand for wellness products by people receiving a reduced salary or having lost their jobs does not significantly differ from people receiving full salary. Thus, the market planners need to carefully take into consideration the socio‐economic factors of the consumers including occupation, employment status, and family earning status while introducing wellness products in the market. Increased awareness towards health and hygiene motivates marketing managers to introduce innovative products relating to health and hygiene and healthy substitute products of daily necessities. To boost demand, designing appropriate awareness campaigns would be very useful. It is observed that the demand for health and hygiene products by people belonging to different occupations does not significantly differ from the people working in the government or public sector jobs. Further, the people who lost their jobs exhibited significantly more demand for health and hygiene products than those receiving full salary. In addition, the demand for such products by the non‐earning members of a family has significantly increased compared to the multiple earning members of a family. This is quite surprising. This probably indicates that even though the pandemic has negatively affected the economies across the globe, the sale of products relating to health and hygiene has significantly increased. The companies selling products relating to health and hygiene should go all out in their efforts to advertise and increase their sales during such a crisis. Finally, there is an opportunity to introduce healthy substitutes of daily necessities in a market already occupied by established brands.

Given that emerging economies such as India, where this study was carried out, have a large share of the unorganised or informal sector (Murthy,  2019 ), our findings are indicative of the nature of the economic impact that the unorganised sector has experienced during this pandemic. Post‐COVID it would be essential for firms dealing with daily necessities to expand their product assortments to include cheaper alternatives. Emerging economies are further characterized by a smaller market for health and hygiene as well as the wellness and digital entertainment market (Sood,  2020 ). The study observed that it is lifestyle and health awareness that affect the demand for wellness and entertainment products, and hygiene products respectively. Hence, firms dealing with such products in emerging markets should realise that it is important to focus on market creation through lifestyle changes and health awareness in addition to regular promotions. The study also gives enough insights into the customer segments that could be targeted for such efforts.

8. CONCLUSION

In this paper, we have carried out a questionnaire survey to understand the impact of COVID‐19 on consumers' affordability, lifestyle, and health awareness and how these effects influenced their buying behaviour. Analysis of the survey data revealed several interesting facts about the impact of COVID‐19 and how the consumers behaved. Some of the major findings of this study include: (1) COVID‐19 affected the affordability of consumers employed in the unorganised sectors more than those who were employed in the organised sector, (2) Type of occupation, current employment status, and the earning potential of a family had a varying degree of impact on lifestyle changes undergone by consumers, and (3) the health awareness was significantly higher for consumers who lost their jobs or had lower family earning status. It was observed that the demand for wellness and entertainment products was not affected much by affordability but by lifestyle changes while the demand for health and hygiene products was more influenced by consumer awareness towards health. Affordability, on the other hand, influenced the demand for affordable substitutes of daily necessities. Therefore, this study and the findings would be very useful for studying the effects of disruptive events on the nature of the shift in consumption behaviour and substitution behaviour exhibited by consumers. Further, the findings of this study would help organizations formulate appropriate strategies to cope with the shift in consumption and substitution behaviour as a result of the pandemic.

The study is not free from certain limitations. The imposition of lockdown in different parts of India at different points of time made it very difficult for us to carry out the survey. Further given the diversity and the large geographical size of India, we could not reach out to all the diverse groups, communities, and cultures. Increasing reach possibly could have generated more insights into consumer behaviour and market segmentation. Moreover, our study was limited to wellness, entertainment, and health products as also the products of daily necessities. Therefore, extending this research to include more diversity in terms of the nature of products would be useful in further refinement of marketing strategies under disruption.

The observations of Paul and Bhukya ( 2021 ) encourage us to propose extension of the present research primarily along the following directions: (1) cross‐country studies for understanding how the pandemic‐induced disruptions have affected consumer behaviour across various social groups based on culture, region, and age, (2) studies on how organizations cope with such adaptations in consumers' needs during pandemic, and (3) studies focusing on understanding how and to what extent consumers' consumption shifts influence retailers' strategies related to product selection, channel choice, promotions, and discounts. It can also be expected that the choice of the above strategies would differ based on retailers' location, the scale of operations, and the target segments. A major influence on the Consumers' changing way of life during such pandemic‐induced disruptions includes government interventions in the form of schemes, aids, and subsidies. An important extension of the present research would be to understand how such interventions were able to mitigate the adverse impacts of the pandemic on consumers' life and at the same time maintain the sustainability of business organizations.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Biographies.

Debadyuti Das is a Professor at the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University in the Operations Management Area. He received his Ph.D. from IIT BHU. He has a rich blend of experience in both industry and academics spanning over more than two and half decades. He has extensive experience in executive education and management development programs. His current areas of research include Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Managing Carbon Footprint in Supply Chain, Distribution Network Design in Public Health, Efficient Sourcing and Distribution of water etc.

Ashutosh Sarkar is an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode in the Quantitative Methods & Operations Management Area. He received his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas. Earlier, Dr. Sarkar has served as a faculty member at IIT Kharagpur and Institute of Technology‐Banaras Hindu University (now IIT BHU). He has extensive experience in executive education and training. His areas of interests include Inventory and Supply Chain Optimization, Application of Stochastic Dynamic Programming in Operations Management Problems, Purchasing and Supply Chain Risk Management.

Arindam Debroy is an Assistant Professor at the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management Nagpur in the Operations Management Area. He received his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He has also received the Institute Fellowship during his doctoral program at IIT Kharagpur. His areas of interests include Inventory and Logistics & Supply Chain Management, Purchase Management, and Project Management.

APPENDIX 1. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMERS' CHANGING WAY OF LIFE

Appendix 2. descriptive statistics of adaptation in consumers' buying behaviour.

Das, D. , Sarkar, A. , & Debroy, A. (2022). Impact of COVID‐19 on changing consumer behaviour: Lessons from an emerging economy . International Journal of Consumer Studies , 46 , 692–715. 10.1111/ijcs.12786 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

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Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior, June 2021 (ICPSR 39015)

Version Date: May 9, 2024 View help for published

University of Michigan. Survey Research Center. Economic Behavior Program. Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior, June 2021. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-05-09. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39015.v1

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• Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior Series

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39015.v1

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Project Description

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The Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Behavior series (also known as the Surveys of Consumers) was undertaken to measure changes in consumer attitudes and expectations, to understand why such changes occur, and to evaluate how they relate to consumer decisions to save, borrow, or make discretionary purchases. The data regularly include the Index of Consumer Sentiment, the Index of Current Economic Conditions, and the Index of Consumer Expectations. Since the 1940s, these surveys have been produced quarterly through 1977 and monthly thereafter.

The surveys conducted in 2021 focused on topics such as evaluations and expectations about personal finances, employment, price changes, and the national business situation. Opinions were collected regarding respondents' appraisals of present market conditions for purchasing houses, automobiles, computers, and other durables. Also explored in this survey were respondents' types of savings and financial investments, loan use, family income, and retirement planning.

Other topics include political affiliation, mortgage refinancing, feelings about life, stimulus rebate, and respondents' feelings about the coronavirus. Demographic information includes ethnic origin, sex, age, marital status, and education.

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Subject terms view help for subject terms, geographic coverage view help for geographic coverage, smallest geographic unit view help for smallest geographic unit, restrictions view help for restrictions.

This data collection may not be used for any purpose other than statistical reporting and analysis. Use of these data to learn the identity of any person or establishment is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, some of the data files in this collection are restricted from general dissemination. To obtain these restricted files researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement.

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Scope of project, time period(s) view help for time period(s), date of collection view help for date of collection, data collection notes view help for data collection notes.

Information on the Index of Consumer Sentiment, the Index of Current Economic Conditions, and the Index of Consumer Expectations and how they were created can be found in the P.I. Codebook.

• Additional information on the Surveys of Consumers can be found by visiting the Surveys of Consumers Website .

Methodology

Study purpose view help for study purpose.

The purpose of this survey series is to forecast changes in aggregate consumer behavior.

Study Design View help for Study Design

This survey is a rotating panel design. For each monthly sample, an independent cross-section sample of households is drawn. The respondents chosen in this drawing are then reinterviewed six months later. The result is a rotating panel design, and the total sample for any one survey is normally made up of 60 percent new respondents with 40 percent being interviewed for the second time.

Sample View help for Sample

National sample of telephone numbers from cell (RDD) sampling frame.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe view help for universe.

Persons aged 18 years or older living in households with telephones in the coterminous United States.

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Data type(s) view help for data type(s), mode of data collection view help for mode of data collection, original release date view help for original release date, version history view help for version history.

2024-05-09 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

• Created variable labels and/or value labels.

Analysis Information

Weight view help for weight.

The data are not weighted, however, this collection contains three weight variables; WT (Household weight ( WT_HH renamed)), WT_HH (Household weight), and WT_AD (Adult weight) that must be used in any analysis. For more information on weights and sampling, please refer to the documentation and/or visit the Surveys of Consumers Website .

These data are freely available to data users at ICPSR member institutions . The curation and dissemination of this study are provided by the institutional members of ICPSR. How do I access ICPSR data if I am not at a member institution?

One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions . Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.

Consumer Behavior Research Paper Topics

Consumer behavior research paper topics are essential to students studying this field. This comprehensive guide from iResearchNet provides a comprehensive list of consumer behavior research paper topics divided into 10 categories, expert advice on selecting a relevant topic, and a step-by-step guide on writing a successful research paper. Additionally, iResearchNet offers writing services with expert degree-holding writers, custom written works, in-depth research, custom formatting, top quality, customized solutions, flexible pricing, short deadlines, timely delivery, 24/7 support, absolute privacy, easy order tracking, and a money-back guarantee. By following the expert advice provided and using iResearchNet’s writing services, students can produce high-quality research papers that make meaningful contributions to the field of consumer behavior.

Understanding Consumer Behavior Research

Consumer behavior research is an essential field of study that explores the processes and activities that individuals undertake when making decisions related to purchasing goods and services. This field is particularly important for marketers, advertisers, and sales professionals who seek to understand how consumers make purchasing decisions and how they can influence these decisions.

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For students studying consumer behavior, research papers are a common assignment that require them to explore various topics related to this field. However, selecting a relevant and feasible research paper topic can be challenging. Furthermore, writing a successful research paper requires attention to detail and adherence to academic standards. This comprehensive guide from iResearchNet is designed to assist students in selecting appropriate consumer behavior research paper topics and providing expert advice on how to write a successful research paper. The guide also provides information on iResearchNet’s writing services, which offer students a valuable resource for producing high-quality research papers that meet the academic standards of their instructors. By following the guidelines and using iResearchNet’s writing services, students can produce research papers that make meaningful contributions to the field of consumer behavior.

100 Consumer Behavior Research Paper Topics

Consumer behavior research encompasses a wide range of topics, each of which explores different aspects of how individuals make decisions related to purchasing goods and services. Here are ten categories of consumer behavior research paper topics that students can consider when selecting a research topic, along with ten sample topics for each category:

Perception and consumer behavior:

• The impact of package design on consumer perception of food products
• The effect of product display on consumer attention and purchase intention
• The role of brand familiarity in consumer perception of luxury goods
• The influence of product color on consumer perception and behavior
• The effect of music in advertising on consumer perception and recall
• The impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer perception of products
• The effect of font type on consumer perception of brand personality
• The role of scent in retail environments on consumer behavior
• The influence of product label claims on consumer perception of health and wellness
• The impact of product design on consumer perception of eco-friendliness

Motivation and consumer behavior:

• The influence of brand personality on consumer motivation to purchase
• The role of scarcity in marketing on consumer motivation and behavior
• The impact of rewards and incentives on consumer motivation and loyalty
• The effect of social proof on consumer motivation to purchase
• The influence of emotions on consumer motivation to purchase
• The role of self-congruity in consumer motivation and brand preference
• The impact of brand trust on consumer motivation to purchase
• The effect of personalized marketing on consumer motivation and engagement
• The influence of product involvement on consumer motivation and purchase intention
• The role of value perception in consumer motivation and price sensitivity

Attitudes and consumer behavior:

• The impact of brand image on consumer attitudes and loyalty
• The role of social responsibility in consumer attitudes towards brands
• The influence of culture on consumer attitudes towards luxury goods
• The effect of perceived risk on consumer attitudes and behavior
• The impact of celebrity endorsement on consumer attitudes towards products
• The role of nostalgia in shaping consumer attitudes towards brands
• The influence of brand authenticity on consumer attitudes and behavior
• The effect of word-of-mouth communication on consumer attitudes and behavior
• The impact of service quality on consumer attitudes and loyalty
• The role of price perception in shaping consumer attitudes towards products

Learning and consumer behavior:

• The impact of advertising on consumer learning and recall
• The role of sensory marketing in consumer learning and behavior
• The influence of online reviews on consumer learning and purchase decisions
• The effect of product placement in movies on consumer learning and recall
• The impact of social media on consumer learning and brand awareness
• The role of brand familiarity in consumer learning and recall
• The influence of product packaging on consumer learning and memory
• The effect of information overload on consumer learning and decision making
• The impact of brand slogans on consumer learning and recall
• The role of perceived value in consumer learning and purchase behavior

Memory and consumer behavior:

• The influence of brand familiarity on consumer memory and recall
• The role of nostalgia in consumer memory and brand preference
• The impact of product design on consumer memory and recall
• The effect of advertising repetition on consumer memory and brand awareness
• The influence of mood on consumer memory and recall of advertising
• The role of social media in consumer memory and brand awareness
• The impact of story-telling in advertising on consumer memory and recall
• The effect of novelty in advertising on consumer memory and recall
• The influence of age on consumer memory and recall of advertising
• The role of emotions in consumer memory and recall of advertising

Culture and consumer behavior:

• The impact of cultural differences on consumer behavior and preferences
• The role of religion in shaping consumer behavior and preferences
• The influence of gender roles on consumer behavior and preferences
• The effect of country-of-origin on consumer behavior and brand perception
• The impact of subcultures on consumer behavior and preferences
• The role of ethnicity in shaping consumer behavior and preferences
• The influence of language on consumer behavior and perception
• The effect of cross-cultural marketing on consumer behavior and perception
• The impact of cultural values on consumer behavior and decision making
• The role of consumer ethnocentrism in shaping consumer behavior and preferences

Emotions and consumer behavior:

• The impact of emotions on consumer decision making and behavior
• The role of mood on consumer decision making and purchase intention
• The influence of emotional branding on consumer behavior and loyalty
• The effect of emotional appeals in advertising on consumer behavior
• The impact of emotions on consumer satisfaction and loyalty
• The role of self-expression in shaping consumer emotional responses to brands
• The influence of nostalgia on consumer emotional responses to brands
• The effect of humor in advertising on consumer emotional responses and behavior
• The impact of product design on consumer emotional responses and behavior
• The role of perceived authenticity in shaping consumer emotional responses to brands

Social Influence and consumer behavior:

• The impact of social norms on consumer behavior and preferences
• The role of social comparison in shaping consumer behavior and preferences
• The influence of reference groups on consumer behavior and brand perception
• The effect of social media on consumer behavior and decision making
• The impact of social identity on consumer behavior and brand loyalty
• The role of social class in shaping consumer behavior and preferences
• The influence of social networks on consumer behavior and brand perception
• The effect of social proof in marketing on consumer behavior and preferences
• The impact of peer pressure on consumer behavior and decision making
• The role of social responsibility in shaping consumer behavior and brand perception

Decision Making and consumer behavior:

• The impact of information overload on consumer decision making
• The role of decision heuristics in shaping consumer behavior and preferences
• The influence of product complexity on consumer decision making and preferences
• The effect of decision context on consumer decision making and behavior
• The impact of decision fatigue on consumer behavior and decision making
• The role of decision-making style in shaping consumer behavior and preferences
• The influence of decision-making strategies on consumer behavior and preferences
• The effect of cognitive dissonance on consumer behavior and decision making
• The impact of choice architecture on consumer decision making and behavior
• The role of decision framing in shaping consumer behavior and preferences

Ethics and consumer behavior:

• The impact of corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior and brand perception
• The role of ethical consumption in shaping consumer behavior and preferences
• The influence of perceived ethicality on consumer behavior and brand loyalty
• The effect of green marketing on consumer behavior and purchase intention
• The impact of fair trade on consumer behavior and brand perception
• The role of animal welfare in shaping consumer behavior and preferences
• The influence of social justice issues on consumer behavior and brand perception
• The effect of cause-related marketing on consumer behavior and brand loyalty
• The impact of transparency in marketing on consumer behavior and trust
• The role of consumer activism in shaping consumer behavior and preferences

These ten categories provide a broad range of consumer behavior research paper topics for students to explore within the field of consumer behavior. By selecting a topic that aligns with their interests and research goals, students can produce a high-quality research paper that contributes to the knowledge base of consumer behavior.

Choosing a Consumer Behavior Topic

Choosing a topic for a research paper in consumer behavior can be a challenging task, especially given the vast array of potential topics. To help students navigate this process, it is important to consider a few key factors when selecting a topic.

• First , it is essential to choose a topic that aligns with your interests and passions. When you are passionate about a topic, it is easier to stay engaged throughout the research process and to produce high-quality work. Additionally, having a personal connection to the topic can inspire new and unique perspectives, leading to original research.
• Second , consider the relevance and significance of the topic. The best research papers are those that make a meaningful contribution to the field of consumer behavior. Look for topics that are timely, relevant, and offer a new perspective on existing theories or practices. A topic that is of current interest to industry professionals, policymakers, or academics can also provide opportunities for real-world impact.
• Third , consider the available resources and access to data. Research papers require a significant amount of data and research, so it is important to choose a topic that allows for access to relevant data and resources. Consider the availability of data sources, academic journals, and industry reports that may be needed to support your research.
• Fourth , consider the scope and focus of the research paper. A topic that is too broad or too narrow can make the research process more challenging. It is essential to identify a specific research question or hypothesis that can be effectively addressed within the scope of the research paper. Additionally, it is important to consider the level of analysis, such as individual or group-level behaviors, and whether the research will be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods.
• Fifth , consider seeking guidance from your instructor or a research advisor. They can provide valuable insight and feedback on potential topics and can help guide the research process. Additionally, they may be able to offer suggestions for data sources or research methodologies that can strengthen the research paper.

Ultimately, the key to choosing a successful topic for a consumer behavior research paper is to identify a topic that aligns with your interests, offers relevance and significance, has available data sources and resources, has a focused research question or hypothesis, and seeks guidance from a research advisor or instructor. By carefully considering these factors, students can select a topic that inspires them and leads to a high-quality research paper.

How to Write a Consumer Behavior Research Paper

When it comes to writing a research paper on consumer behavior, there are several key steps to follow to ensure a successful outcome. Here are some tips to help guide you through the writing process:

• Develop a clear and concise research question : The first step in writing a research paper on consumer behavior is to develop a clear and concise research question. This question should be focused and specific, and should guide your research and analysis throughout the writing process.
• Conduct a thorough literature review : Before beginning your research, it is important to conduct a thorough literature review to identify existing theories and research related to your topic. This review will help you to identify any gaps in the existing research that your paper can address.
• Choose appropriate research methods : There are a variety of research methods that can be used in consumer behavior research, including surveys, experiments, and case studies. Choose the appropriate method(s) based on your research question and the data you are trying to collect.
• Collect and analyze data : Once you have identified your research question and chosen your research method, it is time to collect and analyze your data. This may involve conducting surveys or experiments, analyzing existing data sets, or conducting interviews or focus groups.
• Organize and present your findings : After analyzing your data, it is important to organize your findings in a clear and concise manner. This may involve creating charts or graphs to visually represent your data, or using tables to compare and contrast your findings. It is also important to provide a clear and concise summary of your findings in your conclusion.
• Use appropriate formatting and citation styles : When writing a research paper on consumer behavior, it is important to use appropriate formatting and citation styles. Most papers in this field will use either APA or MLA style formatting and citations.
• Revise and edit your paper : Once you have completed your first draft, it is important to revise and edit your paper to ensure clarity, conciseness, and accuracy. This may involve reorganizing sections, cutting out extraneous information, or rephrasing sentences for clarity.

By following these steps, you can produce a high-quality research paper on consumer behavior that contributes to the field and provides valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and industry professionals alike.

iResearchNet Writing Services

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Whether you need help developing a research question, conducting a literature review, or writing the final paper, our team of expert writers can help. Contact us today to learn more about our custom writing services for consumer behavior research papers.

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In conclusion, writing a research paper on consumer behavior can be a challenging task, but it is also a rewarding one. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can produce a high-quality research paper that contributes to the field and provides valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and industry professionals alike.

Remember to choose a clear and concise research question, conduct a thorough literature review, choose appropriate research methods, collect and analyze data, and organize and present your findings in a clear and concise manner. Additionally, using appropriate formatting and citation styles and revising and editing your paper are also important steps in producing a successful research paper on consumer behavior.

If you need additional help with your research paper, iResearchNet offers custom writing services designed to help students produce high-quality, well-researched papers on any topic related to consumer behavior. Our team of expert writers has the knowledge and expertise to help you produce a paper that meets your specific needs and exceeds your expectations.

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Consumer Behavior

Open theses.

Normally, the subject for the Master thesis is selected among the topics of the Major. There is a possibility to write a thesis in the context of the current research projects even though there are no explicit theses announced.