ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic threats and its subsequent restrictions on people's freedom, social interaction, closures of workplaces and shopping stores have caused public psychological reactance. In response, the study develops and tests a conceptual framework, which unveils the effects of perceived choice hesitation and perceived choice confidence on consumers’ psychological reactance. It also corroborates two bipolar behavioral outcomes of consumers’ psychological reactance— choice freedom satisfaction and resistance to persuasion. We employ the moderating role of anticipated worry and trust in government in strengthening the psychological reactance and final behavioral outcomes, respectively. Data collected from the country of origin of COVID-19 pandemic indicated the positive effects of antecedents on psychological reactance, which negatively affected choice freedom satisfaction and positively to resistance to persuasion. Anticipated worry and trust in government positively moderated these relationships. Findings extend the literature on psychology, service management, and consumer behavior, and suggest to government policymakers and store managers.

摘要

COVID-19大流行性威胁及其随后对人们自由，社会互动，工作场所关闭和购物商店的限制造成了公众心理反感。作为回应，该研究开发并测试了一个概念框架，揭示了感知选择犹豫和感知选择信心对消费者心理反应的影响。它也证实了消费者心理反应的两个双极行为结果-选择自由满意度和抗说服力。我们分别利用预期的忧虑和对政府的信任来调节心理反应和最终行为结果。从COVID-19大流行起源国收集的数据表明，先例对心理反应有积极影响，这对选择自由的满意度产生了负面影响，对抵抗说服力产生了积极影响。预期的对政府的担忧和信任积极地缓和了这些关系。研究结果扩展了有关心理学，服务管理和消费者行为的文献，并向政府政策制定者和商店经理建议。