Purpose

Crises threaten the operations of small businesses and endanger their survival; however, when the crisis is not attributable to the firm, consumers may rally around the business. This study aims to examine how attitudes toward helping others can create support for small businesses, which in turn can direct consumers to help businesses with increased financial support. It is hoped that this paper will inform how consumers will help firms pivot during crises.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual model was proposed which linked support for helping others to increased willingness to tip/amount tipped. The model was tested using structural equation modeling from two surveys given to customers of two small businesses, a coffee shop and an independent movie theater, respectively.

Findings

During a crisis, support for helping others has a positive impact on feelings of support for small businesses. Consumers direct their support to small businesses that they are interested in seeing survive and continue operations. They either tip more or tip when they otherwise would not have tipped.

Practical implications

Firms that pivot their operations because of a crisis imposed on them can still generate revenues. Consumers who have a self-interest in the continuing operations of the firm want to support it, and by pivoting their business model, the firm gives consumers the opportunity to give the firm and its employees more than they would have in the form of tips.

Originality/value

Prior work in crisis management has focused primarily on how firms recover and respond to a crisis of their doing. Overwhelmingly, consumers have been shown to punish firms during times of crisis. However, for a crisis that is imposed on the firm, consumers may rally behind the firm and respond by supporting it more than they are required to.

中文翻译：

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在健康危机期间支持小企业

目的

危机威胁小企业的经营并危及它们的生存；然而，当危机不是由企业造成时，消费者可能会聚集在企业周围。本研究旨在研究帮助他人的态度如何为小企业创造支持，进而引导消费者帮助企业获得更多的财务支持。希望本文能够告知消费者如何在危机期间帮助企业转型。

设计/方法/方法

提出了一个概念模型，该模型将帮助他人的支持与提高支付小费/小费金额的意愿联系起来。该模型使用结构方程模型进行了测试，该模型来自分别针对两家小型企业、一家咖啡店和一家独立电影院的客户进行的两项调查。

发现

在危机期间，支持帮助他人会对小企业的支持感产生积极影响。消费者将他们的支持指向他们有兴趣看到生存和继续运营的小企业。他们要么给小费，要么给小费，否则他们就不会给小费。

实际影响

由于强加于他们身上的危机而调整其业务的公司仍然可以产生收入。对公司的持续运营有自身利益的消费者想要支持它，并且通过改变他们的商业模式，公司让消费者有机会以小费的形式给予公司及其员工更多。

原创性/价值

之前在危机管理方面的工作主要集中在公司如何恢复和应对危机。绝大多数情况下，消费者已被证明会在危机时期惩罚公司。然而，对于强加于公司的危机，消费者可能会支持公司并通过比他们要求的更多的支持来回应。