Purpose

COVID-19 and its precautions, including social distancing, have revolutionized traditional retailing- and consumption patterns. In this turbulent environment, the purpose of this study is twofold. First, this paper explores the direct effect of consumers’ internal/external health locus-of-control on their hygiene consciousness, which, in turn, affects their social distancing behavior. Second, this study posits that social distancing, in turn, impacts consumers’ current online grocery shopping behavior and their future online grocery shopping intentions, thus uncovering important insight.

Design/methodology/approach

To address these gaps, this paper develops a model that links consumers’ internal/external health locus-of-control to their adoption of e-tailing-based grocery services. Data collected through a web-based survey was analyzed by using partial least squares-based structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results indicate that consumers’ health locus-of-control indirectly affects the way they shop for their groceries during the pandemic. In particular, consumers’ internal (external) health locus-of-control drives higher (lower) hygiene consciousness and greater (lower) social distancing behavior. In turn, consumers’ online grocery shopping behavior was found to increase during the pandemic, with their corresponding intent to continue this behavior in the future. Moreover, this study finds the effects of consumers’ social distancing on their current grocery shopping behavior and future intentions to be contingent on consumer age, with stronger effects identified for older consumers.

Originality/value

This study shows how consumers’ internal/external health loci-of-control exert opposing effects on their social distancing behavior, as mediated by hygiene consciousness. Overall, the empirical analyzes corroborate the association of consumers’ social distancing- and online grocery shopping behavior (for consumers of different age profiles), both during and after the pandemic.

中文翻译：

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基于大流行的电子零售服务中消费者的健康控制点和社会距离

目的

COVID-19 及其预防措施，包括保持社交距离，彻底改变了传统的零售和消费模式。在这种动荡的环境中，这项研究的目的是双重的。首先，本文探讨了消费者内部/外部健康控制点对其卫生意识的直接影响，进而影响了他们的社交疏远行为。其次，本研究认为，社交距离反过来会影响消费者当前的在线杂货购物行为和他们未来的在线杂货购物意图，从而揭示重要的洞察力。

设计/方法/方法

为了解决这些差距，本文开发了一个模型，将消费者的内部/外部健康控制点与他们采用基于电子零售的杂货服务联系起来。通过基于网络的调查收集的数据使用基于偏最小二乘法的结构方程模型进行分析。

发现

结果表明，消费者的健康控制点间接影响了他们在大流行期间购买杂货的方式。特别是，消费者的内部（外部）健康控制点驱动了更高（更低）的卫生意识和更大（更低）的社会疏远行为。反过来，在大流行期间，消费者的在线杂货购物行为有所增加，他们相应地打算在未来继续这种行为。此外，这项研究发现，消费者的社交距离对他们当前的杂货店购物行为和未来意图的影响取决于消费者的年龄，对老年消费者的影响更大。

原创性/价值

这项研究显示了消费者的内部/外部健康控制位点如何在卫生意识的介导下对其社交疏远行为产生相反的影响。总体而言，实证分析证实了大流行期间和之后消费者的社交距离和在线杂货购物行为（针对不同年龄的消费者）之间的关联。