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Faculty of Management Sciences

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Author: search.filters.author.Dobbelstein, ThomasSubject: search.filters.subject.Pandemic

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    Social norm compliance and involvement with Covid-19: demographic differences in developing and developed countries
    (www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs, 2022-06-30) Mason, Roger Bruce; Corbishley, Karen Margaret; Dobbelstein, Thomas
    Consumer decisions are influenced by various variables, including compliance with society’s social norms and by involvement by consumers with the issue under consideration. Both variables have influenced consumers’ actions during previous pandemics. Therefore, this study investigated involvement with the Covid-19 pandemic, together with social norm compliance (SNC), their mutual influence, and how demographic characteristics and country of residence influenced these three issues. The methodology involved a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional survey, with a quota sample of 1096 responses, based on age, gender, education, habitation, and income. The research was conducted with populations representing the consumers who patronize major retailers in a developed country (Germany) and a developing one (South Africa). Data was collected via questionnaires e-mailed to commercial consumer panels covering both countries. The findings showed that involvement is influenced by gender, age, education, habitation, and country of residence, but that SNC is not influenced by demographics but does differ according to country. Further findings were that involvement with Covid-19 strongly influences SNC and, similarly, SNC also strongly influences involvement with Covid-19. Furthermore demographics, excluding habitation, also influence these variables. However, the relationship between the involvement and SNC variables does not differ between the two countries. This study has provided a better understanding of consumers’ involvement with Covid-19 and SNC as components of consumer behavior, which is important since, during the Covid-19 pandemic, retailers have been instrumental in implementing health protocols. Therefore, understanding the relationship between involvement with Covid-19 and SNC, and how they are influenced by consumer demographics, is important.
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    COVID-19 involvement, shopping motives and buying behaviour : a German/South African comparison
    (Expert Journals, 2022-04-25) Corbishley, Karen M.; Mason, Roger B.; Dobbelstein, Thomas
    This study aimed to investigate whether consumers’ personal involvement with the COVID-19 pandemic led to hedonic or utilitarian buying motives, and how these buying motives might encourage impulse or planned buying behaviour. Furthermore, it examined whether these influences differed between a developed country (Germany) and a developing country (South Africa). The methodology involved a quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional survey, using a questionnaire based on the literature and sent by e-mail to a quota sample from an online-accessed consumer panel. Useable responses of 548 each from the two countries were analysed, showing that respondents with high levels of involvement with COVID-19 also show high levels of hedonic motivation, whereas utilitarian motivation appeared less important and not linked to a greater involvement with COVID-19. The study also found that a high hedonic motivation is associated with more impulsive shopping, whereas utilitarian motivation is not. The implication is that those with a utilitarian motivation tend towards planned shopping. Finally, the findings show that there appear to be no significant differences between the buying behaviour of consumers in a developing country and a developed country. This study contributed new knowledge about consumer shopping behaviour by examining the interaction of the hedonic/utilitarian construct and the impulsive shopping construct as components of consumer behaviour, research that has not been done before, and especially not in a developing country nor relative to the COVID-19 pandemic.