Impact of Pandemic Communication on Brand-specific Outcomes: Testing the Moderating Role of Brand Attitude and Product Category

Abstract

The unprecedented crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a shift in consumers’ attitude, behaviour and purchasing habits across the globe. While brands make all the efforts to cope up, they also need to devise strategies to survive in the post-crisis situation. It is in the light of this disturbed equilibrium that the present study is undertaken. Using structural equation modeling (SEM)-based analysis of 240 consumer responses, the article analyses the direct influence of pandemic communication and the indirect impact of brand attitude and product category on three specific brand outcomes, viz. image, trust and loyalty. The findings reveal a positive and significant impact of communication during pandemic on all three brand outcomes under investigation. Further, though the results do not divulge the moderating role of brand attitude, they establish the impact of pandemic communication on brand loyalty for non-essential product category. On the basis of the findings, the study yields useful suggestions that can be implemented by brands to hold themselves more strongly in the post-pandemic future.