Assessing the effects of COVID-19-related risk on online shopping behavior

Abstract

In times of pandemic and social distancing, the risks tied to leaving home to make purchases can cause consumers to seek online means to perform such activities. In this sense, the study aims to analyze the influence of COVID-19 on online shopping behavior. For this, we apply a survey with 1052 Brazilian online consumers, with data analyzed via PLS-SEM. As main results, we observed that the perceived risk of being infected with COVID-19 when buying in person positively impacted the perceived usefulness and ease of purchase. However, it had no statistical influence on online shopping intent; perceived usefulness is positively related to online purchase intent; and perceived ease of investment has a significant positive association with perceived usefulness and online purchase intent. Online purchase intent positively affects online shopping. The research contributes to the literature by offering empirical results using TAM and COVID-19 as an external model variable.