The urge to search: A multinational model of prepurchase behavior during COVID-19

Abstract

In this study I proposed a multinational model to explore how COVID-19 mortality salience influences countries' prepurchase online keyword search behavior for products during the pandemic. I used the COVID-19 death toll in 75 countries and extracted Google Trends data to develop a global search ranking that I called the religious searching popularity index (RSPI) as well as a prepurchase index (PPI) for the test products. I used terror management theory to investigate how the RSPI and product type (home use or nonhome use) moderated the relationship between the COVID-19 death toll and the PPI for each of eight products. The results suggested that purchasing did not increase for every home-use product, nor did purchasing of every non-home-use product decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the PPIs, countries with a higher RSPI had lower search impulses for Nintendo Switch, perfume, treadmills, and watches. The death toll significantly affected the PPIs of some specific home-use and non-home-use items, mainly in countries with lower RSPIs. Replication of this model will assist multinational businesses and researchers in identifying market opportunities for products.