Prevention and future spending intentions during COVID-19: A study considering decision-making under risk

Abstract

Goal: The primary goal of this study was to analyze the aspects influencing the intention to prevent Covid-19; the secondary goal was to analyze the influence of the intention to prevent Covid-19 on future spending intentions. Method: To test the proposed model, we conducted a survey with 402 people. The model was analyzed using partial least squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Originality/Relevance: A model was proposed, tested and validated to analyze the intention to prevent Covid-19, considering decision-making under risk. Findings: The findings indicate that 49.4% of the variance in intention to prevent Covid-19 can be explained by the model proposed, with perceived severity and subjective norms being predictors of self-efficacy belief (R2=0.326), which, in turn, is a predictor of the intention to prevent Covid-19. In addition, we found a slight influence of perceived severity on future spending intentions (R2=0.008; β = 0.104; p < 0.01). Theoretical Contributions: The main contributions of this study were: determining a model with a significant ability to explain the intention to prevent Covid-19; demonstrating new relationships between constructs so far untested in the literature, specifically the influence of subjective norms on the self-efficacy belief, and of the latter on future spending intentions; and demonstrating that some sociodemographic aspects influence the perceived severity, the self-efficacy belief and the intention to prevent Covid-19.