The impact of the COVID-19 threat on the preference for high versus low quality/price options
The present research investigates how the threat of COVID-19 affects consumers' choices among hospitality/travel options of varying levels of quality and price. Drawing on compensatory consumption theory, we predicted that the virus's prominence would increase consumers' preference fo...
Saved in:
Published in | Journal of hospitality marketing & management Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 699 - 716 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Routledge
18.08.2021
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | The present research investigates how the threat of COVID-19 affects consumers' choices among hospitality/travel options of varying levels of quality and price. Drawing on compensatory consumption theory, we predicted that the virus's prominence would increase consumers' preference for more expensive options in a choice set. Five empirical studies and one secondary data analysis investigated consumers' choice among various business and budget hotels. The results consistently showed that consumers increase their safety-seeking under a high threat of COVID-19 and prefer a more expensive hotel option. To enhance the study's internal validity, we provide converging evidence by either measuring (studies 1, 2, 3, and 5) or manipulating the threat of COVID-19 (study 4). We also provide the secondary data analysis with words searched in Google Trends (study 6). Finally, we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1936-8623 1936-8631 |
DOI: | 10.1080/19368623.2021.1884163 |