Crisis-induced behavior: From fear and frugality to the familiar

This research uncovers the impact of a multifaceted crisis on consumers' immediate shopping behaviors, short-term financial spending, and long-term shopping and spending responses. This longitudinal study adopts a future studies approach to expose consumers' current experiences, expectations of the future, and realized future experiences to understand a pandemic's impact on consumers' collective shopping and spending behaviors. Data were collected at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, during its peak, and as restrictions were being lifted. Findings reveal that consumers adapt their shopping and spending behavior through a crisis in response to constantly shifting environmental stimuli. Consumers moved from fear to frugality and then followed one of two paths-maintaining new crisis-induced behaviors or, more often, returning to prior familiar consumption behaviors. Retailers and service providers must understand these responses to be able to serve both groups during and after a crisis.