Consumer Behavior

Consumer’s Local Retailer Support During and After the Pandemic: Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis Perspective

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Abstract

The unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic sharply increased consumer awareness of the importance of small businesses in the local and overall economy, which consequently increased their willingness to pay for local products (Ryan, 2020). However, no study has systematically investigated the phenomenon. Thus, the current study theoretically developed and tested a model to understand consumer local business support during the COVID-19 pandemic and future intention using the prosocial behaviors perspective. A survey of US adult consumers (n=301) confirmed the theoretical model developed using the empathy-altruism hypothesis. The consumers supported local businesses for altruistic motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic because of their increased perception of the vulnerability of local businesses. The degree of personal distress had no impact on consumer’s desire to help or actual support behaviors. Consistent with our reasoning, ethnocentrism influenced all aspects of the model from the perception of local businesses to motivations (i.e., empathic concerns, distress), to local support behaviors. Importantly, participant’s future intention to support local was positively associated with their local support behaviors during the pandemic, providing some evidence that increased current local support mindset is likely to continue after the pandemic. 

Keywords: empathy-altruism hypothesis, local consumption, local support, ethnocentrism

How to Cite:

Im, H. & An, H., (2022) “Consumer’s Local Retailer Support During and After the Pandemic: Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis Perspective”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 78(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.13840