Effects of Covid-19 on consumer behavior: Ecuador case

Abstract

Confinement as one of the measures decreed in the health emergency by the Ecuadorian government to counteract the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19 virus, has been reflected in consumer behavior. The purpose of this study is to know the effects that this emerging measure causes in the consumption behavior of people, using the measurement of variables related to personal, social, psychological and cultural factors. A sample of 658 consumers was surveyed in five cities in Ecuador: Cuenca, Guayaquil, Loja, Machala and Quito. The Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to check the theoretical hypotheses. These theories were accepted considering three dimensions: the loads of the indicators analyzed through the Loadings test> 0.7; the internal consistency reliability measured through the Cronbach Alpha composite reliability test (CR)> 0.7, for the constructs of purchasing behavior, social, personal, psychological and cultural factors; and the convergent validity observed through the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) test> 0.5 for the five constructs. The results show that the relations between consumer behavior and personal, social, psychological and cultural factors are significantly associated, which provides some guidelines to understand consumer behavior and better meet needs in times of crisis.