A synthesised review of pandemic-driven consumer behaviours and applied theories: Towards a unified framework

Abstract

A massive amount of research has been conducted to examine the pandemic-driven consumer behaviours, yet one may notice the fragmented nature of the research outcomes. This study conducts a synthesised review that aims to (1) identify the principal categories of pandemic-driven consumer behaviours, and (2) unveil the key streams of theoretical insights applied to address those behaviours. The review findings reveal six categories of consumer behaviours in response to the pandemic: health-related behaviours, abnormal buying behaviours, technology-related behaviours, information-related behaviours, leisure-related behaviours and prosocial behaviours. Our review suggests that theories addressing three distinctive human needs (i.e. basic, cognitive and affective needs) are applied to the pandemic context. We proposed a unified framework and five research propositions, capturing the major research trends and future research directions. This study contributes to the literature with a unified theoretical framework by pinpointing specific theories that are mostly relevant in predicting consumer behaviours under the COVID-19 context.