Management of Consumer Payment Determined by Gender During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The article discusses the subject of the consumer's gender and factors that affect shopping, and more specifically whether there is a relationship between gender and preferred means of payment in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. I explore the relationship between cash and other payment instruments using the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment exogenously affecting both the payment industry and consumers’ habits. This article sheds more light on changing the payment habits of consumers since the beginning of the pandemic.
 The purpose of this article is to examine the styles of payment-related decision making and to identify differences and similarities in this regard according to gender. Women are different from men in every activity they perform, and therefore also in shopping styles. Consumer behaviour is an area in which the diversity of behaviour between men and women is very clear. The author conducted an empirical study in the period of January-February 2022 among the students of the University of the Third Age. The study participants were women and men over 55 years of age. The basic research method was the PAPI (Paper and Pencil Interview) method, based on a questionnaire.
 In the first part of the article, it was attempted to present some theoretical aspects of payment methods by consumers in Poland and in Europe, based on the analysis of literature sources. Then, the gender-dependent differences in consumer behaviour are presented. The next section describes the procedure of empirical research, as well as the most important conclusions of the research.