Revisit intentions: Novel social responsibility of mall for strengthening mall reputation and perceived trust during fear-arousal of Covid-19 pandemic in India

Abstract

The study aims to access the philanthropic influence of malls in creating trust among the shoppers to revisit them during the Covid-19 Unlock Period. Smart PLS-SEM was used to evaluate the responses of 607 customers who voluntarily participated in the survey carried out in Delhi – NCR, India. The study encompasses the hypotheses that the social responsibility of mall generates mall reputation, which in turn strengthen perceived trust, and ultimately the revisit intention. The results established the social responsibility of the mall as a key factor in building mall reputation and fostering trust among the shoppers, ensuring their revisits. The findings also supported shoppers’ revisit intention under the varying influence of fear-arousal. The moderating effect of fear arousal on the relationships of mall reputation – revisit intention, and perceived trust – revisit intention in the organized retail industry has been adjudged as a novelty of the present study. The study recommends its application in framing strategies to strengthen the social commitments by retailers and malls, and also to ameliorate fear-arousal among shoppers during such pandemics. The study proposes avenues for further research in context to the social responsibilities of hospitality-related set-ups during a pandemic with varied variables.