Abstract
In public health emergencies, people are more willing to save money rather than spending it, which is not conductive to economic development and recovery. Due to the absence of relevant research, the internal logic of this phenomenon is not clear. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study systematically explored whether and why public health emergencies stimulate consumers' preference for saving (vs. spending). We conducted two online surveys and used methods including stepwise regression analysis and bootstrapping to test the hypotheses. The first survey, with 1,511 participants from China in February 2020, indicates that the severity of emergencies has a significant positive impact on the populations' willingness to save (vs. spend). Risk perception plays a mediating role between the severity of emergencies and consumers' saving (vs. spending) willingness. Materialism plays a moderating role between risk perception and an individual's saving (vs. spending) willingness, individuals who are more materialistic have a lower saving (vs. spending) willingness when they perceive the risks of the pandemic. To verify the duration of the above effects, we conducted a follow-up survey consisted of 466 instances in August 2020. It is noteworthy that the above effects are not significant during the post-pandemic period. Thus, spending behavior in public health emergencies can be motived by reducing risk perception and increasing materialism. These findings can provide a valuable inspiration for public health, crisis management, and economic recovery during public health emergencies.
Highlights
Emergencies can include natural disasters, accidental disasters, public health incidents, and social security incidents that occur suddenly, cause or may have the potential to cause serious harm to human life and environment and require emergency response measures
We have proved that the COVID-19 pandemic will increase an individual’s perception of risk and boost their saving behavior, in reality, there are still many people who deal with anxiety; these individuals ease their anxiety through consumption
As the COVID-19 pandemic had eased in China as of August 2020, with almost no new cases, we randomly distributed a total of 500 follow-up questionnaires from August 3, 2020 to August 6, 2020 among participants who participated in the first survey and didn’t change location, entered their information in the database, and recovered 466 questionnaires
Summary
Emergencies can include natural disasters, accidental disasters, public health incidents, and social security incidents that occur suddenly, cause or may have the potential to cause serious harm to human life and environment and require emergency response measures. According to a classical theory regarding uncertain conditions known as the “preventive saving hypothesis,” we can assume that the COVID-19 pandemic will increase the consumers’ saving (vs spending) behavior This is because when consumers face uncertainty regarding the future, they make more precautionary savings (Kimball, 1990). We have proved that the COVID-19 pandemic will increase an individual’s perception of risk and boost their saving (vs spending) behavior, in reality, there are still many people who deal with anxiety; these individuals ease their anxiety (caused by the pandemic) through consumption. Based on the above theory and logic analysis, the following hypothesis is proposed: Hypothesis 6: Materialism plays a moderating role between risk perception and an individual’s saving (vs spending) behavior. That is, compared with individuals with low materialism, individuals with high materialism show a decreased saving (vs. spending) behavior when they perceive the risk of a pandemic
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