Consumer Sustainable Shopping Practices for Small Business during COVID-19

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the factors that attract consumers to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist with small businesses. Factors of interest included emotional (positive and negative) and cognitive experiences (resilience, optimism) during the pandemic and demographic characteristics (gender, generation, education, income, and employment status). Using a convenience survey sample in U.S. (N = 315), this study found that positive and negative emotions, active resilience, and demographic characteristics (generation, education, income, and employment status) can explain consumer shopping frequency and number of services used with small businesses during a pandemic. Small businesses may seek to trigger active resilience and emotions (negative and positive) in their marketing/advertising avenues to attract consumers’ sustainable consumption practices and may consider pivoting to attract particular consumer segments that are more likely to lend favorable actions toward sustainable consumption.