Determinants of sustainable consumption: Moderating role of pandemic fear

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused consumers to fear and feel anxious about doing activities outside their homes, such as shopping. Thus, they switched to e-commerce for sustainable consumption. This study focuses on sustainable consumption represented with the variables of perceived effectiveness of e-commerce platform (PEEP), economic benefits, interactivity, and pandemic fear. This study uses the Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) to determine consumer motivation and purchase intentions. It explores the relationship between PEEP, economic benefits, interactivity, and sustainable consumption, with pandemic fear as a moderating variable. The analysis was conducted from February to July 2021, with e-commerce being the object of study. The study uses purposive sampling based on the criteria of respondents who have made a transaction at least once in one of the marketplaces in Jakarta, Indonesia. An online survey was employed to test 95 respondents consisting of Millennials and Generation Z who are active e-commerce users in Indonesia. The moderated regression analysis (MRA) or interaction test was applied to analyze the data. The results of the study found that pandemic fear can moderate PEEP’s relationship with economic benefits and interactivity that can increase sustainable consumption. The research findings also prove that relying on interactivity in the buying process encourages them to use e-commerce. E-commerce can help consumers who are limited in making transactions due to fear of spreading the Covid-19 virus to fulfill sustainable consumption.