Consumer Responses to COVID Policy Across the World: The Role of Community Resilience

Abstract

The authors examine the role of community resilience in consumer mental, behavioral, and attitudinal responses to policy interventions implemented in response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Three adaptive capacities (economic development, communication and information, and transformative potential) are used to capture community resilience in various geographies. Using a difference-in-difference approach in a large sample of consumers from multiple countries that introduced such interventions in March and April 2020, the authors assess the moderating effect of these capacities on the strength of the impact of interventions on mental health, personal protective behavior, and the perception of such policies. The measure of COVID policy intervention reflects mandatory closure of workplaces, transportation, and schools. Significant findings include robust empirical evidence that adaptive capacities mitigate the negative impact of COVID policy intervention on mental health. Furthermore, the policy's impact on personal protective behaviors was more substantial in countries with higher levels of economic equality, communication spending, social engagement, and human development. Economic development and communication and information capacities strengthened the positive impact of the intervention on the perception of such policies. This research offers actionable insights on individual responses during COVID for managers, marketers, and policy makers.