IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i10p6100-d817606.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dual-Path Effect of Mortality Salience Induced by COVID-19 on Food Safety Behavior in China

Author

Listed:
  • Ying Ma

    (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Xiaodong Guo

    (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Weihuan Su

    (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Yongxiang Feng

    (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China)

  • Fang Han

    (School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China)

Abstract

During the pandemic, the mortality salience of COVID-19 has affected everyone. The public is extremely sensitive to food safety, especially cold chain food and imported food. This research is based on the terror management theory, protective motivation theory, and self-construal theory. It proposes an integrated dual-path framework to explore the different mechanisms that mortality salience has on food safety behavior. The result of three experiments verified our conjectures. First, mortality salience positively affects individuals’ food safety behavior. More importantly, we found the dual-path mechanism that underlies the effect, that is, the mediating of self-protective motivation and prosocial motivation. In addition, different self-construals make the confirmed effect clear. These findings provide implications for the government to protect public food safety and health.

Suggested Citation

  • Ying Ma & Xiaodong Guo & Weihuan Su & Yongxiang Feng & Fang Han, 2022. "Dual-Path Effect of Mortality Salience Induced by COVID-19 on Food Safety Behavior in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-15, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:10:p:6100-:d:817606
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/10/6100/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/10/6100/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wojciech Trzebiński & Radosław Baran & Beata Marciniak, 2021. "Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Make Consumers Shop Alone? The Role of Emotions and Interdependent Self-Construal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Fatih Sonmez, 2021. "The effect of COVID-19-induced mortality salience on delay discounting: a replication," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 7(2), pages 159-166, December.
    3. Wang, Xuehua & Keh, Hean Tat, 2017. "Consumer susceptibility to cross-selling persuasion: The roles of self-construal and interpersonal harmony," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 177-184.
    4. Xixiang Sun & Weihuan Su & Xiaodong Guo & Ziyuan Tian, 2021. "The Impact of Awe Induced by COVID-19 Pandemic on Green Consumption Behavior in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Katherine White & Jennifer J. Argo, 2011. "When Imitation Doesn't Flatter: The Role of Consumer Distinctiveness in Responses to Mimicry," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(4), pages 667-680.
    6. Lee, Seungae & Pounders, Kathrynn R., 2019. "Intrinsic versus extrinsic goals: The role of self-construal in understanding consumer response to goal framing in social marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 99-112.
    7. Guoli Chen & Craig Crossland & Sterling Huang, 2020. "That Could Have Been Me: Director Deaths, CEO Mortality Salience, and Corporate Prosocial Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(7), pages 3142-3161, July.
    8. Aaker, Jennifer L & Lee, Angela Y, 2001. ""I" Seek Pleasures and "We" Avoid Pains: The Role of Self-Regulatory Goals in Information Processing and Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 33-49, June.
    9. Wei Song & Xiaotong Jin & Jian Gao & Taiyang Zhao, 2020. "Will Buying Follow Others Ease Their Threat of Death? An Analysis of Consumer Data during the Period of COVID-19 in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-15, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ku, Hsuan-Hsuan & Shang, Rong-An & Fu, Yi-Fan, 2021. "Social learning effects of complaint handling on social media: Self-construal as a moderator," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    2. Tran, Trang P. & Mai, Enping Shirley & Taylor, Erik C., 2021. "Enhancing brand equity of branded mobile apps via motivations: A service-dominant logic perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 239-251.
    3. Kareklas, Ioannis & Muehling, Darrel D. & King, Skyler, 2019. "The effect of color and self-view priming in persuasive communications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 33-49.
    4. Jennifer K D’Angelo & Kristin Diehl & Lisa A Cavanaugh, 2019. "Lead by Example? Custom-Made Examples Created by Close Others Lead Consumers to Make Dissimilar Choices," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 750-773.
    5. Guoli Chen & Sterling Huang & Philipp Meyer‐Doyle & Denisa Mindruta, 2021. "Generalist versus specialist CEOs and acquisitions: Two‐sided matching and the impact of CEO characteristics on firm outcomes," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1184-1214, June.
    6. Chen, Zengxiang & Huang, Yunhui, 2016. "Cause-related marketing is not always less favorable than corporate philanthropy: The moderating role of self-construal," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 868-880.
    7. Zhang, Jason Q. & Craciun, Georgiana & Shin, Dongwoo, 2010. "When does electronic word-of-mouth matter? A study of consumer product reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 1336-1341, December.
    8. Leder, Susanne & Mannetti, Lucia & Hölzl, Erik & Kirchler, Erich, 2010. "Regulatory fit effects on perceived fiscal exchange and tax compliance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 271-277, April.
    9. Zou, Lili Wenli & Chan, Ricky Y.K., 2019. "Why and when do consumers perform green behaviors? An examination of regulatory focus and ethical ideology," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 113-127.
    10. Jintang Wang & Junyun Liao & Shiyong Zheng & Biqing Li, 2019. "Examining Drivers of Brand Community Engagement: The Moderation of Product, Brand and Consumer Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-16, August.
    11. Robinson, Chadelle, . "Exploring the Hierarchy of Product Attributes in U.S. Pecan Consumption," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 51(2).
    12. Adams, Leen & Faseur, Tineke & Geuens, Maggie, 2010. "The Influence of the Self-Regulatory Focus on the Effectiveness of Stop-Smoking Campaigns for Young Smokers," Working Papers 2010/38, Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Economie en Management.
    13. Franco Valdez, Ana Dolores & Valdez Cervantes, Alfonso & Motyka, Scott, 2018. "Beauty is truth: The effects of inflated product claims and website interactivity on evaluations of retailers' websites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 67-74.
    14. . Abhishek & Arvind Sahay, 2013. "Role of Culture in Celebrity Endorsement: Brand Endorsement by Celebrities in Indian Context-A Review, Synthesis and Research Propositions," Working Papers id:5432, eSocialSciences.
    15. Wang, Jessie J. & Lalwani, Ashok K. & DelVecchio, Devon, 2022. "The Impact of Power Distance Belief on Consumers' Brand Preferences," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 804-823.
    16. Bella Rozenkrants & S Christian Wheeler & Baba Shiv & Gita JoharEditor & Derek RuckerAssociate Editor, 2017. "Self-Expression Cues in Product Rating Distributions: When People Prefer Polarizing Products," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(4), pages 759-777.
    17. Yang, Zhiyong & Janakiraman, Narayan & Hossain, Mehdi T. & Grisaffe, Douglas B., 2020. "Differential effects of pay-it-forward and direct-reciprocity on prosocial behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 400-408.
    18. Lucia Mannetti & Ambra Brizi & Mauro Giacomantonio & E Tory Higgins, 2013. "Framing Political Messages to Fit the Audience’s Regulatory Orientation: How to Improve the Efficacy of the Same Message Content," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-1, October.
    19. Cheng, Yin-Hui & Yen, HsiuJu Rebecca & Chuang, Shih-Chieh & Chang, Chia-Jung, 2013. "Product option framing under the influence of a promotion versus prevention focus," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 402-413.
    20. Wenkun Zhang & Yanan Wang & Tao Zhang, 2021. "Can “Live Streaming†Really Drive Visitors to the Destination? From the Aspect of “Social Presenceâ€," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440211, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:10:p:6100-:d:817606. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.