IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i24p17076-d1008134.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Mixed Emotions on Consumer Improvisation Behavior in the Environment of COVID-19: The Moderating Effect of Tightness-Looseness Culture

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaozhi Huang

    (School of Business, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China)

  • Xiaojie Zhang

    (School of Business, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China)

  • Heng Zhang

    (School of Management, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

Abstract

Organizations and individuals are unprepared for an unexpected outbreak of COVID-19. While most of the literature focuses on improvised reactions at the organizational level, this paper focuses on understanding improvised reactions at the individual level. This paper draws on previous research applying improvisation to the field of consumer behavior and introduces consumer knowledge acquisition as a mediating variable and tightness-looseness culture as a moderating variable from the perspective of mixed emotions of awe and anxiety to explain the mechanism of consumers with mixed emotions of awe and anxiety on improvisation behavior based on the environment of a COVID-19 outbreak. Data from 330 participants in Study 1 examined the effect of mixed emotions of awe and anxiety on improvisation behavior through knowledge acquisition, and data from 434 participants in Study 2 examined the moderating effect of relaxed culture. The findings suggest that consumers with mixed emotions report a higher willingness to acquire knowledge and report higher levels of improvisational behavior. Consumers behaved differently in different environments. Consumers with mixed emotions responded more strongly to improvisation in the loose-culture environment than in the tight-culture environment, and the mixed emotions of awe and anxiety had a positive effect on individual consumers’ improvisational behavior through the mediating role of knowledge acquisition.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaozhi Huang & Xiaojie Zhang & Heng Zhang, 2022. "The Impact of Mixed Emotions on Consumer Improvisation Behavior in the Environment of COVID-19: The Moderating Effect of Tightness-Looseness Culture," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-21, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:17076-:d:1008134
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/17076/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/17076/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yunhui Huang & Jaideep Sengupta & Fischer Eileen & Leonard Lee, 2020. "The Influence of Disease Cues on Preference for Typical versus Atypical Products," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 393-411.
    2. Singh, Sangeeta & Sonnenburg, Stephan, 2012. "Brand Performances in Social Media," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 189-197.
    3. Dusya Vera & Mary Crossan, 2005. "Improvisation and Innovative Performance in Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 203-224, June.
    4. Sheth, Jagdish, 2020. "Impact of Covid-19 on consumer behavior: Will the old habits return or die?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 280-283.
    5. Lukas Zenk & Gerald Steiner & Miguel Pina e Cunha & Manfred D. Laubichler & Martin Bertau & Martin J. Kainz & Carlo Jäger & Eva S. Schernhammer, 2020. "Fast Response to Superspreading: Uncertainty and Complexity in the Context of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-13, October.
    6. Chelsea Galoni & Gregory S Carpenter & Hayagreeva Rao & J Jeffrey Inman & JoAndrea Hoegg, 2020. "Disgusted and Afraid: Consumer Choices under the Threat of Contagious Disease," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 373-392.
    7. Meuter, Matthew L. & Ostrom, Amy L. & Bitner, Mary Jo & Roundtree, Robert, 2003. "The influence of technology anxiety on consumer use and experiences with self-service technologies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(11), pages 899-906, November.
    8. Michael H. Zack, 2000. "Jazz Improvisation and Organizing: Once More from the Top," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(2), pages 227-234, April.
    9. Daniel J McGrail & Jianli Dai & Kathleen M McAndrews & Raghu Kalluri, 2020. "Enacting national social distancing policies corresponds with dramatic reduction in COVID19 infection rates," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-9, July.
    10. Koivisto, Elina & Mattila, Pekka, 2020. "Extending the luxury experience to social media – User-Generated Content co-creation in a branded event," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 570-578.
    11. Kyoungmi Lee & Hakkyun Kim & Kathleen D. Vohs, 2011. "Stereotype Threat in the Marketplace: Consumer Anxiety and Purchase Intentions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(2), pages 343-357.
    12. Gerardo Patriotta & Daniel A. Gruber, 2015. "Newsmaking and Sensemaking: Navigating Temporal Transitions Between Planned and Unexpected Events," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1574-1592, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Humberto Iván Morales-Huamán & Carlos Javier Medina-Valderrama & Alejandro Valencia-Arias & Manuel Humberto Vasquez-Coronado & Jackeline Valencia & Jorge Delgado-Caramutti, 2023. "Organizational Culture and Teamwork: A Bibliometric Perspective on Public and Private Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-23, September.

    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. Ying Ding & Sunxu Xu, 2023. "Detrimental impact of contagious disease cues on consumer preference for anthropomorphic products," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 139-153, March.
    2. Kim, Jungkeun, 2020. "Impact of the perceived threat of COVID-19 on variety-seeking," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 108-116.
    3. Ali Zackery & Joseph Amankwah-Amoah & Zahra Heidari Darani & Shiva Ghasemi, 2022. "COVID-19 Research in Business and Management: A Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-32, August.
    4. Jianan Li & Xiaotong Jin & Taiyang Zhao & Tiannv Ma, 2021. "Conformity Consumer Behavior and External Threats: An Empirical Analysis in China During the COVID-19 Pandemic," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    5. Verena Komander & Andreas König, 2024. "Organizations on stage: organizational research and the performing arts," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 303-352, February.
    6. Wang, Xueqin & Wong, Yiik Diew & Sun, Shanshan & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2022. "An investigation of self-service technology usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: The changing perceptions of ‘self’ and technologies," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    7. Zheng, Xiaoying & Ruan, Chenhan & Zheng, Lei, 2021. "Money or love? The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer life goals and subjective well-being," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 626-633.
    8. Omar, Nor Asiah & Nazri, Muhamad Azrin & Ali, Mohd Helmi & Alam, Syed Shah, 2021. "The panic buying behavior of consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining the influences of uncertainty, perceptions of severity, perceptions of scarcity, and anxiety," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    9. Whelan, Jodie & Hingston, Sean T., 2022. "Pathogens, privilege, and purity: How pathogen threat and childhood socioeconomic status influence consumers’ condemnation of purity violations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 636-647.
    10. Maksim Belitski & Monika Herzig, 2018. "The Jam Session Model for Group Creativity and Innovative Technology," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 506-521, April.
    11. Lidia Alexa & Andreea Apetrei & Juan Sapena, 2021. "The COVID-19 Lockdown Effect on the Intention to Purchase Sustainable Brands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-16, March.
    12. Paul A. Pavlou & Omar A. El Sawy, 2010. "The “Third Hand”: IT-Enabled Competitive Advantage in Turbulence Through Improvisational Capabilities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 443-471, September.
    13. Weeks, Jessica Babin & Smith, Keith Marion & Hulland, John, 2021. "Consumer brand curation on social shopping sites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 399-408.
    14. Sarasvuo, Sonja & Rindell, Anne & Kovalchuk, Marina, 2022. "Toward a conceptual understanding of co-creation in branding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 543-563.
    15. Braut, Beatrice & Migheli, Matteo & Truant, Elisa, 2022. "Food consumption changes during 2020 lockdown in Italy," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 107-119.
    16. David Müller, 2008. "Bestimmungsfaktoren der Improvisation im Unternehmen," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 255-277, February.
    17. Filimonau, Viachaslau & Högström, Michaela, 2017. "The attitudes of UK tourists to the use of biofuels in civil aviation: An exploratory study," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 84-94.
    18. Talukder, Md. Shamim & Sorwar, Golam & Bao, Yukun & Ahmed, Jashim Uddin & Palash, Md. Abu Saeed, 2020. "Predicting antecedents of wearable healthcare technology acceptance by elderly: A combined SEM-Neural Network approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    19. Chen, Chia-Chen & Chang, Chin-Hsuan & Hsiao, Kuo-Lun, 2022. "Exploring the factors of using mobile ticketing applications: Perspectives from innovation resistance theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    20. Elena Bonel & Mauro Capestro & Eleonora Di Maria, 2023. "How COVID-19 impacted cultural consumption: an explorative analysis of Gen Z’s digital museum experiences," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2023(2), pages 135-160, June.

    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:24:p:17076-:d:1008134. 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.