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The Use of Social Media and Its Impact on Shopping Behavior of Slovak and Italian Consumers during COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Viktória Ali Taha

    (Faculty of Management, University of Prešov, 08001 Prešov, Slovakia)

  • Tonino Pencarelli

    (Faculty of Economics, University Urbino Carlo Bo, 61029 Urbino, Italy)

  • Veronika Škerháková

    (Faculty of Management, University of Prešov, 08001 Prešov, Slovakia)

  • Richard Fedorko

    (Faculty of Management, University of Prešov, 08001 Prešov, Slovakia)

  • Martina Košíková

    (Faculty of Management, University of Prešov, 08001 Prešov, Slovakia)

Abstract

The coronavirus crisis hit the world and affected all aspects of our lives, including consumers’ habits, preferences, and shopping behaviors. The survey, which involved 937 respondents from two countries, examined how the pandemic affected shopping behavior and consumer preferences in Italy and Slovakia. This paper aims to explore the impact of social media on consumer behavior, more specifically, it examines the influence of social media on the preference of specific e-shops during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to determine a statistically significant relationship between the variables and the Mann–Whitney U test and the Kruskal–Wallis H test to assess the significance of differences between respondents in terms of demographic characteristics (residence, age, and gender). The results revealed the existence of statistically significant differences in the use of social media during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of various demographic factors as well as a relatively weak relationship between the social media used and the purchase in the e-shop promoted on the social media.

Suggested Citation

  • Viktória Ali Taha & Tonino Pencarelli & Veronika Škerháková & Richard Fedorko & Martina Košíková, 2021. "The Use of Social Media and Its Impact on Shopping Behavior of Slovak and Italian Consumers during COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1710-:d:493832
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    2. Fazal ur Rehman & Basheer M. Al-Ghazali, 2022. "Evaluating the Influence of Social Advertising, Individual Factors, and Brand Image on the Buying Behavior toward Fashion Clothing Brands," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    3. Zam, Milad & Rezasoltani, Amin & Ramezanian, Hasan & Tavakoli, Mohammadhosein, 2023. "Investigation of Consumer Attitude Impacting Parameters in Online Shopping," OSF Preprints dmqfr, Center for Open Science.
    4. Szwajca Danuta, 2022. "The Use of Digital Communication Channels by Polish Consumers – Changes Caused by the Pandemic," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 37-50, January.
    5. Marko Šostar & Vladimir Ristanović, 2023. "An Assessment of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumer Behavior Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-31, October.
    6. Peter Fieger & Girish Prayag & David Dyason & John Rice & C. Michael Hall, 2023. "Exploring CBD Retail Performance, Recovery and Resilience of a Smart City Following COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, May.
    7. Truong, Dothang & Truong, My D., 2022. "How do customers change their purchasing behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Zam, Milad & Ramezanian, Hasan, 2023. "An examination of the factors that influence consumer attitude in online shopping," OSF Preprints yv5fx, Center for Open Science.
    9. Ľudovít Nastišin & Radovan Bačík & Mária Tomášová & Marek Pavlinský, 2022. "Selected Differences and Relationships of Consumers’ Online Brand-Related Activities and Their Motives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-10, November.
    10. Singh, Neeraj & Kumar, Niraj & Kapoor, Sanjeev, 2022. "Consumer multihoming predisposition on food platforms: Does gender matter?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).

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