Crowding, social distancing, and mask-wearing: effects on risk perception and distancing behavior in retail

Abstract

This article verified how the use of a mask moderates the effect of crowding on the perception of health risk and influences distancing behavior. Based on the Social Impact Theory, two experiments were conducted. The first (N = 179) found that respondents exposed to the condition of wearing a mask had a lower perception of risk and lower withdrawal behavior compared to the group exposed to the situation without wearing a mask. The second experiment (N = 94) showed that a retail environment without social distancing presents negative responses in consumer behavior. However, mask-wearing did not have a sufficient effect to moderate the impacts of social distancing on consumer behavior. The research suggests that a non-crowded retail environment, in which there is respect for social distancing measures and the use of a mask, corresponds to the focus on which managers in this sector need to focus their efforts, aiming to make the retail environment safe from the perspective of their target audience, avoiding withdrawal behaviors. The study brings new evidence that substantiates the role of crowding in retail while helping to better understand the direction of the crowding effect in the context of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The inclusion of social distancing and mask-wearing as factors capable of explaining consumer responses also proved to be a relevant contribution.

Keywords

• covid-19
• crowding
• varejo
• design de experimentos