The effect of Covid-19 on consumer behavioral responses to the use of online shopping: The case of mass retail in Morocco

Abstract

The Covid-19 sanitary crisis has had serious repercussions on all sectors of activity throughout the world, including the retail sector. Consumers are trying to adapt to the current situation in order to reduce human contact and to respect the instructions issued by the World Health Organization in order to limit the spread of the virus. In this article, we plan to study the impact of Covid-19 on the consumer's behavior towards the use of electronic commerce in the case of large-scale distribution in Morocco, through a quantitative study completed by 728 respondents and which was carried out via a questionnaire.

This work is based on a review of the literature which allowed us to identify two versions of a model which has a priori the qualities required to carry out this study, the technological acceptance model (TAM) put forward by Davis in 1989 and TAM3 proposed by Venkatesh and Bala (2008), this model is mainly used to study the adoption of new technologies by the individual From a theoretical point of view, our objective is to revisit these traditional models in order to propose a theoretical model adapted to our study which defines the levels of the relations likely to exist between the antecedents of ease of use, perceived usefulness and the actual behavior of the consumer.

This study highlights the direct or indirect influence of the barrier measures put in place by the WHO and the particularities of the virus on the behavior of consumers facing the digitalization of the distribution channel of large and medium-sized stores. It underlines the interest for the managers in the modern distribution sector to take into consideration changes in personal factors such as the brakes and motivations of consumers towards e-commerce.

JEL Classification: M31, O33

Paper type: Empirical research