Restaurant preventive behaviors and the role of media during a pandemic

Abstract

This study explores how the preventive behaviors of restaurant customers towards COVID-19 are shaped by exposure and attention to media coverage, thereby connecting the issues of community anxieties and business resilience during crises. Ways in which media exposure and attention predict COVID-19 preventive behaviors were examined, as these relate to emotional fear responses and cognitive risk perceptions. An online survey was administered in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic to test the proposed research framework. A total of 366 responses were collected using convenience sampling, and structural equation modeling was deployed to examine the hypothesized relationships. Results indicate that consumer fears and risk perceptions were positively influenced by media coverage of COVID-19. Moreover, fear positively affected individual risk perceptions, and risk perception positively influenced restaurant preventive behaviors. Risk perception was also identified as a mediator between a) media exposure and restaurant preventive behaviors and b) media attention and restaurant preventive behaviors.