Social distancing, trust and post-COVID-19 recovery

Yoo Ri Kim; Anyu Liu

doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104416

Social distancing, trust and post-COVID-19 recovery

Tour Manag. 2022 Feb:88:104416. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104416. Epub 2021 Aug 11.

Authors

Yoo Ri Kim¹, Anyu Liu¹

Affiliation

¹ University of Surrey, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom.

Abstract

With the tourism and hospitality sector reopening post-lockdown of COVID-19, the recovery of customers' purchase intentions is essential to reboot the sector. This study aims to examine the relationship between social distancing measures and purchase intentions in the UK's restaurant and hotel sectors using a propensity score weighting experimental design method. The findings suggest that the impact of social distancing measures on purchase intentions is mediated by the trust in the targeted restaurant and hotel. Risk tolerance significantly moderates the influence of social distancing measures on trust; (non-) cash promotions have an insignificant impact on purchase intentions. The introduction of the propensity score weighting scheme addresses the endogeneity caused by the sampling bias in non-probability sampling experiment studies.

Keywords: Experimental design; Promotion; Propensity score weighting; Purchase intention; Social distancing measures; Trust.