Effect of restaurant consumers' anticipated emotions on perceived value and behavioral intention in the COVID-19 context

Yanmei Jiang; Antonio K W Lau

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1013209

Effect of restaurant consumers' anticipated emotions on perceived value and behavioral intention in the COVID-19 context

Front Psychol. 2022 Dec 22:13:1013209. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1013209. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yanmei Jiang^{1

2}, Antonio K W Lau³

Affiliations

¹ The School of Business, Anhui University of Technology, Ma'anshan, China.
² Key Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Management and Control of Complex Systems of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Anhui University of Technology, Ma'anshan, China.
³ The School of Management, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

While hospitality scholars have been conducting research on post-pandemic consumption recovery, the impact of the psychological consequences of COVID-19 on consumers' post-pandemic behavior remains insufficiently addressed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among anticipated emotions, perceived value, perceived threat, and dining-out intention in the COVID-19 context. In this study, 621 restaurant consumers in China were surveyed and the data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results suggested that positive anticipated emotions affect perceived hedonic, utilitarian, and social values, whereas negative anticipated emotions affect hedonic value. Hedonic and utilitarian values then influence dining-out intention. Perceived threat in terms of perceived severity and susceptibility to COVID-19 was explored to moderate the impacts of hedonic and social values on the intention. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the positive, distinct roles of both anticipated emotions on consumer dining-out intention through perceived values and threats during the early recovery of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; anticipated emotion; dining out intention; perceived threat; perceived value.