Newswise — As the coronavirus started to disseminate worldwide, the public was advised to wear face masks to prevent transmission, and adherence differed considerably. A recent analysis of individuals shopping in a vast Chinese store in early 2020 investigated the reasons for customers complying with the mask guidance and how their purchasing habits altered when the pandemic emerged. The analysis discovered that customers modified their in-store behaviors notably depending on their adherence to the mask recommendation.
The research, conducted by scholars from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Harvard University, and Renmin University, has been published in Marketing Science.
Kannan Srinivasan, a professor of Management, Marketing, and Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, who spearheaded the research, stated, "At the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak, diverse psychological factors influenced people's responses to masking suggestions, transforming the pandemic into a widespread social experiment."
Srinivasan and his co-workers scrutinized patrons at a retail chain's vast outlet in China, utilizing footage from high-definition cameras stationed at entrances, cash registers, and other spots within the store. The team acquired recordings between January 1-23, 2020 (categorized as the pre-pandemic phase) and February 1 to May 31, 2020. On January 23, the World Health Organization announced a declaration concerning the emergence of the novel coronavirus, and China confirmed evidence of human-to-human transmission. The store was closed from January 24-31, 2020.
The investigators recognized three categories of patrons based on social influence and mask wearing research: fully compliant customers (54%) who wore masks and were primarily driven by their personal health risk apprehensions. Partially compliant customers (29%) also wore masks, but used them improperly, and were stimulated by the desire to conform to social norms. Non-compliant customers (17%) did not wear masks and were not encouraged by health concerns or social norms. To deduce the rationales for wearing masks, the team employed advanced facial recognition mechanisms to determine if a patron wore a mask and evaluated the mask fit (measured as the degree of mask coverage) for those who did. Fully compliant customers had their masks covering a greater area above the nose compared to partially compliant customers.
The scholars employed the store's recordings to scrutinize alterations in patrons' shopping practices at the commencement of the pandemic and compare them to their previous shopping patterns. They examined customers' endeavors to follow social distancing and the duration spent in the store, as well as the type of masks they wore.
Fully compliant mask wearers maintained a greater distance from cashiers while shopping during the pandemic than they did before. They were five times more inclined to wear the highly protective N95 masks while shopping and spent 25% less time shopping than before the pandemic. In contrast, partially compliant mask wearers did not keep a distance from cashiers, were less likely to use high-quality masks, and shopped for the same duration as before the pandemic. Likewise, non-mask wearers did not maintain a distance from cashiers and did not change their shopping duration.
"Our study outcomes have significant implications for businesses, healthcare professionals, and policymakers," proposes Shunyuan Zhang, co-author of the study and an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School.
In particular:
- Retailers can target different customers in different ways: For example, for fully compliant customers, they can explain their efforts to reduce shopping time and mitigate store congestion, and for the partially compliant, they can emphasize the importance of social responsibility.
- Public-health practitioners can message more effectively when their efforts are customized to appeal to individual motives. For example, practitioners may benefit from applying the same principles to efforts involving vaccine compliance.
- In regions with large numbers of partially compliant or non-compliant individuals, policymakers can redouble educational efforts to encourage more masking.
The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
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