Abstract:
The global pandemic of COVID 19 has changed consumer behaviour to reduce
the risk. This is common for all interpersonal interactions of individuals
especially in maintaining the recommended interpersonal distance based on the
recommendations from the health experts. Sri Lanka as a developing country
affected by COVID 19, observed changes in individuals' day today’ consumption
decision making due to pandemic. Importantly the retailing sector is highly
influenced by the conditions since the frequency of interpersonal interactions and
degree of interaction is higher in the retailing sector. Interestingly the retailing
sector with its largest contributor, the SMEs need to identify the unique changes
that happen to the consumer behaviour in responding to them. Accordingly, the
objective of the study is to examine the impact of infectious disease risk on the
perceived retail crowding in two perspectives of human density and the spatial
density. The study has used a quantitative survey in collecting data with the
online self-administrated questionnaire with a sample of 100 consumers. Data
analysis has been done by using a PLS-SEM with the support of SmartPLS
version 3. The key findings of the study emphasize the significant positive
influence of infectious disease risk on human density as well as on the spatial density. Based on the findings the study attempts to provide the implications for
the retailing industry to cope with situational changes in the environment.
