A STUDY ON SWITCHING BEHAVIOR TOWARD ONLINE SHOPPING OF

VIETNAMESE CONSUMER DURING THE COVID-19 TIME

ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has promoted online shopping activities of Vietnamese consumers more
active, which previously took a lot of effort of online businesses, but not effective. However, will
this changing behavior be sustained after the Covid-19 pandemic? Therefore, the article aims to
investigate how customers change during the Covid-19 outbreak based on perceived risks and
perceived benefits of consumers in online shopping. These two groups of factors will be assessed
along with the moderating role of the Covid-19 impact. In so doing, the paper investigated 427
online-shoppers during the Covid-19 outbreak from March to April 2020 in Vietnam (the period
of social distancing). The collected data were analyzed by the hierarchical regression to determine
how the Covid-19 play as a moderator that change the perception of online consumers in Vietnam.
The study found that the perceptions of risk when shopping online has changed positively during
Covid-19 pandemic, while these risk variables were found negatively in the normal situation.
Moreover, among the benefit variables, marketing policy shows the impact on online shopping
with awareness of Covid-19 compared to no effects without Covid-19. Furthermore, some control
variables in the model have different results in online shopping compared to previous papers in
which could be recommended to test again in future researches. However, these new behaviours
would not maintain after the epidemic season. As a result, the study’s findings will contribute to
clarify changes in consumer buying behaviour, in order to help businesses can respond in time
during the epidemic season.

Keywords: Consumer behaviour, switching behaviour, online shopping, Covid-19, benefit and risk
perception.

1. INTRODUCTION
Online shopping has been presented in Vietnam within the past 5 years, but traditional shopping
is still popular in Vietnam for many reasons such as culture, consumer habits, risk perception, etc.
However, the online shopping picture has rapidly changed when the Covid-19 pandemic appeared.

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 The first outbreak of Covid-19 occurred in Vietnam in January 2020 (Nguyen & Vu, 2020). Since
then, the number of infections in the community has been constantly increasing. Therefore, the
Vietnamese government has applied social isolation approaches. As a result, all businesses,
restaurants, and cafes have been closed for these days. Consumers also have limited their
consumption due to the fear of virus infection. Therefore, many consumers have chosen to shop
online instead of going to stores, supermarkets...to avoid crowded places. However, whether these
changes become a habit and continue to be maintained after Covid-19 end or not is the problem
that this study attempts to investigate. In other words, we aim at examining the online shopping
behaviour of Vietnamese shoppers.

The determinants of consumer behaviour are mentioned in many previous papers. However, some
papers have focused on one-side only either risks or benefits which were found in a result of the
work of many different author groups such as Häubl (2000), Yan & Dai (2009); Lee (2011);
Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011); Masoud (2013); Zhang (2014). Some risk variables in previous
papers are financial risks, time risks, delivery risks, information risks, social risks. The relevance
of risks is underlined by Bhatti et al. (2018) in which economic risk, convenience risk affected
consumer behaviour with trust as a moderator. Some benefit variables on online shopping
including awareness of easy to use, awareness of utility, marketing policy, convenience, perceived
service quality, technology are analysed in the researches of Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011); Tse
et al. (2006); Yan & Dai (2009); Fang et al. (2016) Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė (2015). Most of
these benefit variables had positively correlation with online shopping. Different from these papers,
Shwu-ing Wu (2003) added attitude to the model as a moderator between the influence factors and
consumer behaviour.

The significance of control variables is as well highlighted in the works of researchers of

Ganesan‐Lim et al. (2008), Yan & Dai (2009), Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė (2015), Fang et al. (2016)
in which customer characteristics such as age, occupation, education,, family size, income were
found that affecting consumer behaviour. Surprisingly, social-demographical characteristics was
usually found as an influence factors to buying behaviour, Fang et al. (2016) separated age and
gender to an examination of online repurchase intention as moderator significantly.

Consumer behaviour is crucial for a company to do business in any circumstance, especially in a

new environment of Covid-19 which is influencing all economic sectors around the world. We do,

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 hence, want to examine the impact of the appearance of Covid-19 toward consumer behaviour.
Since Covid-19 is very new and has not seen in the previous models before, it is unlikely to be
belongs to either perceived risks or benefit variable group, this article puts Covid-19 as a moderator.
Covid-19 reasonably seems to be related to trust, attitude which was indicated significantly to
moderate consumer behaviour in previous studies. In the meanwhile, this article continues to
inherit and develop all variables from previous researches. The model uses both groups of risk
variables and benefit variables to measure online buying behaviour of Vietnamese consumers.

In doing so, the authors organize the paper with five sections. Section 1 is the problem statement.
Section 2 is a literature review that discusses the effects of online buying behaviour and
determinants of switching consumer behaviour. Section 3 is a methodology that describes the
dataset and how to analyse the data. Section 4 is a data analysis to show results. Section 5 is the
conclusion and implications which summarize some main findings, implications, and future
research direction.

In general, this study focuses on showing whether or not there is a change in the online shopping
behaviour of Vietnamese consumers when it is influenced by the Covid-19 factor. The results of
this study will help online businesses in the field adjust their business strategies in a flexible way
to respond to customer changes in different social contexts.

2. LITERATURE
2.1. Online shopping (OS) and switching behaviour
In terms of OS, it has appeared in may researches such as Li & Feng (2011), Senecal et al. (2005),
Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė (2015). Most of the authors agree that OS has to satisfy the
requirements of customers, their past search history as well as past experience. OS has replied on
consumers’ culture, attitude, risk and trust while most of companies researched a lot of customers’
education, income, reviews to meet their increasing demand of purchasing a product online. There
are many research papers analysed buying behaviour in general and online shopping in specific.
Most of the variables affecting OS in this study are built based on the previous researches
consistently as well as the gap and limitations. Basically, we divide into two main literature
reviews from risks and benefits.
However, OS very easily fluctuates even after they make decisions due to many reasons.
Consumers’ demand is changing all the time if they can find other opportunities of buying a better

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 product. The switching in the behaviour of consumers’ influence significantly based on many
factors related to technology, innovations, demographics and advertising (Ahmed, Gull, & Rafiq,
2015). This group of authors found that customers could change their loyalty as well as switching
to another brand name of products under the attractiveness of other brand image. Moreover,
Keaveney (1995) said that choosing of using a service depended on many incidents of service
firms related to price as well as its inconvenience. A company’s ability to supply a core service or
react to a failure were also a part of their switching behaviour. More than that, company’s
competitors as well as it ethical problems and involuntary transfer were believed critical reasons
which led customers to switch their choices in using services (Keaveney, 1995).
Furthermore, consumer behaviour could be switched by the influence of government policy. Based
on Nimako & Winneba (2012), the change in consumers’ psychology and emotion is likely to
switch their buying behaviour. This switching also came from changing a service providers, other
involuntary subjective norms and especially word-of-mouth. However, these authors just built the
conceptual model without empirical evidence of these switching factors. While Lopez et al. (2006)
showed practical evidence of customer heterogeneity including demographics and attitudes on
switching purchasing decision since service usage reduced the possibility of switching and
strengthened trust between the parties. Besides that, the faster time after purchasing could reduce
consumer switching behaviour. Same results with Nimako & Winneba (2012), Lim et al. (2018)
discovered that only informal communication and impossible ability to satisfy customer’s core
value had a positive impact on consumers' switching respond among switching factors. These
switching factors could be price, competition from other products, ability to supply customer
service, the quality of service or products.
As we know, Covid-19 has recommended every country applying social distancing to avoid
directly contact and transmission, then, most of people could not go to work or shopping. The more
time they stay at home, the more vulnerable in their psychology and emotion in new social life
they have to suffer. The level of suffering is varied from customer heterogeneity since Covid-19
is affecting in economics, finance, politics, social life and consumer behaviour somehow. Covid-
19 outbreak could be relatively proposed a moderator to present for psychological, emotional,
involuntary subjective norms, informal communication as a factor related to demand, perception,
attitudes and core service value. The development of Covid-19 variable will be detailed in section
2.2.

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 2.2. Perceived Risks
It is very popular to find perceived risk’s relevance to buying behaviour in history of literature
review and it has been analysed as a group of factors affecting the purchase decision-making
process. OS is influenced by risks which customers receive from purchasing a product or service.
These variables in this research are generated, adopted and developed from the previous research
paper as follows.
Financial Risks (FRs)
FRs get involved in credit card embezzled risk, online payment risk (Yan & Dai, 2009) and it is a
potential net loss of money (Zhang et al., 2014). Bhatt, Saad, & Gbadebo (2018) believed that that
level of consumers’ awareness towards sellers affected their emotional belief and purchase
intention. Moreover, FR has a connection to the trust as a moderator which significantly impacts
on online shopping (Masoud, 2013). Most of the papers have had the same result of financial risks’
influence on online shopping negatively such as Keating et al (2009), Yan & Dai (2009), Bhatti et
al. (2018). However, these findings showed FRs’ impact on online shopping in a normal and stable
situation of economy and society.
Recently, Covid-19 has really been a big hit to all countries over the world in which the first case
confirmed in Vietnam on January 23rd, many activities in different kind of industries has been
suspended due to high death toll, social distance (Nguyen & Vu, 2020). In March 2020, Vietnam
government issued Directive No.15/CT-TTg and Decree No. 41/2020/ND-CP to support all
business in terms of reducing fee, exemption of fees, charges during Covid-19 pandemic (Duong,
2020). These facts recommend this paper the idea of measuring the impact of FR on online
shopping during Covid-19 period as well as a comparison with the trust of online shopping and
losing money before and after Covid-19. Based on the facts, this article proposes the Hypothesis
1 as follow:
H1. There is a change of Vietnamese consumers toward OS during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of
FRs

Product Risks (PRs)

Yan & Dai (2009) researched many aspects of PRs including product performance, the
intangibility of online product, real product compare to customers’ expectations (Katawetawaraks
& Wang, 2011; Masoud, 2013). Some problems of product consumers may have in online
shopping are its performance not fit the need, what they ordered is not as same as what they saw

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 online. The goods they ordered could be fake, inferior or damaged on the way they get or delivery
process. All papers admitted the negative effects of product risks on online shopping; hence, this
research continues to apply this point for the model but in a new circumstance of Covid-19
outbreak. Therefore, the research posits the following hypothesis 2:
H2. There is a change of Vietnamese consumers toward OS during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of
(PRs)

Time Risks (TRs)

There are many steps in online shopping process which may cause customers in facing the time
risks, for example, long transaction waiting time, long searching time, long wait for delivery,
wasting of the time on finding products from inappropriate websites (Yan & Dai, 2009; Masoud,
2013). Furthermore, service time especially product maintenances, contact to related parties may
need a lot of efforts and time to solve the problem during exchanging the product. Surprisingly,
Masoud (2013) set the hypothesis that TR negatively influences on online shopping but the result
did not support that hypothesis. Therefore, this study’s aim is testing this hypothesis again in the
new situation of Covid-19. Based on these arguments, Hypothesis 3 posited as follows:
H3. There is a change of Vietnamese consumers toward OS during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of
TRs

Delivery Risks (DRs)

From Yan & Dai (2009) and Masoud (2013) perspectives, delivery service after purchasing might
be based on the individuation of product or service as a type of perceived benefits. However, some
DRs possibly happened such as late delivery, not in-time in receiving products, and probable
damage during handling and moving. The authors found the DRs affected to online shopping in a
negative way and this paper will apply this variable to see the consumer behaviour change before
and after Covid-19 happened. According to these discussions, hypothesis 4 is brought out:
H4. There is a change of Vietnamese consumers toward OS during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of
DRs

Social Risks (SRs)

SRs are rarely mentioned in previous research papers while purchasing decision making relies on
consumer’s normal human social relations. According to Iyengar, Han, & Gupta (2009) the class
of consumers in society reacted buying behaviour differently because of the different level of

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 impact from social pressure. The results showed the negative effects of their friends on buying
behaviour towards high-class customers in society, the positive effects on middle-class and no
impacts on lower-class buyers. In addition, from Yan & Dai (2009)’s research, a customer’ health
status brought by OS. It was not only physical but also psychology health change. The ability to
make decisions might be affected by social contact risk which is very crucial in the context of the
fast and high transmission rate of Covid-19. Therefore, this paper proposes the correlation of
personal reputation, social status, relatives, friends, others’ review and OS decision during Covid-
19. The following hypothesis states the relationship between SR and OS.
H5. There is a change of Vietnamese consumers toward OS during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of
SRs.

Information Risks (IRs)

OS depends a lot on information provided by online retailers since customers could not have
shopping experience in brick and mortar store. Online shopping could not touch the product but
information could bring them the feelings of quality of product and service online. The information
could mislead to consumers’ feeling or a decision making as a result of information risk in the
research of Zhang et al., (2014); Masoud (2013); Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011). Based on Yan
& Dai (2009), valuable information could build cognitive and emotional trust between consumer
and online retailers which was very important to make buying decision. Meanwhile, IRs refer to
the ability of consumers to access informal or misleading information. However, it was defined
differently in Häubl & Trifts (2000), Yan & Dai (2009), Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė (2015) in
which IRs were relevant to the availability of product information on websites, consideration set
of alternatives for purchase, decision quality that could change their mind after making decision.
Another viewpoint from Li & Feng (2011), Masoud (2013), Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011), IRs
involved in consumers’ information, level of security during transaction, and possibility of disclose
consumer data for other purpose which caused problems of online shopping. Therefore, consistent
with the above discussions, the following Hypothesis can be developed:
H6. There is a change of Vietnamese consumers toward OS during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of IRs

2.3. Perceived Benefits

Awareness of Utility (AU)
AU is considered to positively impact the behavioural intention of online shopping (Lee, Shi,
Cheung, Lim, & Sia, 2011). There are many characteristics of AU measured such as time

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 efficiency, take-away and delivery service, face-to-face avoidance when online shopping.
Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011) found that time efficiency helps customers avoid situations of
dealing with traffic, being tired to find a parking slot, waiting for checkout; shoppers who wanted
to avoid face-to-face interaction with sellers will choose online channels for purchasing.
Particularly, Senecal et al. (2005) discovered that take-away and delivery services were provided
to serve customers who were afraid of dining out due to the SARS outbreak. It is very useful to
analyse awareness of utility during Covid-19 which is similar to SARS but highly dangerous.
Moreover, the authors also add the fact of wearing a mask during Covid-19 into the survey to
analyse this variable on online shopping. As a result, Hypothesis 6 is built as follows:
H7. AU affects OS during the Covid-19 pandemic

Awareness Easy to Use (EU)

Yan & Dai (2009), Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011), Bhatti et al. (2018) had the same conclusion
of the positive impact of convenience of purchasing on the probability to make decisions. Lee et
al. (2011) had a similar result in which perceived ease of use is considered to positively impact the
behavioural intention of OS. In order to explain the awareness of easy to use, Fang et al. (2016)
showed that perceived e-service quality related to the capacity to provide comprehensive delivery
service will bring higher value to customers. Using the latest technology smoothly by the advanced
shoppers is one of the most important factors of easy to use which influence the decision of
customers in OS (Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė, 2015). In a contrast point of view of negative side
from online shopping in Yan & Dai (2009) findings, the possibility of service risk from OS might
be inconvenient to exchange a product, not consulted by a face-to-face personal contact compared
to traditional shopping way. All aspects are mentioned continuously by authors and are developed
in Hypothesis 7 in this article as follows:
H8. EU affects OS during the Covid-19 pandemic

Awareness of Marketing Policy (MP)

Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011) indicated customers can be influenced by a MP on a website
which is easy-to-access, together with its capacity in easily accessing by consumers. Some
customers feel confused in deciding a purchase because of lacking professional assistance from
sellers or social contact (Katawetawaraks & Wang, 2011) which suggest the role of OS consulting
service staff should be stated in this study. In fact, after Covid-19 lockdown in Vietnam, some
companies offered many promotions for customers such as Nissan Vietnam (Duc 2020), Nguyen

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 Kim (Nhung, 2020), and Honda (Honda, 2020). The new point of this study applied is the analysis
of MP as well as return policy, the after-sale policy during Covid-19 seasons on OS. Based on the
facts of marketing policies during Covid-19 in the new context, Hypothesis 9 is built as follows:
H9. Perception of MP affects OS during Covid-19 pandemic

Awareness of Price and Cost (PC)

OS stores give customers opportunities to compare price between various products
(Katawetawaraks & Wang, 2011), hence the price is considered as criteria for OS. From Yan &
Dai (2009) research, the probability to make purchase decisions might be based on the low-cost
while Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė (2015) stated additional incurred costs could be factors influence
customers experience in OS. Therefore, this paper proposes other costs of OS in the survey such
as application installation, internet during the buying process. Based on the discussion, Hypothesis
10 is developed with the appearance of Covid-19 as follows:
H10. Perception of PC affects OS during the Covid-19 pandemic

Affection of Society (AS)

Lee et al. (2011) and Zhang et al. (2014) agreed that informational social influence was considered
to be a moderating factor which led to the intention to OS and negative online reviews might affect
consumers’ purchase behaviour. However, the authors develop the analysis of AS during Covid-
19 pandemic to see how customers change their reacts with Hypothesis 11:
H11. AS affects OS during the Covid-19 pandemic

2.4. Control variables

To understand the decision making process of customers when they buy products online, research
of Fang et al. (2016) brought out a framework in which gender and age took the role of moderator
variables affecting shoppers' perceived value. This basic information together with data about
education, occupation, financial status (monthly income), and family size of interviewees were
also applied in the analysis of the decision making process of online shoppers by Yan & Dai (2009).
The paper of Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė (2015) also investigated these elements motivating
customers to shop online, while the work of Baker et al. (2020) explored the respond of
household’s consumption in the context of Covid-19 Pandemic.
The internet has provided various different shopping experience in such a way that brings more
benefits to customers when shopping online (Yan & Dai, 2009). However, the limited experience

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 of young people likely led them to seek and use more information to decide their purchase on the
electronic service of online stores (Ganesan‐Lim et al., 2008) so the purchasing rate somehow has
an impact to the experience in online shopping of customers. Indeed, education levels, web
experience, purchase quantity, and purchase frequency were also established by Fang et al. (2016)
as control variables for investigating shopping motives and predicting the perceived value of
customers.
Hence, this research constructs socio-demographic characteristics as the control variables
involving sex, age, purchasing rate, educational level, career, income, family size, living area,
shopping experience, together with adding two more specific information about shopping
categories, and reasons of purchase in the proposed model.
2.5. Moderator variables
As we mentioned above, Covid-19 pandemic could influence demand, psychology, emotion,
customer heterogeneity, trust between the parties, perception which were indicated as a factor
affecting customer’s switching behaviour (Ahmed, Gull, & Rafiq, 2015; Keaveney, 1995; Nimako
& Winneba, 2012; Lopez et al., 2006; Lim et al., 2018). Hence, this article concentrates on the
impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and concentrated on two factors including Affection of Covid-
19 information and Awareness of Covid-19 as moderator variables.

Affection of Covid-19 information (CI)

Due to the concern about the spread of the virus, the Vietnamese Government issued respectively
Directive No.15/CT-TTg and No.16/ CT-TTg, which regard the suspension of service business
operations, stopping the meeting activities and events, restricting the movement of people, and
implementing the social distancing (Ministry of Health Portal, 2020a; Ministry of Health Portal,
2020b). As a result, businesses, restaurants and all kinds of entertainment services must be closed,
so many people have switched to online shopping and online payment instead of going to stores
and supermarkets.
Based on the 500-sample survey of Nielsen Vietnam (2020), more than 50% customer reduced
their frequency of visiting physical stores while 39% purchased from online shopping channels
more frequently. The wave of the Covid-19 crisis has made consumer shopping behaviour change
rapidly, such as the situations of "panic buying" in Hungary (András & Tamás, 2020), the UK
(Wilson, 2020), the US (Bekiempis, 2020), Australia (Carmody, 2020).

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 In a report published by Squire Patton Boggs (2020), approximately 24% of retailers including
food suppliers, clothing businesses, and health care and beauty service suppliers reckon that the
disturbance caused by Covid-19 influence considerably their supply chain (Lewis & Garbett, 2020).
UK retailers think the biggest threat to their business when the coronavirus persists is the damage
in consumer confidence.
Affection of Covid-19 is obviously inevitable, hence, this article analyses its information affection
from three aspects: Information of Directive 16 toward Covid-19 by the Government which leads
to people prefer online shopping to traditional shopping or not; whether news about COVID-19
from media makes them “panic buying” like other countries; and how social isolation encourages
their online shopping experience. According to these arguments, our hypothesis is:
H12. CI moderates significantly online shopping behaviour

Awareness of Covid-19 (AC)

AC leads to demand shift based on research of Amazon online shopping differently in the United
States, Germany and Italy, in other words, trends of shopping online is changing different types of
categories during Covid-19 (MacDonald, Z., 2020). People also tend to willing to stay at home
rather than go outside, even less want to travel, contact with others, use public transportation, or
go to the workplace (Baker et al., 2020; Lewis & Garbett, 2020). Basically, everyone would like
to purchase products or acquire services with psychology as the least stress as possible (Zhou, Dai
& Zhang, 2007). Furthermore, awareness of Covid-19 has changed consumer sector and behaviour
in which people avoid travelling abroad, contacting with strangers, restricting using public
transport, limiting eating at restaurants & having entertainment (RetailEconomics, 2020). Hence,
online shopping is likely a better alternative option during a disease crisis and takes an important
role in helping customers to approach products while avoiding the risk of virus infection (Forster
& Ya Tang, 2005).
That is why “Awareness of Covid-19” seems to be understood as dangerous, uneasy feeling and
then staying at home and shopping online could be the choice for themselves and their family
during this period. These aspects are also the points that this paper want to investigate how
awareness of Covid-19 impacts to the switch of consumer behaviour in shopping with Hypothesis
13 as follows:
H13: AC moderates significantly online shopping behaviour

Research model and hypothesis

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 From the gap of previous works, this paper finds that these factors’ influence on online shopping
could be change during Covid-19. Some factors will be the same in the new model, but some will
be adopted to suitable for measuring consumer behaviour’s change before and during Covid-19
outbreak. Basically, this study will link and divide all these variables into two different kinds of
group including group of Perceived risks and group of Perceived benefits. Perceived risks, which
affect online shopping negatively, include product risks, time risks, distribution risks, information
risks, social risks, and financial risks. At the same time, benefit variable group from purchase
decision have some characteristics of awareness easy to use, marketing policy, price, cost and
affection of society which affects online shopping positively. However, these above papers
analysed consumer behaviour in normal period without special vulnerable from society. Therefore,
this study will examine Vietnamese’ online shopping behaviour during this special time.
The measures of risk perception, benefits perception and online shopping behaviour are adapted
from previous researches and are appropriately applied in the Covid-19 context by authors as
shown in Table 1. and Figure 1.
Insert Table 1. and Figure 1. about here
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Sampling method and data collection method
Sampling method
To test the proposed hypotheses, in this study, the sample could represent the population with a
given confidence level of 90% and 95% based on Yates method (Box et al., 1987). The authors
selected a sufficient number of samples to investigate the overall population (Smith et al., 2016).
According to Picodi ‘s report in 2018, over 33 percent of the population, or about 40 million people
in Vietnam have made a purchase online (Picodi, 2019). Thus, the authors performed the size
calculation according to the following formula:
𝑵 𝟒𝟎.𝟎𝟎𝟎.𝟎𝟎𝟎
𝐧= 𝟐
= = 𝟒𝟎𝟎
𝟏 + 𝑵𝒆 𝟏 + 𝟒𝟎.𝟎𝟎𝟎.𝟎𝟎𝟎 ∗ 𝟎.𝟎𝟓𝟐
Where, the sample size is ‘n’; the population is ‘N’; and ‘e’ is a significant level at 0.05 (5%) and
0.1 (10%). Thus, according to the calculation results, the minimum sample that the research needs
to perform is at least 400 samples.
3.2. Data collection

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 We used the probability sampling method by systematic random sampling technique (Sarstedt,
Bengart, Shaltoni, & Lehmann, 2018). The authors designed the research survey based on the items
established in the literature review section. As a result, the survey includes a various group of
questions including informational questions, questions for measuring independent variables,
moderator variables, and the dependent variable using the Likert’s scale 5 (1 equal to completely
disagree and 5 equivalents to completely agree, respectively). There are also some open questions
for customers to give their opinions to make online shopping better. The survey was originally
designed in Vietnamese and spent a week to obtain the consults from experts. Then, we conducted
the pilot test with 50 respondents and adopted the Cronbach’s Alpha analysis to ensure the
reliabilities of question items before conducting a formal survey. The official survey was
conducted using the google form tool and sent directly to the participants based on the control
variables include gender, age, income, literacy, occupation, family size, etc. Eventually, the study
collected 472 valid samples.
3.3 Data analysis techniques
Firstly, the study used Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of each variable to test the scale's reliability.
As suggested, when Cronbach's Alpha is greater than 0.70 will present good reliability, and items
of a variable have a total correlation coefficient being bigger than 0.30. we can conclude the
variable is reliable to use for the deep analysis (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).
Secondly, we utilized the explanatory factor analysis (EFA) with the purpose to check the
trustworthiness of each structure and thereby establish representative variables. To pass the EFA
test, the P-value in Bartlett's test is required not exceed 5%. The KMO coefficient must be 0.5 or
higher. It is trustworthiness when each item in the same construct has the factor loading greater
than 0.5. The Eigenvalue of a factor that is higher than 1 will be selected and the total variance
extracted of all selected variables must reach more than 50%. If the study satisfies the mentioned
conditions, we conclude that the EFA model is appropriate (Norusis, 1994; Hair et al., 2010).
Thirdly, the authors use the hierarchical regression to inspect the research hypothesis, including
moderators. The paper examined the hypothesis of moderators by the mean centering. This
technique is introduced by previous researchers like Aiken et al. (1991) and Cohen et al. (2003).
This is a collaborative method, determining which variables are used in the suggest model from
previous models based on the three following equations of regression:
Z = α0 + α 1*Y (1); Z = α 0 + α 1*Y + α 2*K (2); Z = α 0 + α 1*Y + α 2*K+ α 3*Y.K (3)

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 Where: α 0, α i: are regression weights.
 The regression equation (1) shows the impact on dependent variable by independent
variables.
 The regression equation (2) shows the impact of the independent variable on the dependent
variable, the moderator variable Y is considered as an independent variable in model.
 The regression equation (3) shows the impact of the independent variable and the
interaction variable (Y.K) on the dependent variable. If the interaction variable has
significance level less than 0.05 or 0.10 indicates that the variable K acts as a moderator
variable.
4. DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Descriptive statistics
4.1.1 Respondents’ information
Insert Table 1. about here
Based on information gathered from the survey summarized in Table 1, more than 70% of people
surveyed are female and the age of survey participants are mainly from 19 to 35 (accounting for
nearly 80%). Most of them are students or staff working at organizations, with the educational
background from university to above and their average income is spread evenly across all levels.
The survey fairly evenly approached people living in both downtown and suburban, with the
difference being approximately 19%. However, it can be seen that although the survey respondents
are from families with more than 2 members, almost participants' frequency of online shopping
are from 1 to 2 times per week or less show that their online shopping frequency is not too high.
4.1.2 The reliability and validity test
The reliability test is presented in Table 2. As a result, all variables have Cronbach's Alpha
coefficient index ranged between 0.70 and 0.91, and the correlation of the items in the same
variable is larger than 0.30. It means that all variables used in the research model are reliable.
Because the items used for each structure are those discovered from previous studies, the meaning
of the EFA analysis in this section will be made for each structure to see if the items in each
structure converge into its own group and are combined in one variable (Nguyen & Chang, 2017).
The KMO coefficients of all constructs are over 0.50 and Bartlett’s test has sig. value at 0.000.
Each structure suspected only one factor that has Eigenvalue being greater than 1 and this factor
explained over 50%. In addition, all items have factor loading index bigger than 0.50. Thus,

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 according to Hair et al. (2010) and Nguyen & Chang (2017), the validity and reliability of each
construct are good.
Insert Table 2. about here

4.2 EMPIRICAL RESULTS

4.2.1 The Hypothesis Test
a. Hypothesis test with respects to risks perception
In order to test the hypotheses (H1-H6) in relation to the perception of risks, we conduct the
hierarchical regression analysis with three models. Model 1 regressed the online shopping decision
on the control variables, including gender, age, education, income, occupation, living area, and
shopping frequency. Model 2 regressed the online shopping decision on both control and
independent variables (FR, PR, TR, DR, SR, IR). Model 3 regressed the online shopping decision
on all variables involving control variables, independent variables, and moderating variables (AC,
CI).
As shown in Model 3, H1-H6 is supported. In particular, H2, H5, H6 are 100% statistically
significant, H1 is 95%, while H3 is 90% and shown in the negative direction. This result shows
that there are significant changes in the risk perception of Vietnamese customers shopping online
during the Covid-19 outbreak. In which, the changes in perception of information risks
(beta=0.213), product risks (beta=0.18), and social risks (beta=0.154) are most clearly, while
delivery risks (beta=0.078) and financial risks (0.077) are positive but still small. Only the changes
in perception of time risks are negative, which means that consumers have concerned about related
issues such as delivery time, product search time, or online shopping time are still major barriers.
Besides, this result is not affected by the control variables such as gender, living area, family size,
education, occupation, age, online shopping frequency, and income. In other words, the changes
in online shopping behaviour related to perceived risk are consistent for all groups.
Insert Table 3. about here
b. Hypothesis test with respects to benefits perception
In order to test the hypotheses (H7-H6) in relation to the perception of benefits, we conduct the
hierarchical regression analysis with three models as indicated in Table 4. Model 4 regressed the
online shopping decision on the control variables. Model 5 regressed the online shopping decision

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 on both control and independent variables. Model 6 regressed the online shopping decision on all
variables involving control variables, independent variables, and moderating variables.
The results of Model 4, 5, 6 show that among five hypotheses from H7 to H11, there are two
rejected hypotheses including H7 and H9. The remaining H8, H10, H11 are supported. These
results mean that the affection of society (beta = 0.291), perception of price and cost (beta = 0.282),
and perceived EU (beta = 0.23) are the three factors that most influence the decision to buy online.
This output is completely as same as previous studies such as Yan & Dai (2009), Katawetawaraks
& Wang (2011), Lee et al. (2011), Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė (2015), and Fang et al. (2016)
While awareness of utility and marketing policy has no effect on shopping behaviour during the
Covid-19 period. This result is different from previous studies including Senecal et al. (2005),
Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011), and Lee et al. (2011)
The similarity to the risk perception result, control variables including gender, age, education,
income, occupation, living area, and shopping frequency did not significantly affect the results.
Therefore, the changes in online shopping behaviour related to perceived benefits are consistent
for all groups.
Insert Table 4 about here
4.2.2 Moderator test
In this study, the authors used two moderator variables, namely AC and CI. We use the mean
centering and hierarchical regression techniques to test each moderating variable with respect to
perceived risks and perceived benefits. The result is that model 7 to model 18 is set as shown in
Table 6 and Table 7. Detailed results will be discussed in detail below.
a. Moderating test for AC and CI with respect to risk perception
Firstly, the study set up the hierarchical regression including model 7, 8, and 9. In particular, model
7 demonstrates the impact of the independent determinants on OS, model 8 is about the moderator
AC’s effect which is included in the model and is considered as an independent variable. Finally,
model 9 shows the impact of the independent factors and the interaction variable (X*AC) on the
dependent variable (OS). If the interaction of these factors has sig significance level. <0.05
indicates that the AC variable acts as a moderator variable.
The results are summarized in Table 5, which show that the moderating effect of AC only occurs
with the TR and SR variables. Specifically, AC moderates TR in a positive direction (beta = 0.11),
which reflects that when shopping online during the Covid-19 time, through awareness of the

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 disease, negative feelings about time risks are gone. Meanwhile, AC moderates SR in the negative
direction (beta = -0.103), or in other words, awareness of social risks during the Covid-19 epidemic
hinders the implementation of online shopping.
Similarly, model 10, 11, and 12 are set by AHP (Analytic Hierarchical Process) to check the
moderating effect of CI. As a result, the moderator role of CI occurs with two variables TR and
DR. while SR can also be considered if considering the significant level at 90%. In particular, TR
is moderated in the positive direction (beta = 0.113), while DR (beta = -0.131) and SR (beta = -
0.075) are redirected to the negative direction. This result shows that the information on the Covid-
19 pandemic from the government, television, radio, social networks also changes the perception
of time risk. While this information makes the perception of delivery risk and social risk more
negative.
Thus, the moderating role of AC and CI in awareness of risks in online shopping happens not
strong in the study model.
Insert Table 5 about here
b. Moderating test for AC and CI with respect to benefit perception
Similarly, the study set the regression hierarchy involving model 13, 14, 15 to consider the
moderator role of AC, and model 16, 17, 18 to consider the moderator role of CI in the benefit
perception toward online shopping during the Covid-19 epidemic time (Table 6).
The results show that AC does not play any moderating role in consumer perception of benefit
toward online shopping. In other words, the perceived benefits of online shopping have remained
unchanged during the Covid-19 time. Whereas, CI only moderates MP (beta = 0.085) significantly,
however, this effect is not great. This result means that marketing policies had no effect on whether
customers purchased online or not, but since the awareness of the Covid-19 pandemic became
clear, customers stayed at home and were more interested in marketing policies, and somewhat
change their mindset in online shopping.
Insert Table 6 about here

5. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION

5.1 Conclusion on the results
The paper investigates the change of Vietnamese consumer behaviour toward online shopping
during Covid-19 outbreak in terms of risks and benefits by measuring the impact of moderator

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 Covid-19 on the switching behaviour. The study develops various hypotheses, which based on the
contribution from previous works for the purpose of supporting businesses a better understanding
of Covid-19’s influence as well as a better precautionary plan in the future.
In most models, the control variables such as consumer heterogeneity, income, career, education,
living area, and shopping frequency do affect online shopping behaviour. However, with the
appearance of Covid-19 in this model, the effects of these control variables on online shopping
were insignificant. In other words, the changes in online shopping behaviour are inconsistent
compared to the results of Fang et al., 2016 (gender and age); Yan & Dai, 2009 (education,
occupation, income); Baker et al., 2020 (family size).
The outputs from SPSS software show that all determinants used in the study equation are reliable
and the validity, reliability of each construct are good. The study identified no effect of the control
variable group on online shopping behaviour. However, there are significant changes in the risk
perception of Vietnamese customers’ buying behaviour during the Covid-19 epidemic. According
to the result, the time risks variable has changed from positive into negative effect, while financial
risks, information risks, delivery risks, and social risks still have a positive effect. Thus, the related
issues such as delivery time, product search time, or online shopping time are still major barriers
to Vietnamese consumers when doing online shopping. These results are different from other
papers in which risks normally affect online shopping negatively (Häubl et al., 2000; Yan & Dai,
2009; Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė, 2015) or neutrally (time risks on online shopping in Masoud,
2013)
Regarding benefits perception, there are two variable reject hypotheses including
awareness of utility and awareness of marketing policy. That means the awareness of utility and
marketing policy has no effect on shopping behaviour during the Covid-19 period. This result
states a clear aspect of marketing policy on online purchasing compared to the result of
Katawetawaraks & Wang (2011). While the easy to use of awareness, awareness of price and cost,
and the affection of society variable are the three factors that significantly correlate the buying
decision. Not surprisingly, in line with previous researches such as; Tse et al. (2006); Yan & Dai
(2009); Lee et al. (2011); Fang et al. (2016); Baubonienė & Gulevičiūtė (2015), the results have
the same conclusion. However, this study could point out the importance of priority in measuring
benefits’ impacts on online shopping.

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 Although Covid-19 outbreak has just happened since the end of 2019, there are increasing
research of this topic mainly in healthcare (Raude, J., et al., 2019) and rarely in business aspect.
Most of the authors analysed effects of Covid-19 in the United States, Germany and Italy (Zoë
MacDonald, 2020), this paper contributes another view in terms of Covid-19 in Vietnam. From
other paper’s limitation which recommended other hidden factors affecting perceived valued (Fang
et al., 2016) and government policy, emotional, involuntary, subjective norms, psychological could
be caused and proposed by Covid-19 pandemic (Nimako & Winneba, 2012), this article continue
to analyse Covid-19 as a moderator while other research used trust (Zhang et al., 2014) and age,
gender (Fang et al., 2016) as a moderator. This study of the moderator of Covid-19 in Vietnam is
distinct different among other papers in which there is no moderator or moderator variable is not
Covid-19. The results show that Covid-19 significantly impacts Vietnamese customer behaviour
toward online shopping. However, without Covid-19 as a moderator, their purchasing behaviour
is still as same as the time before Covid-19. Hence, the purpose of this article is achieved and
confirmed that Covid-19 really impacts on switching react as well as helping business
understanding its role on buying behaviour in order to response in time in the new circumstance.
5.2 Implications
The particular contribution of this paper has several policy implications. First, in terms of group
of perceived risk factors, although there is a change in buying goods and service, perceived risks
are no longer an issue with the appearance of Covid-19. That means after the pandemic period is
over, these risks are still barriers which causes customers not really ready for online shopping. The
model indicates time risks, delivery risk and social risks should be improved more during Covid-
19 outbreak. However, other risks still are needed to eliminate gradually in the favour of the
customer. Some solutions are suggested such as diversifying forms of payment including online
payment, cash on delivery, pay via e-wallet, etc...; clearer delivery information and time to avoid
late delivery for uncontrollable reasons; easy, clear and transparent return policy; return/exchange
policy with a flexible way and time. Besides that, governments should create a favourable terms
and conditions for a business doing online as well as policies encourage people to sell online. In
the meantime, tightly control information to make sure the accuracy and safety when customers
buy online.
Second, the group perceived benefits’ impact has some inherent results with the previous studies
but could be explored better in the future. During epidemics, organizations need to pay more

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 attention to the awareness of marketing policy to meet customer needs than the period without
Covid-19 outbreak. Companies can provide more choice, promotions, and discounts their
purchasing online consumers. Particularly, in Vietnam, the affection of society is an important
factor impacting consumers shopping decision. They often consult relatives before making a
buying decision. Evaluation information of relatives or previous buyers also significantly affects
their buying behaviour. Thus, online companies can give the consumers, who evaluated after
buying, reviewed on the website and application, or rated, accumulated points, e-coupons, discount
code, etc. In other words, businesses and regulators need to do more professional, change faster,
capture technology trends to better satisfy consumers’ demand not only during but also after the
epidemic.
Third, with regard to the moderator group, information on disease risks is scary, but not enough to
change consumer behaviour. Therefore, businesses should not consider epidemics as an
opportunity to change customers, but rather to take advantage of this period to continue to reduce
risk and increase benefits factors for customers.
5.3 Limitations and future research
This paper is no exception and it contains some potential problems. First, trust is proposed by the
previous researchers as a moderator variable but the model has not been verified, because it only
focuses on analyzing the impact of Covid-19 epidemic. Second, some previous studies have shown
a strong impact of age and gender factors on OS, but the results in this paper do not indicate that,
possibly due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. Future research can study the impact of this
factor and expand the survey in more countries. In addition, cultural factors are also one of the
issues that this paper has not addressed to study the changes in online shopping behavior that future
research can complement.

Acknowledgement
To complete this study, the authors would like to express a special thanks to the experts for their
profound advice on the research model and research survey, the respondents who have

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 enthusiastically participated in the interview, the previous researchers left us with valuable
references, and finally, the journal of Health and Quality of Life has allowed us to submit the
manuscript.

PREFERENCES
Ahmed, Z., Gull, M., & Rafiq, U. (2015). Factors Affecting Consumer Switching Behavior:
Mobile Phone Market in Manchester- United Kingdom. International Journal of Scientific
and Research Publications, 5(7), 1–7.
Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Reno, R. R. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting
interactions. Sage Publications, Inc.
Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Reno, R. R. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions.
Sage.

András, K., & Tamás, S. T. (2020). Panic buying in Hungary during COVID-19 disease.
https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21264.76800
Baker, S., Farrokhnia, R. A., Meyer, S., Pagel, M., & Yannelis, C. (2020). How Does Household
Spending Respond to an Epidemic? Consumption During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic.
https://doi.org/10.3386/w26949
Baubonienė, Ž., & Gulevičiūtė, G. (2015). E-Commerce Factors Influencing Consumers’ Online
Shopping Decision. Social Technologies, 5(1), 74–81. https://doi.org/10.13165/ST-15-5-
1-06
Bekiempis, V. (2020). ‘Could you buy a little less, please?’: panic-buying disrupts food
distribution. The Guardian. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/23/us-coronavirus-panic-buying-food
Bhatti, A., Saad, S., & Gbadebo, S. M. (2018). Convenience Risk, Product Risk, and Perceived
Risk Influence on Online Shopping: Moderating Effect of Attitude. Science Arena
Publications International journal of Business Management, 3(2), 1-11. ISSN 2520-3266
Box, G. E. P.; Hunter, W. G.; Hunter, J. S. (1978). Statistics for Experimenters: An Introduction
to Design, Data Analysis, and Model Building. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0-471-09315-7.
Carmody, J. (2020). Grocers call for end to coronavirus panic buying, saying “nobody is going to
starve.” ABC NEWS. Retreived from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 21/coronavirus-changes-face-of-wa-shopping/12076788
Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/ correlation
analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Department of Domestic Market. (2020). Nguồn cung hàng hóa thiết yếu tại các siêu thị, chợ trên
cả nước đáp ứng đủ nhu cầu của người dân [Supply of essential goods in supermarkets
and markets across the country is enough to meet the needs of the people]. Ministry of
Industry and Trade. Retrieved from https://moit.gov.vn/web/guest/tin-chi-tiet/-/chi-
tiet/nguon-cung-hang-hoa-thiet-yeu-tai-cac-sieu-thi-cho-tren-ca-nuoc-đap-ung-đu-nhu-
cau-cua-nguoi-dan-18096-22.html
Duc, N. X. (2020). NGUYỄN KIM ĐẨY MẠNH CHỐNG DỊCH COVID-19, BẢO VỆ KHÁCH
HÀNG CHU ĐÁO [Nguyen Kim promotes anti-Covid-19 epidemic, strong protects
customers]. New of Nguyen Kim Trading Joint Stock Company. Retrieved May 27th, 2020,
from https://www.nguyenkim.com/nguyen-kim-mua-dich-corona-phong-dich-va-bao-ve-
khach-hang-chu-dao.html
Duong, B. (2020). COVID-19: Chính phủ tiếp tục triển khai đồng bộ chính sách hỗ trợ cộng đồng
doanh nghiệp vượt khó [COVID-19: The Vietnamese Government continues to implement
synchronous policies to support the business community overcoming difficulties].
Electronic Journal of Finance. Retrieved May 27th, 2020, from http://tapchitaichinh.vn/su-
kien-noi-bat/covid19-chinh-phu-tiep-tuc-trien-khai-dong-bo-chinh-sach-ho-tro-cong-
dong-doanh-nghiep-vuot-kho-322544.html
Fang, J., Wen, C., George, B., & Prybutok, V. R. (2016). Consumer heterogeneity, perceived value,
and repurchase decision-making in online shopping: The role of gender, age, and shopping
motives. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 17(2), 116–131. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0bca/6352595935287ebaa523e96776d6b96e80cf.pdf
Forster, P. W., & Ya Tang. (2005). The Role of Online Shopping and Fulfillment in the Hong
Kong SARS Crisis. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on
System Sciences, 271a-271a. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2005.615
Ganesan‐Lim, C., Russell‐Bennett, R., & Dagger, T. (2008). The impact of service contact type
and demographic characteristics on service quality perceptions. Journal of Services
Marketing, 22(7), 550–561. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040810909677

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.).
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Häubl, G., & Trifts, V. (2000). Consumer decision making in online shopping environments: The
effects of interactive decision aids. Marketing science, 19(1), 4-21.
https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.19.1.4.15178
Honda (2020). Sau khẩu trang, Honda Ôtô là thứ bạn cần đầu tư mùa Đại dịch Covid19 [After the
mask, you should invest Honda Car in the Covid19 pandemic season]. Honda Company.
Retrieved May 27th, 2020, from https://hondaotophattien.com.vn/vn/loi-ich-mua-oto-mua-
covid-19.html
Iyengar, R., Han, S., & Gupta, S. (2009). Do friends influence purchases in a social
network?. Harvard Business School Marketing Unit Working Paper, (09-123). Available
at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1392172 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1392172
Katawetawaraks, C., & Wang, C. (2011). Online shopper behavior: Influences of online shopping
decision. Asian Journal of Business Research, 1(2). Available at
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2345198
Keating, B. W., Quazi, A. M., & Kriz, A. (2009). Financial risk and its impact on new purchasing
behavior in the online retail setting. Electronic Markets, 19(4), 237-250.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-009-0021-3

Keaveney, S. M. (1995). Customer Switching Behavior in Service Industries: An Exploratory

Study. Journal of Marketing, 59(2), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299505900206
Lee, M. K., Shi, N., Cheung, C. M., Lim, K. H., & Sia, C. L. (2011). Consumer's decision to shop
online: The moderating role of positive informational social influence. Information &
management, 48(6), 185-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2010.08.005
Lewis, M., & Garbett, S. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on the UK Consumer Sector. Squire Patton
Boggs. Retrieved from
https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/en/insights/publications/2020/03/research-results-
impact-of-covid-19-on-the-uk-consumer-sector
Li, J., & Feng, Y. (2011, September). Construction of Multi-Agent System for Decision Support
of Online Shopping. In International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and
Computational Intelligence (pp. 318-324). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24282-3_43

Lim, K. B., Yeo, S. F., & Ling, G. M. (2018). A study on consumer switching behaviour in
telecommunication industry. Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, 10(6S), 1143–
1153. https://doi.org/10.4314/jfas.v10i6s.75
Lopez, J. P. M., Redondo, Y. P., & Olivan, F. J. S. (2006). The impact of customer relationship
characteristics on customer switching behavior. Managing Service Quality: An International
Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604520610711909

MacDonald, Z. (2020). Analysis: Top Selling Products Amid the Coronavirus Crisis – How
Demand Is Shifting. Sellics. Retrieved from https://sellics.com/blog-coronavirus-covid-
amazon-online-shopping/
Masoud, E. Y. (2013). The effect of perceived risk on online shopping in Jordan. European
Journal of Business and Management, 5(6), 76-87. ISSN 2222-1905 (Paper); ISSN 2222-
2839 (Online)
Ministry of Health Portal (2020a). Chỉ thị số 15/CT-TTg của Thủ tướng Chính phủ: Về quyết liệt
thực hiện đợt cao điểm phòng, chống dịch COVID-19 [Directive No. 15 / CT-TTg of the
Prime Minister: On drastically implementing the peak phase of COVID-19 prevention and
control]. Retrieved from https://moh.gov.vn/web/dich-benh/cac-van-ban-chi-dao-cua-dang-nha-
nuoc/-/asset_publisher/zRev3D15XCJB/content/chi-thi-so-15-ct-ttg-cua-thu-tuong-chinh-phu-ve-
quyet-liet-thuc-hien-ot-cao-iem-phong-chong-dich-covid-19

Ministry of Health Portal (2020b). Thủ tướng Chính phủ vừa ban hành Chỉ thị số 16/CT-TTg
ngày 31/3/2020 về thực hiện các biện pháp cấp bách phòng, chống dịch COVID-19 [Thủ
tướng Chính phủ vừa ban hành Chỉ thị số 16/CT-TTg ngày 31/3/2020 về thực hiện các biện
pháp cấp bách phòng, chống dịch COVID-19]. Retrieved from https://moh.gov.vn/web/dich-
benh/cac-van-ban-chi-dao-cua-dang-nha-nuoc/-/asset_publisher/zRev3D15XCJB/content/thu-
tuong-chinh-phu-vua-ban-hanh-chi-thi-so-16-ct-ttg-ngay-31-3-2020-ve-thuc-hien-cac-bien-phap-
cap-bach-phong-chong-dich-covid-19

Nguyen, T., & Vu, D. C. (2020). Summary of the COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam - Lessons and
suggestions. Travel medicine and infectious disease, 101651. Advance online publication.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101651
Nhung, T. (2020). Ô tô khuyến mãi tràn ngập trong mùa dịch COVID-19 [Promotion cars are
flooded during the COVID-19 season]. Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper. Retrieved May

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 27th, 2020, from https://plo.vn/xe-lai/the-gioi-xe/o-to-khuyen-mai-tran-ngap-trong-mua-
dich-covid19-900323.html
Nielsen Vietnam (2020), Post Covid-19: Preparing for the new normal of Vietnam, agenda, page
11, from https://cdn.fbsbx.com/v/t59.2708-
21/97815526_250379729355236_5171227477212659712_n.pdf/Post-COVID-19_-Preparing-for-
the-new-normal_Nielsen.pdf?_nc_cat=110&_nc_sid=0cab14&_nc_ohc=DQhnU6BX154AX--
jeoy&_nc_ht=cdn.fbsbx.com&oh=bc81efbaeedafa258249cea0e3cb02ea&oe=5ECFD0C1&dl=1

Nimako, S. G., & Winneba, K. G. (2012). Consumer switching behaviour: a theoretical review
and research agenda. Research Journal of Social Science and Management, 2(3), 74-85.
Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon_Nimako/publication/268801499_Consumer_Switchi
ng_Behaviour_A_Theoretical_Review_and_Research_agenda/links/54afee5f0cf28ebe92de31de.p
df

Norusis, M.J. (1994). SPSS professional statitiscs. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Nunnally, J. C. and Bernstein, I. H. 1994. Psychometric theory, 3rd, New York, NY: McGraw-
Hill.
Picodi (2019). Người tiêu dùng Việt mua sắm online ra sao? [How do Vietnamese consumers shop
online?]. Picodi. Retrieved from https://www.picodi.com/vn/san-tim-khuyen-mai/nguoi-
tieu-dung-viet-mua-sam-online-ra-sao
Raude, J., MCColl. K., Flamand, C., &Apostolidis, T., (2019). Understanding health behaviour
changes in response to outbreaks: findings from a longitudinal study of a large epidemic
of mosquito-borne disease. Social Science & Medicine, 230, 184 - 193 10.31234/osf.io/9c8ax
RetailEconomics (2020). Impact of Coronavirus on the Consumer Sector. Retrieved from
https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/-/media/files/insights/publications/2020/03/research-results-
impact-of-covid-19-on-the-uk-consumer-sector/impact-of-coronavirus-on-the-consumer-
sector.pdf

Sarstedt, M., Bengart, P., Shaltoni, A.M. & Lehmann, S. (2018). The use of sampling methods in
advertising research: A gap between theory and practice. International Journal of
Advertising. 37(4):650-663.   https://doi.1080/02650487.2017.1348329
Shwu-Ing Wu (2003). The relationaship between consumer characteristics and attitude toward
online shopping. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 37-44. Retrieved from

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d524/2055a76c42cd42df2c46abeb53809c08702d.pdf

Senecal, S., Kalczynski, P. J., & Nantel, J. (2005). Consumers' decision-making process and their
online shopping behavior: a clickstream analysis. Journal of Business research, 58(11),
1599-1608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.06.003
Smith, S.M., C.A. Roster, L.L. Golden, and G.S. Albaum. (2016). A multi-group analysis of online
surveyrespondent data quality: Comparing a regular USA consumer panel to MTurk
samples. Journal ofBusiness Research 69, no. 8: 3139–48
Wilson, B. (2020). Off our trolleys: what stockpiling in the coronavirus crisis reveals about us.
The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/apr/03/off-our-
trolleys-what-stockpiling-in-the-coronavirus-crisis-reveals-about-us#top
Yan, X., & Dai, S. (2009). Consumer’s Online Shopping Influence Factors and Decision-Making
Model. 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009, 4, 89–102.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03132-8_8
Zhang, K. Z., Zhao, S. J., Cheung, C. M., & Lee, M. K. (2014). Examining the influence of online
reviews on consumers' decision-making: A heuristic–systematic model. Decision Support
Systems, 67, 78-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2014.08.005
Zhou, L., Dai, L., & Zhang, D. (2007). Online Shopping Acceptance Model: A Critical Survey of
Consumer Factors In Online Shopping. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 8(1),
41–62. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/98aa/8c77557707244c1b1ebe300d735146b77298.pdf

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300
 A STUDY ON SWITCHING BEHAVIOR TOWARD ONLINE SHOPPING OF
VIETNAMESE CONSUMER DURING THE COVID-19 TIME
Van Kien Pham1* Tran Le Nguyen2* Thi Thu Ha Do3 My Ha Tang4 Ha Le Thu Hoai5
kienpv@uef.edu.vn emily103984@gmail.com hadtt@uef.edu.vn hatm@uef.edu.vn hoaihlt@uef.edu.vn

1,2,3,4,5Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance; 141 - 145 Dien Bien Phu, Ward 15, Binh Thanh
District, HCM City, Vietnam
*Corresponding author

ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has promoted online shopping activities of Vietnamese consumers more
active, which previously took a lot of effort of online businesses, but not effective. However, will
this changing behavior be sustained after the Covid-19 pandemic?
Therefore, the article aims to investigate how customers change during the Covid-19 outbreak
based on perceived risks and perceived benefits of consumers in online shopping. These two
groups of factors will be assessed along with the moderating role of the Covid-19 impact.
In so doing, the paper investigated 427 online-shoppers during the Covid-19 outbreak from March
to April 2020 in Vietnam (the period of social distancing). The collected data were analyzed by
the hierarchical regression to determine how the Covid-19 play as a moderator that change the
perception of online consumers in Vietnam.
The study found that the perception of risks in terms of online shopping has changed positively
during Covid-19 pandemic, while these risk variables were found negatively in the normal
situation. Moreover, among the benefit variables, marketing policy shows the impact on online
shopping with awareness of Covid-19 compared to no effects without Covid-19. Furthermore,
some control variables in the model have different results in online shopping compared to previous
papers in which could be recommended to test again in future researches.
However, these new behaviours would not maintain after the epidemic season. As a result, the
study’s findings will contribute to clarify changes in consumer buying behaviour, in order to help
businesses can respond in time during the epidemic season.

Keywords: Consumer behaviour, switching behaviour, online shopping, Covid-19, benefit and risk
perception.

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3651300