Name : M. Fernanado R.

Student Number : 121811233082

Class : Academic Writing (C)

Essay on Review Related Studies

The latest identified virus called Coronavirus had caused sudden outbreak in Wuhan, China,
in only a matter of short time. In just one month at the end of 2019, the outbreak spread
quickly and took away many innocent lives in China through scenario no one might have
ever expected. Unfortunately, it just didn’t stop there, the outbreak grew larger as it spread
throughout every single place in the world until it became an official global threat pandemy
declared by The World Health Organization (WHO) on 30 January. As the outbreak became
more complex and more challenging to control, world governments were forced to take
preventive action upon its regional policy, they formed social distancing policy on limiting
social contact for daily basis and work production activity. In the process, such condition, of
course impacting the economy, culture, political state of each region. In the thesis entitled
How A Massive Contagious Infectious Diseases Can Affect Tourism, International Trade, Air
Transportation, and Electricity Consumption? The Case of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-
nCoV) in China, the authors examine the economic impact of an epidemic and provide
substantial empirical evidence on the effects of contagious diseases on personal consumption
and purchasing habits. By applying the approach of observation and analysis through the
using of a massive contagious infection diseases simulator (ECMCID-Simulator), it found
that the outbreak of epidemic caused considerable distruption to consumer spending and
behaviour. Expenditure on conventional shopping channels has been significantly reduced
but it has caused a major increase in e-commerce spending. Therefore, in the essay, I would
like to discuss the comparative elements of 5 related studies regarding the impact of
Coronavirus toward consumer behaviors.
 In 2011, Lelia Voinea and Alina Filip released the article entitled Analyzing the Main
Changes in New Consumer Buying Behavior during Economic Crisis. The main focus in this
study is a portrait of the new consumer behavior which derived primarily from the need for
authenticity during economic crisis. Traditional consumer which common was distinguished.
Due to the extreme global financial downturn, the new consumer behavior has changed, and
it has also led consumers towards new orientations. The global financial downturn crisis
turned out to be not only a financial crisis, but also one of capitalism. Due to the situation,
consumers were forced to change their common behavior of buying. The goal, in the new
consumer buying behavior, is to highlight the main changes that are occurred there. It draws a
portrait of consumers during and after the economic crisis in different regions. Due to
economic crisis, the characteristics of socio-economic situation are changed not only in the
way consumers buy, but especially in what they buy and why they buy.

Regarding the effects of financial crisis that is reviewed from psychological approach,
Amalia Pandelica and Ionut Pandelica had conducted a study in 2011, entitled The change of
consumers’ behavior in crisis conditions: A psychological approach to the empirical
evidence from Romania. In the study, the authors analyze that the consumer behavior in the
context of today's economic crisis is changing. The change has a direct relation to the risks
generating situations from the psychological factors of behaviour. The study's results
underscore that. In today's economic crisis, the perception of risks, the risks generating the
situation and the changes in consumer behavior are directly related. The results also reveal
the change of behavior within the conceptual model is not only influenced and considered
from psychological factors even its dominantly there. In the end, this study contributes to
understanding the changing behavior of consumers during economic crisis conditions by
using a new psychological approach, rarely explored in the field of literature. On the other
hand , the study provides a broader picture of how consumers react and act under conditions
of economic crisis by empirical support for this.

When it comes to analyzing the consumers behavior in common, In 2008, RexY. Du

and Wagner A. Kamakura had published study entitled Where Did All That Money Go?
Understanding How Consumers Allocate Their Consumption Budget. In the study , the
authors suggest a functional requirements set to calculate the allocation decision for
individual household budgets, in which consumers are assumed to generate the budget
towards a set of categories that underlie the desire to purchase. By illustrating the set using
data from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey, the authors cover 31 categories of
consumption over the 22 years. Due to the obvious calibrated set, it is able to infer direct
inferences about the orientation individual households make when they face consumption
budget constraints, as well as how their preferences for different categories of consumption
vary from stage of life to level of income. In short , the study reveals how the proposed model
can be used in policy making situations to predict potential impacts on consumer
consumption patterns due to price shifts or discretionary income under different situations.
Other than that, the results also show that, in a more related context, the orientation of
consumers is somewhat focused on inter-category product allocations, but also on
intertemporal allocations dedicated to urgent needs and in certain situations.

Hojin Jung, Minjae Park, Kihoon Hong and Eunjung Hyun published a study in 2016
entitled The Impact of an Epidemic Outbreak on Consumer Expenditures: An Empirical
Assessment for MERS Korea. The study covers the investigation the effect of an epidemic
outbreak on consumer expenditures. By using scanner panel data on consumers’ debit card
and credit card transcations. The investigation presents empirical evidence that outbreaks
cause considerable distruption in consumers’ expenditures. The consumers’ response to the
epidemic differs to psychological factor and fear of contagious impact rather than lack of
budget constraints. In fact, during the outbreak, customers restrain and even alter their
behaviors to reduce the risk of infection. The study also explains if the improved policy
environment for establishing and maintaining the e-commerce channel would possibly lessen
consumers’ fear of contagion from purchasing goods and services and may help
manufacturers and retailers retain their sales. In the end, the study provides important
implications for policy and interventions mean to sustain the economy when epidemics occur
after understanding and analyzing the characteristic of consumers’ during MERS outbreak.

Milan Brahmbhatt Arindam Dutta’s study (2008) entitled On SARS Type Economic
Effects during Infectious Disease Outbreaks. The study discusses research in behavioral
economics during SARS infectious disease outbreaks. Not only focusing on the economic
impacts of infectious diseases SARS in 2003, but the study also presents comparative
elements of the Surat plague outbreak of 1994, and other similar harmful events. As there is
revival of attention across economic sector which triggered by emergence of many new
infectious diseases in the past 25 years, public information strategies come as one of the
solutions to take big part on reducing unwarranted panic. The common infectious diseases
that can cause outbreak are HIV-AIDS, more recently, severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS), the drug resistant strains of old diseases, and the return of concern about old threats
that had never gone away, such as pandemic human influenza. The finding shows
government incentives to conceal decline of fact to the citizens during oubreaks would cause
more numerous possible problems that might happen. The findings suggest that honesty
indeed is the best public policy under modern conditions of easy mass global
communications. Eventually, in order to lessen the impact of outbreaks toward economic and
socio-culture, it’s important for the government to be transparant.

In general, the previous studies has a similarity and differences with the present study.
The similarity is shown in the theories and approaches which are applied, as well as the
context of consumer behavior that differs from psychological impact, economic crisis
situation impact, to the selection of products. The first until fifth study used different
approach and theory. The first study used observation and the use of mechanical system in
their research, meanwhile four other studies focused more on applying psychological and
cultural impacts during economic crisis towards consumer behavior. While the present study
breakdown more the context of impacts during economic crisis into a specific case as
Coronavirus, the previous studies present most significant explanation and background of
consumer behavior during economic crisis along with examples in different regions. On the
other hand, the present study fills a gap in examining new object of cases by applying entirely
on the current case outbreak of Coronavirus.
 References

Brahmbhatt, Milan, and Arindam Dutta. “On SARS Type Economic Effects During
Infectious Disease Outbreaks.” Policy Research Working Papers, November 2008.
https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-4466.

Du, Rex Y., and Wagner A. Kamakura. “Where Did All That Money Go? Understanding
How Consumers Allocate Their Consumption Budget.” Journal of Marketing 72,
no. 6 (2008): 109–31. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.72.6.109.

Estrada, Mario Arturo Ruiz, Donghyun Park, and Minsoo Lee. “How A Massive Contagious
Infectious Diseases Can Affect Tourism, International Trade, Air Transportation,
and Electricity Consumption? The Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-NCoV)
in China.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3540667.

Jung, Hojin, Minjae Park, Kihoon Hong, and Eunjung Hyun. “The Impact of an Epidemic
Outbreak on Consumer Expenditures:An Empirical Assessment for MERS Korea.”
Sustainability 8, no. 5 (June 2016): 454. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8050454.

Pandelica, Amalia. “The Change of Consumers’ Behavior in Crisis Conditions: A

Psychological Approach to the Empirical Evidence from Romania.” African
Journal Of Business Management 5, no. 28 (2011).
https://doi.org/10.5897/ajbm11.266.

Voinea, Lelia and Alina Filip. “Analyzing the Main Changes in New Consumer Buying
Behavior during Economic Crisis.” International Journal of Economic Practices
and Theories, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2011): 14-19.