FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER PURCHASE INTENTION IN MALDIVES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The end of 2019 marked the spread of a new virus called Corona virus disease (Covid-19), rapidly spreading from China to all over the globe. This outbreak was promptly declared a “global pandemic” by the World Health Organization in March 2020, and control measures such as social distancing and quarantine were imposed. Maldives, a country largely dependent on tourism to sustain its economy, as well as on import from foreign countries for most of their consumption goods, they were among the worst impacted countries in the Asian region, and possibly, in the world. As this sudden crisis would significantly impact consumption behaviour and patterns, it is important for retailers to understand the purchase intentions of consumers to maintain their market position and to minimize the impacts from the pandemic. Therefore, the aim of this research is to understand consumer purchase intention during the Covid-19 pandemic in Maldives. In this paper, factors that would affect consumer purchase intention were identified as price, brand, perceived value and perceived economic situation. Their relationship with the purchase intentions of consumers was analyzed through a sample size of 275 distributed across Maldives. Descriptive analysis was done to analyze the collected data. Moreover, the hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. The results were assessed to determine whether the identified factors were significantly related to the purchase intention of Maldivian consumers during Covid-19 pandemic. It was found that perceived value and brand has a positive and statistically significant relationship with consumer purchase intention in Maldives during Covid-19 pandemic, while price and perceived economic situation did not exhibit a significant relationship. Furthermore, this study contributed knowledge about factors influencing consumer purchase intention in Maldives during Covid-19 pandemic, which was previously understudied. This study also makes recommendations for industry players to take into consideration the significant factors identified in this study as a means of enhancing their current position in the market.