THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR FOR THE BOOK MARKET IN ROMANIA

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, along with the social distancing rules imposed by governments around the world, have caused major changes in the publishing industry and, therefore, in the book consumption patterns. The main goal of this paper is to identify the changes in the purchasing habits of book consumers within two different frameworks of motivations: utilitarian and hedonic - both studied during the COVID-19 pandemic. A model was developed to study the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as a circumstantial impact, because it implicated the temporary shutdown of physical bookshops, the uncertainty of contracting the virus by visiting the shops once they re-opened along with the upgrades that online bookshops developed during the pandemic to attract customers. Data were gathered from 410 Romanian consumers by applying an online survey. Multivariate data analysis applied to the model showed that the COVID-19 pandemic context had a positive and significant influence on the customers' intents of online book purchasing. Moreover, while hedonic reasons exerted a compelling influence on the customers' intents to buy books online, the association between utilitarian reasons and online buying intents is positive, but insignificant. These results could support all stakeholders within the book market, such as publishing firms and online bookshops to strengthen their online presence - to develop their websites, their social media pages, as well as expand their advertising operations through different channels. The outcomes of this research are important and useful also for the academic environment, as the changes within the book market and the evolution of book consumption behavior influence research and academic writing overall.