Investigation of the Relationship between Consumption Habits and Vulnerability in Access to Resources and Self-Control in Consumption During the Period of Coronavirus Measures: Determining the Effect of Psychological Well-being, Individual Resilience, Social Capital and Pro-Social Behaviors and Developing Policy Recommendations

This study, designed as a transformative consumer research, examines the impact of the pandemic on consumers by focusing on changes in consumption habits (food consumption, online shopping behavior, social media consumption), economy and psychological vulnerabilities, psychological well-being and self-control in consumption. According to the main findings obtained as a result of the structural equation modeling application in the light of the data obtained by the CATI method in the form of panel data (N= 812, July-August 2020; N= 616, November-December 2020) during the pandemic process; (1) there are deteriorations in social media addiction, online shopping addiction, food consumption addiction patterns with increasing stress due to the pandemic; (2) Contrary to expectations, it was observed that food consumption addiction increased under social isolation, but this reflected positively on psychological well-being. (3) While increasing stress causes economic vulnerabilities to be felt more intensely and therefore psychological well-being is negatively affected, (4) it is seen that psychological fragility triggers the tendency to show pro-social behaviors. (5) Social capital positively affects psychological well-being, which translates into a positive effect on both pro-social behavior and individual resilience. (6) Self-control of future consumption has been found to be associated with pro-social behavior, not individual resilience. However, as the positive effects of pro-social behavior on social capital are observed, self-control mechanisms on consumption are negatively affected. In order to manage flexible working with sustainable use of individual and organizational resources, necessary digital infrastructure, equipment, in-kind and financial support should be provided. Fair wages and benefits must be maintained. These will reinforce the sense of trust within the organization. Socialization appears to play a critical role in flexible working; Employees should be prevented from feeling lonely by the communication of managers not limited to job demands. Activities that will strengthen relationships, psychological well-being and practices that support physical health should be offered to employees. Organizations should avoid approaches that reinforce traditional roles assigned to women and men; career and promotion opportunities should not be undermined. In order to establish systematic flexible working processes, studies should be initiated to transform the standard, which is consistent with the legislation, into a national standard in this project, and an international standard should be pioneered.