Investigating the impact of crowding in the time of covid: on the relationship and satisfaction with shopping (chain stores in district 5 of Tehran)

Subject Areas : Behavioral Studies in Management

Zeinab Hosseini ¹ , azadeh ashrafi ² , Shadan Vahabzadeh Monshi ³

1 - MA in public management, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Public Management, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Business Management, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2023-11-04 Accepted : 2023-12-14 Published : 2023-12-22

Keywords: perceived crowding, customer-employee relationship, shopping satisfaction,

Abstract :

With the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has witnessed the most severe restrictions on people's freedom and social life. The purpose of this research is to detect possible changes in the relationship between perceived crowding and its vital outcome, shopping satisfaction, despite the profound changes that are currently occurring in the behavior of retailers and consumers. Therefore, the current research has investigated the impact of crowding during the Covid-19 on the level of shopping satisfaction through the mediating variable of customer-employee communication. The current type of research is a descriptive survey and the statistical population of this research is all customers of chain stores in the 5th district of Tehran; whose number is unknown; For this purpose, a sample size of 142 people has been considered based on Power G 3 sample size determination software, and the questionnaires were distributed and collected among the members of the statistical sample. The data collection tool of the current research is a questionnaire, the reliability of the current research questionnaire was measured by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which was higher than 0.7 for all research variables. The validity of the research tool has been confirmed by performing the confirmatory factor analysis technique. Also, to analyze the information, the structural equation modeling method was used with the help of SmartPLS software. The results of the current research confirmed the impact of crowding in the time of Covid on customer-employee communication and also the impact of customer-employee communication on the level of shopping satisfaction; Also, the indirect effect of crowding in the time of Covid on the level of shopping satisfaction through the mediating variable of customer-employee communication was also confirmed.