Document Type

Report

Publication Date

10-2022

Subjects

COVID-19 (Disease) -- Economic aspects -- United States, Electronic commerce -- Social aspects, Delivery of goods

Abstract

In this project, we used a mixed-methods study to collect critical information to evaluate the extent to which people modified their shopping behavior, either by choice or necessity, to meet their provisioning needs during the COVID-19 crisis and the following recovery. First, four waves of a cross-sectional survey were administered online to a representative sample of households in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington. This longitudinal, comparative study responded directly to a critical research gap and advanced behavioral science by providing a rich survey dataset to support and test theories of behavioral change and technology adoption. Second, focus groups were conducted with older adults in Oregon to discuss their arc of technology adoption for grocery shopping. Focus groups were also conducted with two sets of mentors who provide assistance to family members and friends with online food purchases to understand what kinds of interventions might be necessary to broaden access to e-commerce and delivery platforms for vulnerable populations. This report presents high-level descriptive statistics from these surveys comparing results by wave and/or by state. The findings from the focus groups with older adults and mentors are also described. The findings of this research are critical for emergency planning but also for understanding the ever-changing mechanism used to access retail and service opportunities (whether in-person vs. online), and the opportunities for future interventions to remedy barriers to accessing food that are relevant after the pandemic recovery.

Description

This is a final report, NITC-RR-1435, from the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) program of the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University.

The project page can be found online at: https://nitc.trec.pdx.edu/research/project/1435

DOI

10.15760/trec.281

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/38612

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