A qualitative study on consumer coping strategies to deal with a pandemic: The case of an emerging country

Abstract

COVID- 19 pandemic is an important disease of recent decades, affecting the health of the population, as well as the global economies, social interaction patterns, and human psychology. To cope with this uncertain and stressful situation people devised different strategies. This study aims to reveal the coping strategies adopted by the consumers of an emerging country, namely Türkiye. It is a qualitative study aiming to understand the way Turkish consumers coped with the COVID- 19 pandemic. Data was collected through conducting 60 in depth interviews and content analysis was applied using QDA Miner 6 software package. The findings reveal that mostly preferred coping strategies are avoidance, active coping, emotional support and positive thinking whereas rational thinking, emotional venting, and instrumental support are the least preferred coping strategies of the Turkish sample. The findings contribute to the literature by adapting the multidimensional model of consumer coping developed by Duhachek (2005) and proposing coping strategies that are specific to a pandemic. © 2025, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved.