Consumer Risk Behavior Over Time: A Natural Experiment

Recently, Pennings, Wansink and Meulenberg (2002) showed that by decoupling the risk response behaviour of consumers into the separate components of risk perception and risk attitude, a more robust conceptualization and prediction of consumers¿ reactions is possible. Furthermore, they argue that the influence of risk attitudes and risk perceptions on behaviour can be used to formulate effective marketing strategies in case of a crisis. The question arises whether or not the influence of these risk variables changes over time and, hence, whether marketing strategies must be adapted. The BSE (mad cow disease) crises in the U.S., Germany and The Netherlands in 2001 and 2004 provided us with a natural experiment to examine the relationship between risk attitudes and perceptions and behaviour over time. Implications for marketing-management are discussed. Keywords: consumer behaviour, market crisis, risk attitude, risk perception, time.