![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
In the United States, more than 110,000 restaurants permanently closed due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet many restaurants remained open, albeit under very different operating conditions. In light of evolving mandates and consumers’ COVID-19 risk perceptions, restaurants faced the challenging task of determining how to communicate COVID-19 protective practices. Recommended COVID-19 protective messages varied and were dependent on whether restaurants offered indoor dining, takeout, or delivery options. Drawing from U.S. government recommendations and persuasion theory, two studies examine the direct and mediation effects of protective messaging advertised by restaurants on patronage intentions and consider consumer levels of concern about the virus as a moderator. Serial moderated mediation results indicate that communicating protective measures for takeout and patio dining services appeared to be most effective during this pandemic. Moreover, results extend to protective messages presented as both primary advertisement claims and voluntary disclosures footnoted at the bottom of an advertisement. Results have implications for restaurants that offer multiple dining options and provide useful consumer communication protection options for the present and future pandemics.
Acknowledgment
The authors express their appreciation to the editor, associate editor, and three anonymous reviewers for their many helpful comments on previous versions of this article.
Declarations of Interest
No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.
Notes
1 We also performed analyses in which the current level of restaurant restriction for the participant was included as covariates and results were unaffected. Further information is available from the first author.
2 The within-subjects factor makes conventional (M)ANOVA analyses with a quantitative moderator impractical. However, we also examined results for each of the three dining venues (inside, outside patio, takeout) in PROCESS using the quantitative concern measure, similar to Study 1.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Garrett Rybak
Garrett Rybak (MBA, University of Mississippi) is a doctoral student, Department of Marketing, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas.
Alicia M. Johnson
Alicia M. Johnson (MBA, Clarkson University) is a doctoral student, Department of Marketing, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas.
Scot Burton
Scot Burton (PhD, University of Houston) is Distinguished Professor and Tyson Graduate Research Chair, Department of Marketing, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas.