SPECIAL COLUMN OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY FORUM FOR YOUNG SCHOLARS
WEI Zong-cai, LIU Yu-fei, PENG Dan-li
With the rapid development of smart city technology and its full penetration into social life, the traditional human-land relationship has been significantly changed. Owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the consequent implementation of lockdown policy, residents' online shopping behaviors have become increasing uncertain, and its characteristics and influencing factors require further study. Based on questionnaire survey data of Weifang city, this study investigated the characteristics of residents' online shopping behaviors during the epidemic period and their differences from usual. Structural equation modeling was further used to explore the influencing factors of residents' online shopping behaviors during the epidemic period. The results showed that residents' online shopping frequency, expense, and duration were higher than the peacetime. Moreover, during the epidemic period, residents' online shopping frequency, expense, and duration all decreased from the central city to the suburbs, which was in line with the technology diffusion hypothesis. Online shopping attitudes during the epidemic period had a significantly positive impact on residents' online shopping behaviors; In-store shopping behaviors during the epidemic period promoted online shopping behaviors; Residents with high income, high education level, longer online shopping years and better living location were more inclined to online shopping.