Impact of natural disaster on consumer behaviour: Italian case of Xylella fastidiosa

Natural disasters can influence the consumer behavior overtime. These phenomena have the potential to undermine socio-economic systems of an entire industry or country, as happened in Italy, since 2013, with the advent of phytosanitary emergence caused by Xylella Fastidiosa infection in olive trees. This study deepened the reaction of consumers to a stressed socio-economic system in the real context of the Italian phytosanitary emergency to provide marketing and policy insights, based on stimulus-response model. Data of 637 Italian respondents were collected through a quantitative survey and interpreted with different hypotheses performed with Structural Equation Modeling to detect a causal model. Different variables were measured, such as willingness to buy, social influence and other. The results show that of the various factors hypothesized, only the social ones influence the willingness to buy olive oil. On the other hand, the model turns out to be non-significant as a function of the effect of personal and cultural influence factors. The current study is the first to interpret the impact of the Xylella phenomenon from the perspective of implementing socio-economic strategies, rethinking marketing lines of action capable of capturing sustainable modes of action. Implications for academic, marketers, agribusiness and policy makers were discussed.