Level of Anxiety and Its Impact on Intentions to out of Home Behaviour During COVID-19

Abstract

The spread of Covid-19 pandemic came out with mammoth risk and challenges to human life. If the infectious virus is a life threatening risk then the produced circumstance are affecting psychologically. Fear and anxiety are commonly observed psychological disorders around the World during Covid-19 pandemic (Cullen et al., 2020; Lee et al., 2020; Salehi et al., 2020; Gritsenko et al., 2020). Travel intentions are adversely affected during the spread of virus. Anxiety among travellers has emerged a crucial psychological disorder responsible for affecting travel decisions. This study examines the role of anxiety on intentions to travel in the post lockdown. Further, role of social distancing which is considered a crucial measure to avoid the spread of Covid-19 is examined to determine the intentions to go out. A sample of 304 respondents who experienced travel in unlock down phase, are employed. The study resulted mild (22.0%), moderate (35.9) and high (37.2 %) level of anxiety among the people. Social distancing is found the significant predictor to increase intention to go out and decrease anxiety during pandemic. However, the effect of anxiety on intention to go out is insignificant. This study concludes that adoption of social distancing norms make the traveller confident to travel and reduces the level of anxiety.