Descriptive or injunctive: How do restaurant customers react to the guidelines of COVID-19 prevention measures? The role of psychological reactance

In this study, we employed an experimental design to empirically test how restaurant customers react differently to normative appeals (descriptive vs. injunctive) relating to COVID-19 prevention measures through freedom threat and negative cognition. We conducted t-tests, serial mediation, moderation, and moderated serial mediation analysis to test the hypotheses using SPSS 23.0 and PROCESS macro v.3.5 (model 6 and model 85). Injunctive normative appeal causes an increase in freedom and a less favorable attitude than descriptive normative appeals. The findings also demonstrate the serial-mediated effect of freedom threat and negative cognition on attitude. Furthermore, the effectiveness of normative appeals depends on an individual’s age. This study contributes to the academic literature on hospitality by applying psychological reactance theory and testing the model within a restaurant context. It also discusses the implications of its findings for consumers and restaurant managers.