Revisiting and Extending: “Who Should You Market to in a Crisis? Examining Plog’s Model During the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Abstract

This Letter updates and expands a study conducted during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. That study confirmed the applicability of Plog’s model of Allocentricity and Psychocentricity within the context of the pandemic, as Allocentrics were found to be much more open to travel during the first 4 months of the pandemic, as the theory would predict. The current research, employing the identical survey instrument and research method, extended the data collection for an additional year as the pandemic evolved. This has allowed a far more extensive examination that confirmed and expanded the earlier findings, providing significant value to both academics and practitioners while again affirming the value of Plog’s model for destination marketers during a period of crisis.