This paper examines the relationships between online therapeutic
shopping motivation, crisis-coping shopping, and therapeutic shopping
purchases in disruptive situations. It explicitly addresses the research
question of how online shopping motivation and crisis-coping shopping
affect therapeutic shopping purchases. Empirical evidence was obtained
in Europe and Latin America. We used partial least squares modeling and
multigroup analysis to compare consumers’ culture-driven responses to
crisis.

The effect of crisis-coping shopping is almost three times
stronger than the effect of online therapeutic shopping motivation on
therapeutic shopping purchases. This study investigates the concepts of
hedonic shopping and retail therapy in the online environment and
disruptive situations by examining therapeutic shopping purchases.

Cultural
differences are highlighted in relation to purchases made to regulate
mood during a crisis. Finally, this study examines the roles of retail
therapeutic motivation and crisis-coping online shopping and discusses
the implications for consumers, managers, and future research.