Teori perubahan gelagat pengguna dibangunkan daripada kajian psikologi seterusnya diaplikasikan kepada gelagat pengguna. Pakar psikologi percaya bahawa gelagat manusia boleh berubah melalui rangsangan dan tindak balas berdasarkan teori-teori yang dibangunkan oleh Pavlov, Skinner, Thorndike, dan lain-lain. Ancaman pandemik Covid-19 telah menyebabkan beberapa negara mengambil tindakan drastik seperti menyekat pergerakan rakyat, menyediakan pakej rangsangan ekonomi untuk memulihkan keadaan ekonomi semasa dan menguatkuasakan prosedur operasi standard (SOP) bertujuan untuk mengekang penularan wabak ini. Dalam konteks negara Malaysia, kajian ini mencadangkan bahawa semua tindakan yang diambil oleh pihak kerajaan mampu mewujudkan tindak balas positif dan negatif melalui teori pembelajaran pengguna. Kajian ini didasari oleh teori Pelaziman Operan (Conditioning Theory) yang mencadangkan empat kategori gelagat pengguna semasa berlakunya Covid-19. Tujuan kertas kerja ini untuk mencadangkan rangka kerja konseptual berkaitan segmen pasaran yang wujud akibat Covid-19 dan cadangan jenis penjanaan dan pengembangan kekayaan yang baharu pasca Covid19. Jangkaan hasil kajian akan membuktikan terdapat empat kategori pengguna berdasarkan reaksi melalui gelagat yang ditonjolkan semasa pasca pandemik berlangsung. Ia melibatkan gelagat kembali ke tabiat asal, norma baharu norma baharu yang sederhana, dan kitar semula. Dasar-dasar tertentu boleh dibangunkan bertujuan untuk mengetengahkan gelagat norma baharu dalam kalangan pengguna bagi mengatasi impak Covid-19 malahan untuk memastikan Malaysia berdaya saing dalam mengharungi revolusi industri 4.0. Kajian di masa akan datang perlu dijalankan secara berterusan untuk memastikan rangka kerja yang dicadangkan dapat diadaptasi dalam konteks dan industri yang berbeza.

It was a calm and quiet Monday evening of March 16, 2020 at Desa Jati neighborhood. Maria, a final-year undergraduate student at a local university in Nilai has been staying in that neighborhood for almost four years. Since December 2019, everyone was talking about COVID-19 and the speed at which the virus was spreading is shocking. Maria and her housemates, Joyah and Ecah were having dinner when the Malaysian Prime Minister (PM) announced the movement control order (MCO) in response to COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Maria was eagerly waiting for the announcement since this deadly virus outbreak. Following the MCO announcement, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) urged all universities to send the students back to their hometown on March 17, 2020. In a rush, Maria, Joyah, and Ecah quickly packed their bags and hurried to Terminal Bersepadu (TBS) to take a bus to get to their hometown. The TBS is one of the main express bus terminals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The TBS is more like a state-of-the-art airport than a bus station for all south-bound, eastern, and north-bound bus express passengers. Unlike older bus terminals, the TBS is a highly modern bus terminal. It is equipped with the latest technologies and amenities to help bus travelers. There was a massive crowd of people at TBS, but they managed to get their tickets home. Maria whispered to herself ‘this pandemic will surely end very soon, and life will be back to normal”. She was worried about her future. Moreover, she will be graduating in just a few months. Maria whispered to herself: “What if the virus stays for a long time. How am I going to find a job after graduated?”