# The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perception of Globalization and Consumer Behavior
## 4 Research Findings and Discussion  
Respondents were asked to indicate the most appropriate definition of globalization that in their opinion best illustrated this phenomenon. Respondents could choose one of five options. The definitions were determined on the basis of the literature and indicated the most common tendencies and characteristics of the phenomenon of progressive globalization. The phenomenon of globalization can be viewed and defined from different points of view. All of the definitions of globalization included in the survey emphasized the importance of the convergence of young consumers' digital behavior in shopping, social media use, entertainment, networking and travel. The purpose of this question was to find out how the respondents understand this concept. Due to the limited volume of the publication, the focus here is mainly on the use of the Internet for online behaviors such as information seeking, shopping and entertainment and the impact which COVID-19 may exert on digital consumer behavior among young population aged 18-34. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Demographics** & **March** & **December** & **November** & **March** & **December** & **November** \\
**2020** & **2020** & **2021** & & **2020** & **2020** & **2021** \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Gender} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{Place of residence} \\ \hline Women & 63\% & 61\% & 54\% & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Cities with more than} & 61\% & 51\% & 64\% \\ Men & 37\% & 39\% & 46\% & Cities of 201,000–400,000 inhabitants & 8\% & 11\% & 13\% \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Age} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{Cities of 101,000–200,000 inhabitants} & 1\% & 4\% & 3\% \\ \hline \(>\)18–24 & 97\% & 98\% & 87\% & Cities of 21,000–100,000 inhabitants & 9\% & 10\% & 8\% \\
25–34 & 3\% & 2\% & 13\% & Small city up to 20,000 & 8\% & 7\% & 4\% \\
35–55+ & 0\% & 0\% & 0\% & Countryside & 13\% & 17\% & 8\% \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Education} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{Financial situation} \\ \hline Primary & 0\% & 0\% & 0\% & Very good & 12\% & 9\% & 22\% \\ Secondary & 88\% & 89\% & 82\% & Good & 52\% & 55\% & 61\% \\ BA studies & 11\% & 6\% & 18\% & Average & 36\% & 32\% & 17\% \\ MA studies & 1\% & 5\% & 0\% & Bad & 0\% & 4\% & 0\% \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: The demographic profiles of the respondents. In order to examine whether and to what degree consumers' attitudes toward globalization changed because of the pandemic, the authors compared the results of the study, which was carried out in cooperation with the team of the Department of Management Information Systems at the University of Warsaw in March 2020 (before the pandemic) and in December 2020 (during the pandemic). Respondents were presented with five definitions of globalization, from which they were to choose the definition that, in their opinion, best describes the phenomenon. In March 2020, 30.8% of the respondents defined globalization as \"all processes leading to increasing interdependence and integration of states, aimed at creating a world society, accelerated by the proper use of information technologies\" [34]. The next most frequently chosen definition (24.6% of responses) was globalization as \"an increase in interdependence, integration, joint influence and unification in the economic and social sphere in the world, intensifying with rapid technological progress\" [35; 36; 37]. The definition of globalization as \"the process of economic and social changes causing a rapid flow of goods in the material, financial and information spheres resulting in the homogenization of culture throughout the world\" [38; 39] was in third place with a result of 23.7%.