A Covid-19 Disruption: The Next Generation for Digitally Planned and Transformed Behaviours in Thailand

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reshaped human behaviours and switched communication systems from face-to-face to digital communication technologies. This study aimed to examine how digital transformation practices affect human behavioural change digitally, and how perceived COVID-19 severity affects digital transformation practices and behavioural decisions. We use the traditional theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to determine new behavioural roles in the digital era, namely digitally planned and transformed behaviour . We collect data from 550 Thai citizens through survey methods to prove the concepts of key proximal measures of digital attitude, digital social norms, digital behavioural control perception, and the digital behavioural decision to understand planned digital transformation behaviour. The results show that people are more likely to digitalize than before, which predict the decision to behave digitally at 93.9% of the variability. However, the higher the COVID-19 severity, the more likely digital transformation is impactful. This study provides interesting evidence that people struggle to digitalize during the pandemic. We demonstrate that digital transformation can offer the desired consequences by cultivating digital attitudes, promoting digital social norms, increasing digital behavioural control perception and enhancing digital behavioural decisions.