Antecedents and consequences of panic buying: The case of COVID‐19
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Author(s)
Prentice, Catherine
Quach, Sara
Thaichon, Park
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2020
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Show full item recordAbstract
Panic buying emerged as a significant phenomenon during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This study draws on the scarcity principle, crowd psychology, and contagion theory to investigate the antecedents and consequences of panic buying. The antecedents included in this study are government measures, media and peer influence, and the fear of missing out. The consequences are founded on a sense of security and guilt. Retailer intervention is included as a moderator to the proposed main effects. Data were collected from 341 consumers who engaged in panic buying and were residents of the United States and Australia during the COVID‐19 ...
View more >Panic buying emerged as a significant phenomenon during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This study draws on the scarcity principle, crowd psychology, and contagion theory to investigate the antecedents and consequences of panic buying. The antecedents included in this study are government measures, media and peer influence, and the fear of missing out. The consequences are founded on a sense of security and guilt. Retailer intervention is included as a moderator to the proposed main effects. Data were collected from 341 consumers who engaged in panic buying and were residents of the United States and Australia during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) was employed to test the proposed model. The results show that the proposed antecedents (except fear of missing out) were significantly related to panic buying, which in turn had a significant influence on panic buyers’ psychological outcomes. The moderating effects of retailer intervention varied across different product categories. Discussion and implications of these findings are provided for policy makers, customers, and practitioners.
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View more >Panic buying emerged as a significant phenomenon during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This study draws on the scarcity principle, crowd psychology, and contagion theory to investigate the antecedents and consequences of panic buying. The antecedents included in this study are government measures, media and peer influence, and the fear of missing out. The consequences are founded on a sense of security and guilt. Retailer intervention is included as a moderator to the proposed main effects. Data were collected from 341 consumers who engaged in panic buying and were residents of the United States and Australia during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) was employed to test the proposed model. The results show that the proposed antecedents (except fear of missing out) were significantly related to panic buying, which in turn had a significant influence on panic buyers’ psychological outcomes. The moderating effects of retailer intervention varied across different product categories. Discussion and implications of these findings are provided for policy makers, customers, and practitioners.
View less >
Journal Title
International Journal of Consumer Studies
Copyright Statement
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Antecedents and consequences of panic buying: The case of COVID‐19, International Journal of Consumer Studies, 2020, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12649. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html)
Note
This publication has been entered as an advanced online version in Griffith Research Online.
Subject
Marketing