Antecedents and consequences of panic buying: The case of COVID‐19

Abstract

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 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.

Panic buying research: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

“…Government policies such as restrictions and lockdowns in the initial stages of the pandemic caused substantial panic among the public (Keane & Neal, 2020). Such panic led to elevated levels of anxiety, chronic distress and excessive buying (Prentice, Quach, et al, 2020). Our review highlights that excessive and missing information (Kuruppu & De Zoysa, 2020), along with mal‐information (Frost & Hartl, 1996) leads to panic behaviour.…”

“…The affective consumer reactions captured in the literature review included anxiety and fear (Addo et al., 2020; Gallagher et al., 2017), fear of missing out (Prentice, Quach, et al, 2020) and sadness due to loss of situational control (Chen et al., 2017). These conditions are connected to the notion of negative affect regulation and control motivation (Chen et al., 2017).…”

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the creative industries: A literature review and future research agenda

“…The literature that describes customer experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the change in customer attitudes and preferences triggered by lifestyle change and uncertainty ( Sheth, 2020 , Donthu and Gustafsson, 2020 ; Mehrolia et al, 2020; Prentice et al, 2020 ). One immediate effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been irrational consumer behaviour, where customers simultaneously experienced panic-buying behaviour and a pent-up demand for postponed purchases and services such as art, music and theatrical performances, etc ( Billore and Anisimova 2021 ).…”

“…Since November 2019 the world has been battling the pandemic caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known as ‘Coronavirus Disease 2019’ (COVID-19) ( Barrero, Bloom, and Davis, 2020 ). This ongoing pandemic has brought significant losses for countless businesses, leading to serious disruptions for many industries ( Leite et al, 2020 , Ivanov, 2020 , Prentice et al, 2020 , Mehrolia et al, 2021 ). Along with the travelling, hospitality and retail trade sectors, the creative industries have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic ( Banks and O’Connor, 2020 , Harper, 2020 , Pacella et al, 2020 ; Ratten, 2020a; Serafini and Novosel, 2020 ).…”

Purchase experience during the COVID‐19 pandemic and social cognitive theory: The relevance of consumer vulnerability, resilience, and adaptability for purchase satisfaction and repurchase

“…The pandemic forced consumers to change their attitudes and purchasing habits (Wright & Blackburn, 2020). Health and economic issues, such as resource scarcity and panic buying (Prentice et al, 2021), greater safety/protection concerns and contactless payments, forced consumers to reconsider their future purchase decisions (Mehrolia et al, 2020), and retailers to reshape their businesses in real time (Standish & Bossi, 2020). The current pandemic can be perceived as an adverse setting that can make some people vulnerable and/or resilient, affecting their purchase decision making.…”