The Psychological Causes of Panic Buying Following a Health Crisis

Abstract

Attributed to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, panic buying is now a frequent occurrence in many countries, leading to stockouts and supply chain disruptions. Consequently, it has received much attention from academics and the retail industry. The aim of this study is to review, identify, and synthesise the psychological causes of panic buying, which is a relatively new and unexplored area in consumer behaviour research. A systematic review of the related literature is conducted. The review suggests that panic buying is influenced by (1) individuals’ perception of the threat of the health crisis and scarcity of products; (2) fear of the unknown, which is caused by negative emotions and uncertainty; (3) coping behaviour, which views panic buying as a venue to relieve anxiety and regain control over the crisis; and (4) social psychological factors, which account for the influence of the social network of an individual. This study contributes to the literature by consolidating the scarce and scattered research on the causes of panic buying, drawing greater theoretical insights into each cause and also offers some implications for health professionals, policy makers, and retailers on implementing appropriate policies and strategies to manage panic buying. Recommendations for future research are also provided.

Individual Differences, Economic Stability, and Fear of Contagion as Risk Factors for PTSD Symptoms in the COVID-19 Emergency

“…Finally, research highlighted that fear is one of the main factors involved in PTSD (Blechert et al, 2007;Beckers et al, 2013). Notably, during a health crisis the degree of fear can be influenced by the probability of contracting the disease and the consequences derived by it (Yuen et al, 2020).…”

Media portrayal of panic buying: A content analysis of online news portals

“…Overall, the phenomenon of PB was more commonly reported from high-income nations as opposed to LMICs. A systematic review on PB suggests that PB is influenced by a perceived threat, scarcity of products, fear of the unknown, and social and psychological factors of individuals' social networks (Yuen et al, 2020). All these factors are in turn influenced by media.…”

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been observed across the continents irrespective of the income category of countries (Arafat et al, 2020a;Sim et al, 2020). Speculatively, this widespread phenomenon has been explained on the basis of a sense of perceived scarcity, a way of gaining control over the uncertainties, social learning, and also by lack of confidence in the authorities during the PB episodes (Arafat et al, 2020c;Yuen et al, 2020).…”

Results of Beer Game Trials Played by Natural Resource Managers Versus Students: Does Age Influence Ordering Decisions?

“…These irrational responses were shown to be triggered by environmental stressors, which overwhelmed individuals' rational decision-making abilities or when individuals inappropriately applied decision heuristics incompatible with effective performance in the game. Emotional, psychiatric, and neuroanatomical factors are also discussed in Sterman and Dogan [69,82,83].…”