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Online media and fuel panic buying: unraveling causality under fixed prices in Hungary
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In the wake of the significant impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on industries and societies worldwide, the world has transitioned into a new normal marked by increased susceptibility to disruptive, volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (DVUCA) events. In this new normal, panic buying has proliferated into a pervasive global consumer behavior, rendering far‐reaching implications on economies and societies worldwide and thus necessitating thorough investigation. Existing literature on panic buying is constrained by two noteworthy limitations: firstly, the scarcity of studies that delineate the commercial impact of panic buying, and secondly, the dearth of longitudinal data in panic buying research. Addressing these gaps, this study employs longitudinal multi‐sourced monthly and seasonally adjusted secondary data comprising retail revenue of supermarkets and grocery stores and related COVID‐19 indicators in Australia to establish a case of panic buying and examine its commercial impact. Using 10 generalized least squares and two‐stage least squares regressions, we observe a positive, statistically significant relationship between the intensity of external crises and retail revenue, even when accounting for control and instrumental variables. Specifically, the increasing number of COVID‐19 new cases was found to produce a positive and significant effect on supermarket and grocery store revenue, with each new case contributing AU $0.02 million. Therefore, the present study contributes alternative evidence from the field that not only reaffirms the effect of externalities such as COVID‐19 in stimulating panic buying among consumers, but also highlights, for the first time, the commercial value of panic buying. The marketing implications of these findings in the new normal are also discussed.
At the end of 2019, the world grappled with an unparalleled public health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which also precipitated a global economic downturn. Concurrently, material panic buying occurred frequently. To restore benign market order, the government instituted a series of interventions to stabilize the market. This scholarly exploration dives deep into evaluating the tangible impact of these governmental measures in Hubei, China, a region which found itself at the very epicenter of the epidemic in its onset phase. Existing papers often employ structured questionnaires and structural equation methods, with small samples and limited effective information. In contrast, we used a dataset of tens of thousands of entries and employed text analysis to maximize the extraction of valid information. Through a meticulous analysis of public feedback, our findings unveil several pivotal insights: (1) The news measures of materials have the best effect. Their effectiveness, in descending order, is ranked as: material sufficiency > authority effect > market supervision > appeal and guidance; (2) Government measures during the epidemic’s initial phase exhibited a delay. After the lockdown measures, the phenomenon of large-scale buying has been formed, and the relevant material news was released later; (3) A dual approach combining authority influence with material sufficiency yielded the most favorable results. In light of these findings, the paper concludes with tailored recommendations aimed at amplifying the efficacy of government-led public opinion interventions in future crises.
This study investigates the relationship between user-generated content on social media and panic buying, with a focus on how attitudes towards food waste and brand value act as moderating variables. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), data from an online survey with 370 responses were analyzed. The findings show that user-generated content significantly contributes to the dissemination of inaccurate information, which in turn triggers panic buying. However, the impact of inaccurate information on panic buying is moderated by consumer attitudes towards food waste and brand value. Specifically, consumers with negative attitudes towards food waste and high brand trust are less likely to engage in panic buying when exposed to misinformation. These results suggest that promoting responsible consumption and leveraging brand value can mitigate the adverse effects of misinformation during crises. This study contributes to sustainability by providing insights into developing strategies for retailers and policymakers to manage consumer behavior, emphasizing the importance of accurate information and brand communication in reducing panic buying tendencies.
This study investigates the impact of review quality (a situational stimulus) on consumers' risk perception and purchase intention in cross-border e-commerce based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model. In doing so, quantitative research involving 400 Hungarian respondents was performed. The data were analysed using composite-based structural equation modelling (SEM). The study concludes that an experience created through highly qualified online reviews of previous consumers has a significant effect on mitigating consumers' risk perception while increasing their purchase intentions. The study also differentiates two aspects of risk, including perceived risk and affective risk, and reveals the two-fold mechanism of the decision-making journey. These results enrich the existing literature by supporting the use of the SOR model and introducing review quality as a situational stimulus to explain consumers' risk perception and purchase behaviours in cross-border e-commerce. Additionally, the study also provides valuable guidance in website design that can stimulate purchasing while lowering online perceived risk.
Social media (SM) fake news has become a serious concern especially during COVID-19. In this study, we develop a research model to investigate to what extent SM fake news contributes to supply chain disruption (SCD), and what are the different SM affordances that contribute to SM fake news. To test the derived hypotheses with survey data, we have applied partial least square based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. Further, to identify how different configurations of SC resilience (SCR) capabilities reduce SCD, we have used fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results show that SM affordances lead to fake news, which increases consumer panic buying (CPB); CPB in turn increases SCD. In addition, SM fake news directly increases SCD. The moderation test suggests that, SCR capability, as a higher-order construct, decreases the effect of CPB on SCD; however, neither of the capabilities individually moderates. Complimentarily, the fsQCA results suggest that no single capability but their three specific configurations reduce SCD. This work offers a new theoretical perspective to study SCD through SM fake news. Our research advances the knowledge of SCR from a configurational lens by adopting an equifinal means towards mitigating disruption. This research will also assist the operations and SC managers to strategize and understand which combination of resilience capabilities is the most effective in tackling disruptions during a crisis e.g., COVID-19. In addition, by identifying the relative role of different SM affordances, this study provides pragmatic insights into SM affordance measures that combat fake news on SM.
Purpose
The global COVID-19 pandemic impacted the healthcare systems of every nation. The scarcity of medical protective equipment led to impulse buying at the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in China which resulted in stockpiling and the increase of prices by retailers and insufficiencies among frontline workers. This situation impacted epidemic control work and market order and is the context from which this paper identifies how the scarcity of medical protective equipment affected Chinese consumers’ impulse buying based on the theories of S-O-R model and bandwagon effect. The research provides insight into the mechanism of mediation (fear of missing out) and moderation (bandwagon) in the relationship between scarcity and impulse buying.
Design/Methodology/Approach
This study uses convenience sampling, surveying 488 Chinese consumers through an online questionnaire. Smart-PLS was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The empirical findings demonstrate that scarcity makes consumers fear missing the chance of getting protective medical equipment, leading ultimately to impulse buying. Besides, the scarcity effect on consumers’ impulse buying was found to depend on other consumers’ follow up behaviour in such emergency situations.
Research Limitations/Implications
The findings provide managerial and theoretical insight and a point of reference for businesses in the implementation of a scarcity strategy. The findings will also prove useful to the Chinese Risk Response Department as it continuously improves its responses to the risk of consumers’ impulse buying during a pandemic.
Originality/Value
This study consolidates and takes research forward in the areas of impulse buying and consumer behaviour, confirming the mediating effect of fear of missing out and the moderating effect of the bandwagon in the relationship between scarcity and impulse buying.
The COVID-19 pandemic, with its attendant supply chain disruptions and restrictions on internal movement, has been associated with frequent episodes of panic buying both in its initial phase and in subsequent waves. Empirical evidence suggests that news media content and consumption are important determinants of attitudes and behavior during the pandemic, and existing research both before and during the pandemic suggests that panic buying can be influenced by both exposure to media reports and their specific content. This pilot study was conducted to assess the quality of media reports of panic buying during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, using two independent measures of news article quality. Seventy news reports of panic buying across 12 countries, covering the “second wave” of the pandemic from January 1 to December 31, 2021, were collected through an online search of media outlets using the Google News aggregator. These reports were analyzed in terms of the content of their reporting, based on existing research of the factors driving panic buying during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each report was scored for quality using two different systems: one based on an existing WHO guideline, and one based on the work of a research group which has published extensive work related to panic buying during this pandemic. It was observed that a significant number of reports contained elements that were likely to amplify, rather than attenuate, panic buying behavior, and that the quality of news reports was generally poor regardless of pandemic severity, cultural values, or freedom of the press. On the basis of this evidence, suggestions are offered to improve the media reporting of panic buying and minimize the risk of fear contagion and imitation.
Consumers' compliance with recommended behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic helps contain the spread of the virus and positively impacts marketplace outcomes. This study investigates the effect of consumers' tolerance of uncertainty on COVID-19 concern, compliance with recommended behavior, and panic buying intentions, across four countries (Germany and USA with a low power distance index; India and The Philippines with a high power distance index; N = 1272). We test the moderating role of power distance, mindfulness, and trust in scientists, among these relationships. Our results show that tolerance of uncertainty is negatively associated with COVID-19 concern, and COVID-19 concern is positively associated with compliance and panic buying intentions. In high power distance countries, tolerance of uncertainty is negatively associated with compliance. The negative association of tolerance of uncertainty with COVID-19 concern is more pronounced at low levels of mindfulness, and consumers with high COVID-19 concern and high trust in scientists demonstrated the highest compliance. Our findings reveal that stressing the importance of mindfulness, though positive overall, might not yield more compliance. Interventions to make consumers more concerned about the consequences of the pandemic and, at the same time, enhancing their trust in scientists, can lead to higher levels of compliance.
Background: Social media has an impact on panic buying by creating fear, disseminating pictures, and videos of people purchasing extra goods in a state of panic during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aim: We aimed to evaluate the perceived impact of social media on panic buying behaviors in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted from October 10 to November 25, 2020. A self-reported instrument was designed in English and then translated to the Kurdish Language to conduct the study. It was disseminated through social media platforms (Facebook, Viber, and WhatsApp) and e-mail, via a link, and 466 responses were collected from social media users. The statistical computations were performed using SPSS version 21.
Results: The majority of respondents were male (62.2%), were <25 years old (43.9%), and had completed their bachelor's degree (53.9%), and most of the respondents (86.3%) used Facebook. Among the respondents, 42.1% were involved in panic buying, 32.8% of the respondents thought that social media platforms had an influence on panic buying, 86.1% of the respondents thought that social media should be sensible while reporting it, 88.4% thought that the reporting should be controlled, and 78.5% thought that photos of empty shelves should be avoided. There was a significant positive statistical correlation (r = 0.84) between social media use and panic buying among consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iraqi Kurdistan (p = <0.001).
Conclusion: This research assessed how social media affects buying behavior, particularly in Iraq. Collective measures, such as sensible use and adequate media literacy, are needed to prevent such behaviors at least during public health emergencies.
In view of panic buying prevalence across countries during the COVID 19 pandemic, this study explores the external factors that may influence consumer engagement or disengagement with this buying behaviour and how they are related. Two studies were undertaken to achieve this research aim. The first was to explore these factors through a scale development processes. Three factors were revealed including (1) intervention and support from the government to combat and manage the pandemic, (2) intervention and support from businesses to prevent stockpiling or panic buying, and (3) influence of different categories of social groups, namely, family and relatives, peers and friends, acquaintance and non-acquainted social-media group. The second study collected data from five countries (Australia, India, China, Vietnam and Indonesia) to understand the relationship between these factors and panic buying engagement or disengagement. The rationale for the country choices has been provided in this manuscript. The results show that interventions and support from government and businesses influenced panic buying engagement, whereas social groups did not. Implications of these findings are highlighted for the relevant stakeholders.
The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019 has had a huge impact on people's lives all over the world, and the overwhelmingly negative information about the epidemic has made people panic for the future. This kind of panic spreads and develops through online social networks, and further spreads to the offline environment, which triggers panic buying behavior and has a serious impact on social stability. In order to quantitatively study this behavior, a two-layer propagation model of panic buying behavior under the sudden epidemic is constructed. The model first analyzes the formation process of individual panic from a micro perspective, and then combines the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) Model to simulate the spread of group behavior. Then, through simulation experiments, the main factors affecting the spread of panic buying behavior are discussed. The experimental results show that: (1) the dissipating speed of individual panics is related to the number of interactions and there is a threshold. When the number of individuals involved in interacting is equal to this threshold, the panic of the group dissipates the fastest, while the dissipation speed is slower when it is far from the threshold; (2) The reasonable external information release time will affect the occurrence of the second panic buying, meaning providing information about the availability of supplies when an escalation of epidemic is announced will help prevent a second panic buying. In addition, when the first panic buying is about to end, if the scale of the second panic buying is to be suppressed, it is better to release positive information after the end of the first panic buying, rather than ahead of the end; and (3) Higher conformity among people escalates panic, resulting in panic buying. Finally, two cases are used to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an unmatched level of panic buying globally, a type of herd behavior whereby consumers buy an uncommonly huge amount of products because of a perception of scarcity. Drawing on the health belief model, perceived scarcity, and anticipated regret theories, this paper formulated a theoretical model that linked the determinants of panic buying and analyzed their interrelationships. Subsequently, data were collated from 508 consumers through an online survey questionnaire in Singapore that was conducted during the early stage of the pandemic, before the onset of the circuit breaker in April 2020. Next, an analysis of the results was done through structural equation modeling. It showed that the effect of the health belief model dimensions (i.e., perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, outcome expectation, cues to action, and self-efficacy) on panic buying is partially mediated by the consumers’ perceived scarcity of products. Furthermore, the effect of perceived scarcity on panic buying is partially mediated by consumers’ anticipation of regret. This paper expands on the current theoretical understanding of panic buying behavior, giving insights into the possible measures and solutions that policymakers and relevant stakeholders can uptake to manage panic buying in future a pandemic or health crisis.
Panic buying has re‐emerged as a ‘new’ normal consumer behaviour and has become a coping mechanism for real and perceived dangers associated with COVID‐19. Despite the need for a better understanding of the panic buying phenomenon, there has been a lack of scholarly research on this topic. This study seeks to fill this gap. In this article, we systematically review extant studies in panic buying from the last two decades. We analyse and categorize them according to Callahan's 4W (2014) review structure and Paul and Rosado‐Serrano's (2019) TCCM framework. We found that the existing publications in panic buying are fragmented across multiple disciplines. Due to the nature of the panic‐induced behaviour, most of them have been written as a reaction to the pandemic crisis. We contribute to marketing research by providing theoretical, contextual and methodological insights into the field of panic buying. Furthermore, we develop a research agenda related to retailer and consumer perspectives. Additionally, we identify research issues related to policymaking and governance, as well as broader societal impacts that need to be addressed in the future.
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.
There is an inadequate understanding of how social media can shape fear and consumer responses in the manner of consumer panic buying while Covid-19 is spreading across the world. Through taking a social constructionism position this research focused on what people think and feel at an individual and collective level on the role of social media to create panic behaviour. Data have been collected from thirty-four consumers who have minimum one active social media account. These participants are contacted through telephonic interview due to maintaining the social distancing. Findings reveal that uncertainties and insecurities proof, buying as persuasion, product unavailability proof, authorities' communication, global logic, and expert opinion are some of the causes on social media platforms that developed the situation of consumer panic buying during Covid-19 crises. Furthermore, the unprecedented level of real-time information on Covid-19 at users' fingertips can give them the tools they need to make smart decisions, but also make them more anxious about what is to come; experts say that may lead to panic buying or stockpiling of products. The study has tried to develop an understanding about how social media generates social proof and offers a window into people's collective response to the coronavirus outbreak and shapes panic buying reaction. The study has provided a consumer panic buying theory based on the results of this study and on existing theories, such as global capitalism/information society risk society, social influence, and social proof. These theories help to understand how global logic is built due to the use of social media and how different social proofs are generated which developed the behaviour of consumer panic buying due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Objectives
Media reporting has an influential role in panic buying (PB). We aimed to evaluate the media portrayal of PB during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
We searched, collected, and analysed the news reports from the English media discussing the PB events. The search was done between 23 and 30 May 2020.
Results
A total of 525 news reports were analysed. Approximately half (49.3%) discussed the government action to handle the situation, 36.4% discussed the expert opinion regarding PB, 20.6% discussed the psychology of PB, 21.5% discussed the rumours, and 18.5% suggested remedial measures. Concerning the negative aspects, 96.6% of the titles mentioned panic buying, 75.4% mentioned the cause, and 62.3% mentioned the photos of empty shelves. The media in low–middle-income countries are 1.5 times more likely to include expert opinion (p = 0.03), 2.1 times more likely to discuss rumours regarding PB (p = 0.001), almost thrice more likely to report the cause of PB (p = 0.001), and thrice more likely to mention its impact (p = 0.001).
Conclusion
Media has been portraying more negative aspects of PB. Further, there are variations in reporting patterns between high-income and low–middle-income countries.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic spread globally from its outbreak in China in early 2020, negatively affecting economies and industries on a global scale. In line with historic crises and shock events including the 2002-04 SARS outbreak, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and 2017 Hurricane Irma, COVID-19 has significantly impacted global economic conditions, causing significant economic downturns, company and industry failures, and increased unemployment. To understand how conditions created by the pandemic to date compare to the aforementioned shock events, we conducted a thorough literature review focusing on the presentation of panic buying and herd mentality behaviours, changes to discretionary consumer spending as defined by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and the impact of global media on these behaviours. The methodology utilised to analyse panic buying, herd mentality and altered patterns of consumer discretionary spending (according to Maslow’s theory) involved an analysis of consumer spending data, largely focused on Australian and American markets. Here, we analysed the volume and timing of consumer spending patterns; the volumes of spending on specific, highly-demanded consumer goods during the investigative period; and the distribution of spending on luxury and non-durable goods to identify the occurrence of these consumer behaviours. Moreover, to identify the presence of the media in influencing consumer behaviour we focused on web traffic to media sites, alongside keyword and phrase data mining. We conclude that, to date, consumer behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis appears to align with behaviours exhibited during historic shock events. We hope to contribute to the body of research on the early months of this pandemic before longer-term studies are available.
Purpose
This study evaluates consumption displacement, the shift in consumption that occurs when consumers experience a change in the availability of goods, services and amenities to which they are accustomed as the result of an external event, and which is characterised by the points in space and time where consumption occurs and by the movements to, from, and between those points, that is occurring as a result of the effects of COVID-19 on the services sector in the Canterbury region of New Zealand.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on consumer spending data, the authors identify patterns of consumption displacement for the hospitality and retail sectors as defined by ANZSIC. We answer where, when, how, what and why consumption displacement happens.
Findings
The findings provide evidence of spatial and temporal displacement of consumption based on consumer spending patterns. Evidence of increased spending in some consumption categories confirms stockpiling behaviours. The hospitality sector experiences a sharp decline in consumer spending over lockdown.
Originality/value
Given the lack of studies analysing the impacts of crises and disasters on the services sector and consumption displacement, this study provides evidence of different forms of consumption displacement related to COVID-19.
One of the ubiquitous human behaviours observed in natural disasters and humanitarian crisis is irrational stockpiling (also known as hoarding or panic buying). Limited, distorted and exaggerated information during crisis disturbs people's judgement and results in aberrant actions which can be explained with economics and psychology theories. The objective of this paper is to examine the perplexing stockpiling phenomena during disasters like COVID-19 pandemic and discuss its immediate and long-term impact on economy, society and local communities.
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.
Background:
In the first few months of 2020, information and news reports about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were rapidly published and shared on social media and social networking sites. While the field of infodemiology has studied information patterns on the Web and in social media for at least 18 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has been referred to as the first social media infodemic. However, there is limited evidence about whether and how the social media infodemic has spread panic and affected the mental health of social media users.
Objective:
The aim of this study is to determine how social media affects self-reported mental health and the spread of panic about COVID-19 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Methods:
To carry out this study, an online questionnaire was prepared and conducted in Iraqi Kurdistan, and a total of 516 social media users were sampled. This study deployed a content analysis method for data analysis. Correspondingly, data were analyzed using SPSS software.
Results:
Participants reported that social media has a significant impact on spreading fear and panic related to the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan, with a potential negative influence on people's mental health and psychological well-being. Facebook was the most used social media network for spreading panic about the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraq. We found a significant positive statistical correlation between self-reported social media use and the spread of panic related to COVID-19 (R=.8701). Our results showed that the majority of youths aged 18-35 years are facing psychological anxiety.
Conclusions:
During lockdown, people are using social media platforms to gain information about COVID-19. The nature of the impact of social media panic among people varies depending on an individual's gender, age, and level of education. Social media has played a key role in spreading anxiety about the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan.
This open source computing framework unifies streaming, batch, and interactive big data workloads to unlock new applications.
It is well established that the internet, and particularly the unprecedented growth of social media, are changing the mediascape and media practices in advertising, public relations, and journalism. Some of these changes are leading to convergence of genre and practices as well as the technologies of media. This analysis focuses on the first two of these types of convergence, drawing on data from the first Asia Pacific Communication Monitor, a survey of 1200 PR and communication practitioners in 23 Asia Pacific countries. This reveals a major shift from the traditional PESO model of media use by organizations (paid, earned, shared, owned) to an emerging SOEP model (shared, owned, earned, paid). This affords new opportunities for practitioners, but also poses practical and ethical dilemmas.
This meta-analytic study reviews empirical research published from 2007 to 2013 with an aim of providing robust conclusions about the relationship between social media use and citizen engagement. It includes 22 studies that used self-reported measures of social media use and participation, with a total of 116 relationships/effects. The results suggest that social media use generally has a positive relationship with engagement and its three sub-categories, that is, social capital, civic engagement, and political participation. More specifically, we find small-to-medium size positive relationships between expressive, informational, and relational uses of social media and the above indicators of citizen engagement. For identity- and entertainment-oriented uses of social media, our analyses find little evidence supporting their relationship with citizen engagement.
This article provides a review of scientific, peer-reviewed articles that examine the relationship between news sharing and social media in the period from 2004 to 2014. A total of 461 articles were obtained following a literature search in two databases (Communication & Mass Media Complete [CMMC] and ACM), out of which 109 were deemed relevant based on the study’s inclusion criteria. In order to identify general tendencies and to uncover nuanced findings, news sharing research was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Three central areas of research—news sharing users, content, and networks—were identified and systematically reviewed. In the central concluding section, the results of the review are used to provide a critical diagnosis of current research and suggestions on how to move forward in news sharing research.
In the contemporary business environment, the increasing competition and dynamics have made it very difficult for businesses to attract and retain customers. Understating the variables of consumer buying behaviour can go a long way in addressing this problem. This study explores the impact of social media on users’ complex buying behaviour. The mediating effect of perception has been studied between social media and users’ complex buying behaviour; also, the moderating effect of extended social media usage on the proposed relationships was evaluated. Data for the study were collected from social media users through an online survey using a structured questionnaire specifically developed and validated for the purpose. The data were analysed with the help of structural equation modelling using SPSS and AMOS software. The results of the study indicated that social media has a positive and significant effect on users’ complex buying behaviour as well as users’ perception. In addition, the results demonstrated that perception partially mediates the relationship between social media and users’ complex buying behaviour. Finally, the study indicated that extended social media usage acts as an enhancing moderator in the proposed framework. The outcomes of this study may be used as the basis by marketing managers to assimilate social media into the existing integrated marketing mix, to attract, retain and nurture customers.
Social media marketing is crucial to the development of internet celebrity restaurants. However, there is a research gap on the relationship between social media types and consumers' buying intention in internet celebrity restaurants. Based on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), our research examines the heterogeneous effects of social media types (owned media vs. earned media) on impulse buying intention in three scenario-based experiments. The findings reveal that compared to owned media, earned media can trigger a stronger impulse buying intention. Moreover, the awakening of interest and brand trust play mediating roles in this process. However, high brand familiarity weakens the effect of earned media on customers' impulse buying intention, awakening of interest, and brand trust. Our findings improve the understanding of the functions of social media types and provide management implications for developing marketing strategies.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to identify social and behavioral factors responsible for panic buying during global pandemics such as COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
According to regulatory focus theory, behavior of individuals is regulated by two motivational systems – prevention and promotion. Prevention-focused behavior is motivated by security and safety needs and is associated with a strategic preference for vigilant means of goal pursuit. Prevention-focused vigilance is reflected in unwillingness to take risks and low ability to cope with uncertain environments and changing conditions. Promotion-focused behavior is motivated by growth and self-development needs and is associated with a strategic preference for eager means of goal pursuit. Promotion-focused eagerness is reflected in willingness to take risks and high ability to cope with uncertainty and change. Two studies tested the notion that panic buying during public health crises such as COVID-19 is related to the strength of the prevention system, perceived scarcity of products, perceived threat of the disease, age and gender.
Findings
Study 1 showed that the higher the perceived scarcity of products, the higher was the probability that panic buying would set in. Yet, different patterns emerged for men and women. Among women, the stronger the prevention focus, the stronger was the effect. Among men, by contrast, the stronger the prevention focus, the weaker was the effect. Study 2 showed that the higher the perceived threat of the disease, the higher was the probability that panic buying would occur. However, different patterns were observed with age. Among older adults, the stronger the prevention focus, the stronger was the effect. Among young adults, by contrast, the stronger the prevention focus, the weaker was the effect.
Research limitations/implications
Implications to address erratic consumer behavior during future pandemics are discussed.
Originality/value
By applying the theory of regulatory focus to consumer marketing, this research helps to identify marketing strategies to manage panic buying and develop contingency plans that address erratic consumer behavior during future pandemics.
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the management and marketing literature on food buying and consumption behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic to shed light on how consumers reacted to this global crisis, to help interpret consumer reactions to possible future crises and to identify future research avenues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a systematic literature review as research methodology.
Findings
This study's outcomes reveal that, during the pandemic, people have deeply changed their food buying and consumption habits. The analysis identifies four main themes: food purchasing channel choice and buying behavior; food choices and consumption habits; food and “food-related” waste; and country influence on food buying and consumption.
Research limitations/implications
This review uses only one database of records (Scopus). The Boolean modifiers chosen for extracting the papers may have influenced the type and number of retrieved publications. The analysis was limited to articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals.
Originality/value
While most examined investigations do not provide a comprehensive picture of consumers’ food-related responses to the pandemic and individually offer only a partial view focusing on one or just a few aspects of food consumer behavior, this study offers an overall description of consumers’ responses to the crisis and identifies important research issues to be addressed in the future.
Social media have become important sources of news yet existing research has not paid much attention to types of social media news usage and platforms. This study examines how types of news usage on social media across different platforms are associated with online and offline civic and political engagement. In doing so, this study conducts a secondary analysis of survey data from a representative sample of South Korea (N = 5,010) collected by the Korea Press Foundation. This study found that types of social media news usage are differentially related to participatory behaviors. Specifically, informational use was not significantly or negatively related, whereas relational and expressive use were positively related to civic and political engagement behaviors. Moreover, different social media platforms played a role in shaping the types of social media news usage and participatory behaviors with online video platforms being most beneficial. Based on these findings, this study concludes that motivating people to share, react to or comment on news is key to deepening civic and political engagement. However, how platform-specific affordances or norms either facilitate or dampen the engagement process must be considered.
The COVID-19 outbreak and its declaration as a pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020 resulted in consumer panic buying across the globe. Extant research into panic buying is scant, and its cultural context practically unexplored. This article uses mobility change data provided by Google and draws on reactance theory to establish how perceived scarcity limits freedoms, and ultimately drives individuals to panic buying. It hypothesizes and analyzes the influence of cultural factors; the findings show that individualism and uncertainty avoidance both exert a positive effect on the extent of panic buying, whereas power distance has a negative effect.
Unlocking the power of information technologies has become a core driver of business transformation and growth, particularly Internet-enabled technologies. It is a recognizable fact that the Internet shopping trend sweeping developed countries and is still in its development stage in developing countries. Covid-19 pandemic triggered a surge in online shopping, resulting in a massive acceleration in online businesses in both developed and developing cultures. This study intends to study the adoption dynamics of Internet shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic era. The current study recognizes that trust is a crucial prerequisite to effectively dampen the noise associated with the uncertainty, insecurity, and ambiguous nature of Internet shopping technology. Certainly, a perceivably trustworthy Internet shopping environment would position individuals in a less difficult mandate to start transacting online. To achieve the goals of this study, the influence of perceived risk, Internet shopping anxiety, gender on trust and intention, and the moderating impact of cultural differences on the trust-intention relationship. A questionnaire was developed utilizing validated measurement items taken from previous research. A convenience sample was used to collect data through a self-administered questionnaire. The empirical data which consists of 215 valid datasets were analyzed utilizing WarpPLS software. Perceived risk, Internet shopping anxiety, and gender were found to exert empirical influence on trust and intention with the exception of perceived risk which showed an insignificant correlation with behavioral intention. Cultural differences, with exception of the masculinity-femininity dimension, negatively moderate the trust-intention relationship as proposed in this study. Finally, theoretical contributions and practical implications are addressed.
Media effects have been studied for decades. However, it is still unclear how to assess the dynamic nature of media effects methodologically and analytically. Building on recent research on media effects and developments in statistical modeling, I present a methodological framework to provide a detailed analysis of media effect dynamics. To do so, I describe general patterns for the appearance and the duration of media effects and present statistical approaches to analyze them. Using artificial data, I illustrate how these statistical approaches can be applied to longitudinal data and show how they behave across different data scenarios. Further, extensions, limitations, and the theoretical contribution of the framework to the field of media effects research are discussed. In sum, the presented framework can be used to test various communication theories and can be combined with many research designs in order to identify patterns in the appearance and duration of media effects.
Panic buying behaviour is inherently undesirable due to its detrimental impact on community's resources and disruptions to supply chain systems. The prevailing COVID-19 pandemic has seen a resurgence of this phenomenon across the world, leaving supermarkets in stockout situations. While panic buying is largely reasoned as a psychological reaction to an extreme event, it is also a socially relevant behaviour as our perception of a crisis can be shaped by our observations and interactions within the society. The social determinants of panic buying behaviour, particularly on how these factors heighten one's perception of scarcity, and trigger panic buying behaviour, are studied. A theoretical model is developed to explain panic buying behaviour in a social context by synthesizing various social and behavioural theories, and the inter-relationship among the latent constructs is analysed using the structural equation modelling approach. Accordingly, an online survey was administered and analysis of the data confirmed that non-coercive social influence, social norm and observational learning directly influence one's perception of scarcity. Additionally, perceived scarcity can motivate panic buying behaviour directly or indirectly through feelings of anticipated regret. This study has contributed to the limited literature on panic buying. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of panic buying will aid policymakers and businesses in developing intervention or support strategies to cope with such behaviour.
Although consumer stockpiling is a prevalent phenomenon under the threat of a disaster, little is known about its underlying mechanisms. Leveraging consumer interviews, we build a theoretical framework that identifies two major motives for stockpiling: fear and expectations of a supply shortage. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a viable context, through a global survey across 31 countries and search datasets from Google in the United States and 6 additional countries, we find that: (1) both fear and expectations of a supply shortage lead to stockpiling; (2) the relative prevalence of these motives evolves over the progression of the disaster, with the boost and subsequent reduction in fear being more pronounced than for expectations of a supply shortage; and (3) the impact of a disaster on fear is attenuated when consumers have high trust in the government. These findings can help retail managers and public policymakers to make more informed decisions.
Objective
To examine how sociodemographic variables and frequency of media consumption affect hoarding behaviour and food insecurity concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Method
A quantitative, non-experimental, correlational online survey was administered using a convenience sample of 203 participants from the United Kingdom with no medical issues that affected buying behaviour during the pandemic to examine perceptions related to food insecurity, and self-reported food hoarding behaviour
Results
Younger adults and lower income groups reported higher food insecurity perceptions and hoarding behaviours. Consuming COVID-19 information from websites was significantly associated with food insecurity perceptions, while information from social media was significantly associated with more food hoarding behaviours.
Conclusions
Younger adults and lower income groups are vulnerable populations from the perspective of food insecurity and hoarding behaviour in times of health disasters like pandemics. While social media can play a positively catalytic role during crises, excessive online information and misinformation can contribute negatively to public panic and feelings of insecurity. Implications for disaster preparedness and future research are discussed.
The findings suggest that age is the main predictor of food insecurity and hoarding behaviour, with younger adults more likely to be affected. They also suggest that people are turning to NHS wesbites, which were deemed more trustworthy than social media, to avoid ‘news fatigue’ and avoiding speculation. Suggestions for future research were made, specifically to examine people’s social support during the pandemic to understand its’ potential link to stockpiling behaviour or food insecurity concerns.
Panic buying is commonly seen as a consequence of a difficult disaster situation. In a pandemic like COVID-19, consumers tend to stockpile staples and other essential items that they perceive may help them sustain themselves through the crisis period and in anticipation of supply shortages. It may create panic, insecurity, anxiety, and a sense of fear among the vulnerable. Panic buying is a bigger issue than it looks, as stockpiling of commodities can cause supply–demand disruption, item shortages, and price hikes of concerned items. Panic buying is not a simple phenomenon to understand; it depends upon several factors, including the behavioral phenomenon, supply chain management, economy, sociology, geology, public, political administration, disaster and emergency management, and the role of media. A multitude of factors or predictors operate at external and internal levels, which interact with one another in a very complex manner and ultimately result in panic buying behavior by an individual or group. Hence, it is important to fully understand how we can predict consumer panic buying behavior, which may help with the mitigation policy. Here, we propose a classification of external and internal predictors based on whether they work on a group level or individual level.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into light several erratic human
behaviors. Panic buying is one of them. There is a dearth of evidence
exploring the relationship between panic buying and other environmental issues. Nevertheless, media has a bidirectional relationship with the behaviors attributing as a spreading factor vis-a-vis a preventive factor. Spreading fear, rumor, scarcity, price hike, and supply hindrance heralded to panic buying. On the other hand, disseminating the government’s action, expert opinions, underlying psychology, remedial measures, and its impact prevent the behavior. Drawing upon various media, communication, and social psychology theories such as agenda-setting theory, framing theory, priming theory, cultivation theory, social cognition theory, and risk perception, this chapter offers an understanding of the causative and preventive role of mass media in panic buying behavior during emergencies and uncertain situations among people. Finally, it provides some recommendations for policymakers and media managers on controlling panic buying.
Pandemics are associated with panic buying (PB) of groceries and other supplies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, community leaders expressed frustration and bewilderment about PB. Psychological explanatory concepts, including those from social learning theory and the concept of the behavioral immune system, along with recent research, suggests the following account of pandemic-related PB. PB arises when people are told to go into self-isolation as part of pandemic containment interventions. Empirically, episodes of PB typically last 7-10 days and are likely initiated by highly fearful people. PB by an anxious minority of shoppers leads to fear contagion among other shoppers, amplified by widespread dissemination, via social media, of images and videos of PB and empty shelves in stores. Thus, a snow-balling effect arises where fear of scarcity creates real but short-term scarcity. People who are highly frightened of infection tend to have heightened disgust proneness. Toilet paper is a means of escaping disgust stimuli, and for this and other reasons, toilet paper became a target of PB for people frightened of contracting COVID-19. Exploitative or selfish over-purchasing also occurred, motivated by “dark” (e.g., psychopathic) personality traits. “Don’t panic!” messages from community leaders were ineffective or counter-productive. Alternative forms of messaging are discussed.
The impact of pandemics is magnified by the coexistence of two contradicting reactions to rare dire risks: panic and the ‘it won’t happen to me’ effect that hastens spread of the disease. We review research that clarifies the conditions that trigger the two biases, and we highlight the potential of gentle rule enforcement policies that can address these problematic conditions.
Background
Panic buying is an emerging phenomenon observed during, but not restricted to, pandemic.
Aim
We aimed to evaluate the nature, extent, and impact of panic buying as reported in the media.
Methods
This study was conducted by collecting the information from the English media reports published till 22nd May 2020. A structured format was developed to collect data. Searching was done by using the keyword “panic buying”. We have excluded the social media posts discussing the panic buying.
Results
The majority of media reporting was from the USA (40.7 %), and about 46 % of reports highlighted the scarce item. Approximately 82 % of the reports presented the causes of panic buying whereas almost 80 % report covered the impact of it. About 25.7 % of reports highlighted the rumor about panic buying and only 9.3 % of reports blamed the government. Only 27.1 % reports described the remedial measures, 30.8 % reports conferred the news on the psychology behind panic buying and 67.3 % news displayed the images of empty shelves.
Conclusion
A high proportion of reports on panic buying have been found from the developed countries discussing the causes & impact of panic buying on the basis of expert opinion.
The purpose of this study is to identify and uncover characteristics of social electronic word-of-mouth. Social eWOM applies to social media platforms in which membership is restricted and content providers are known to recipients. In relation to traditional eWOM platforms that post anonymous reviews, social eWOM has several unique characteristics: intended audience, information trustworthiness, source evaluation, and interpersonal relationships. Therefore, social eWOM should be regarded as conceptually different from anonymous eWOM, with the two serving as endpoints on a continuum. Marketing managers should understand the distinct role and value-creating potential of social eWOM in relation to other forms of WOM and social media strategies should consider methods for converting anonymous eWOM into social eWOM.
Purpose
With the soaring volumes of brand-related social media conversations, digital marketers have extensive opportunities to track and analyze consumers’ feelings and opinions about brands, products or services embedded within consumer generated content (CGC). These “Big Data” opportunities render manual approaches to sentiment analysis impractical and raise the need to develop automated tools to analyze consumer sentiment expressed in text format. This paper evaluates and compares the performance of two prominent approaches to automated sentiment analysis applied to CGC on social media and explores the benefits of combining them.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 850 consumer comments from 83 Facebook brand pages are used to test and compare lexicon-based and machine learning approaches to sentiment analysis, as well as their combination, using the LIWC2015 lexicon and RTextTools machine learning package.
Findings
Results show the two approaches are similar in accuracy, both achieving higher accuracy when classifying positive sentiment than negative sentiment. However, they differ substantially in their classification ensembles. The combined approach demonstrates significantly improved performance in classifying positive sentiment.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is required to improve the accuracy of negative sentiment classification. The combined approach needs to be applied to other kinds of CGCs on social media such as tweets.
Practical implications
The findings inform decision making around which sentiment analysis approaches (or a combination thereof) is best to analyze CGC on social media.
Originality/value
This study combines two sentiment analysis approaches and demonstrates significantly improved performance.
This research revisits source credibility based upon the popular PESO (Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned) source classification. More specific, this study examines source credibility and channel effectiveness in terms of moving consumers along the communication lifecycle model based upon their exposure to information embedded in paid (traditional advertising and native advertising), earned (traditional news story), shared (independent blogger) and owned (company blog) media. One thousand, five hundred respondents recruited from a consumer panel participated in this 2 (level of involvement) x 5 (source) experimental design study. When respondents were asked to self-report on their levels of trust with various sources, they indicated the highest level of trust with consumer reviews and earned media and the lowest level of trust with native advertising. The experimental design study yielded no major differences among the sources for the communication lifecycle variables. Native advertising was viewed as less credible than traditional advertising in the experimental design. There were no differences in perceived credibility based upon exposure to traditional advertising versus a news story, confirming prior academic research. Suggestions are offered for public relations practitioners on selecting sources for messaging to drive behavior.
This entry reviews agenda-setting literature from two theoretical and methodological perspectives: aggregate- and individual-level media effects. The literature suggests that all three levels of agenda-setting have found solid evidence at the aggregate level. That is, the news media are able to transfer the salience of objects, attributes, and network relationships among different elements to the public as one generalized group. With respect to the role of individual differences in the agenda-setting process, the entry focuses on the explication of a key psychological concept: need for orientation. Future directions of research in this field are suggested.