School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
Department of International Logistics, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Korea.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 21;18(6):3247. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18063247.
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.
COVID-19 大流行在全球范围内引发了前所未有的恐慌性抢购潮，这是一种羊群行为，消费者因为感觉到供应短缺而大量购买不常见的产品。本文以健康信念模型、感知稀缺性和预期遗憾理论为基础，构建了一个理论模型，将恐慌性购买的决定因素联系起来，并分析了它们之间的相互关系。随后，通过在新加坡进行的一项在线调查，从 508 名消费者那里收集了数据，该调查是在 2020 年 4 月断路器启动之前的大流行早期进行的。接下来，通过结构方程模型进行了结果分析。结果表明，健康信念模型维度（即感知易感性、感知严重性、结果预期、行动线索和自我效能）对恐慌性购买的影响部分通过消费者对产品稀缺性的感知来中介。此外，感知稀缺性对恐慌性购买的影响部分通过消费者对遗憾的预期来中介。本文扩展了对恐慌性购买行为的现有理论理解，为政策制定者和相关利益相关者提供了未来大流行或健康危机中管理恐慌性购买的可能措施和解决方案的见解。
