Department of Psychiatry, Enam Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Department of Administration, College of Humanities, University of Raparin, Ranya, Iraq.
Front Public Health. 2021 May 10;9:668153. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.668153. eCollection 2021.
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. We aimed to evaluate the perceived impact of social media on panic buying behaviors in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. 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, a link, and 466 responses were collected from social media users. The statistical computations were performed using SPSS version 21. 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 ( = 0.84) between social media use and panic buying among consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iraqi Kurdistan ( = <0.001). 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.
社交媒体通过制造恐慌、传播 COVID-19 大流行期间人们恐慌性购买额外商品的图片和视频，对抢购行为产生影响。我们旨在评估社交媒体对伊拉克库尔德地区抢购行为的感知影响。这项横断面调查于 2020 年 10 月 10 日至 11 月 25 日进行。设计了一份英文自报告工具，然后翻译成库尔德语进行研究。它通过社交媒体平台（脸书、Viber 和 WhatsApp）和电子邮件进行传播，从社交媒体用户中收集到 466 份回复。使用 SPSS 版本 21 进行统计计算。大多数受访者为男性（62.2%），年龄<25 岁（43.9%），并完成了学士学位（53.9%），大多数受访者（86.3%）使用脸书。在受访者中，42.1%的人参与了抢购，32.8%的受访者认为社交媒体平台对抢购有影响，86.1%的受访者认为社交媒体在报道时应该理智，88.4%的受访者认为应该对报道进行控制，78.5%的受访者认为应该避免拍摄货架空空的照片。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，伊拉克库尔德地区消费者的社交媒体使用与抢购行为之间存在显著正统计学相关性（ = 0.84）（ = <0.001）。本研究评估了社交媒体如何影响购买行为，特别是在伊拉克。在公共卫生紧急情况下，需要采取集体措施，如理智使用和适当的媒体素养，以防止此类行为发生。
