Understanding Panic Buying During COVID-19: How Fear and Perceived Socioeconomic Consequences Shape Consumer Behavior

Arya SabouryFar

Autores/as

Arya SabouryFar Istanbul University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3516-6070

Palabras clave:

Compra por pánico, Comportamiento del consumidor, Escasez percibida, Incertidumbre económica, Consumo en tiempos de crisis, ODS

Resumen

Este estudio examina los mecanismos psicológicos y socioeconómicos subyacentes al comportamiento de compra por pánico durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Se recopilaron datos de 300 residentes de Estambul mediante una encuesta en línea y se analizaron con modelos de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM). Los resultados muestran que el miedo a la COVID-19 aumentó significativamente la percepción de consecuencias socioeconómicas y la compra por pánico; asimismo, las consecuencias socioeconómicas surgieron como el predictor más fuerte de la compra por pánico y mediaron parcialmente la relación entre el miedo y dicho comportamiento. Por el contrario, la comprobación compulsiva y las actitudes antivacunas no mostraron efectos significativos sobre la compra por pánico. El modelo explicó el 53,9 % de la varianza en la compra por pánico. Los hallazgos sugieren que la compra por pánico no es meramente una reacción emocional ante el miedo, sino una respuesta mediada cognitivamente ante la escasez prevista y la incertidumbre económica. Esta perspectiva amplía la comprensión del comportamiento del consumidor en situaciones de crisis, trasciende el ámbito de la pandemia para abarcar contextos como la inflación, las interrupciones en la cadena de suministro y otras que implican amenazas económicas e incertidumbre en el abastecimiento. El estudio subraya la importancia de una comunicación transparente sobre la cadena de suministro y de estrategias para transmitir seguridad económica por parte de gobiernos y minoristas durante las crisis.

Citas

Adamus, M., Čavojová, V., & Mikušková, E. (2021). Fear trumps the common good: Psychological antecedents of vaccination attitudes and behaviour. Acta Psychologica, 227, 103606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103606

Açıkgöz, Ö., & Günay, A. (2020). The early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and Turkish economy. Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences, 50(9), 520–526. https://doi.org/10.3906/sag-2004-6

Ahorsu, D., Lin, C., Imani, V., Saffari, M., Griffiths, M., & Pakpour, A. (2022). The fear of COVID-19 scale: Development and initial validation. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 20(3), 1537–1545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8

Akhrani, L., Nasiha, I., & Octaviani, A. (2020). Analysis of panic buying behavior from fear of COVID-19 and citizen trust. In Proceedings of the 2nd Borobudur International Symposium on Humanities and Social Sciences, 18.

Anderson, J., & Gerbing, D. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411–423. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.103.3.411

Ann, S., & Baumann, O. (2023). Psychological mechanisms and interventions directed at vaccination attitudes. Frontiers in Sociology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1076015

Arafat, S., Kar, S., Marthoenis, M., Sharma, P., Apu, E., & Kabir, R. (2020a). Psychological underpinning of panic buying during pandemic (COVID-19). Psychiatry Research, 289, 113061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113061

Arafat, S., Kar, S., Menon, V., Kaliamoorthy, C., … Marthoenis, M., & Kabir, R. (2020b). Panic buying: An insight from the content analysis of media reports during COVID-19 pandemic. Neurology, Psychiatry and Brain Research, 37, 100–103.

Badgaiyan, A., & Verma, A. (2015). Does urge to buy impulsively differ from impulsive buying behavior? Assessing the impact of situational factors. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 22, 145–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2014.10.002

Baldwin, R., & di Mauro, B. (Eds.). (2020). Economics in the time of COVID-19. CEPR Press.

Barnes, S., Lema, M., & Arnaboldi, M. (2020). Understanding panic buying during COVID-19: A text analytics approach. Expert Systems with Applications, 169, 114360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2020.114360

Batley, P., Milner, A., Kavanagh, A., & LaMontagne, A. (2024). COVID stress factors, willingness to be vaccinated, and reasons for vaccination hesitancy amongst youth and ethnic minorities: A structural equation modeling analysis. SAGE Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241289353

Bendau, A., Plag, J., Petzold, M., & Ströhle, A. (2021). COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and related fears and anxiety. International Immunopharmacology, 97, 107724. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intimp.2021.107724

Boomsma, A., & Hoogland, J. (2001). The robustness of LISREL modeling revisited. In R. Cudeck, S. du Toit, & D. Sörbom (Eds.), Structural equation modeling: Present and future (pp. 139–168). Scientific Software International.

Bülbül, N., Çayırağası, F., & Efendioglu, I. H. (2026). SORCIS Model: Social Media Marketing Dimensions, Consumer Decision-Making Styles, and Purchase Intention. Mercados y Negocios, (57), 107–142. https://doi.org/10.32870/myn.vi57.7998

Byrne, B. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Carleton, R. (2016). Fear of the unknown: One fear to rule them all? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 41, 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.03.011

Choi, J., Lieff, S., Meltzer, G., Grivel, M., Chang, V., Yang, L., & Jarlais, D. (2022). Anti-vaccine attitudes among adults in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic after vaccine rollout. Vaccines, 10(6), 933. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10060933

Chua, G., Yuen, K., Wang, X., & Wong, Y. (2021). The determinants of panic buying during COVID-19. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(6), 3247. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063247

Codagnone, C., Bogliacino, F., … Folkvord, F., & Veltri, G. (2020). Assessing concerns for the economic consequence of the COVID-19 response and mental health problems associated with economic vulnerability and negative economic shock in Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. PLOS ONE, 15(10), e0240876. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240876

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Collier, J. (2020). Applied structural equation modeling using AMOS: Basic to advanced techniques. Routledge.

Creswell, J., & Creswell, J. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Demirgöz, M., Dişsiz, M., & Bayri, F. (2021). Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the COVID Stress Scale. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing, 51(5), 525–536. https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.21106

Erdem, T., Imai, S., & Keane, M. (2003). Brand and quantity choice dynamics under price uncertainty. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 1(1), 5–64. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023536326497

Etikan, I., Musa, S., & Alkassim, R. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11

Fasce, A., Schmid, P., Holford, D., Bates, L., Gurevych, I., & Lewandowsky, S. (2023). A taxonomy of anti-vaccination arguments from a systematic literature review and text modelling. Nature Human Behaviour, 7, 1462–1480. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01644-3

Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics: North American edition. SAGE.

Gao, J., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y., Xiao, J., & Luo, H. (2023). How does digital media search for COVID-19 influence vaccination intention? The mediating roles of risk perception and conspiracy beliefs. Vaccines, 11(1), 114. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11010114

Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., & Holman, E. A. (2020). The novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) outbreak: Amplification of public health consequences by media exposure. Health Psychology, 39(5), 355–357. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000875

Guan, W., Ni, Z., Hu, Y., Liang, W., Ou, C., He, J., & Du, B. (2020). Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. New England Journal of Medicine, 382, 1708–1720. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032

Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., & Anderson, R. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.

Haktanir, A., Seki, T., & Dilmaç, B. (2022). Adaptation and evaluation of Turkish version of the fear of COVID-19 scale. Death Studies, 46(3), 719–727. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2020.1773026

Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Henseler, J., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43, 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8

Hita, M., Grégoire, Y., Lussier, B., Boissonneault, S., Vandenberghe, C., & Sénécal, S. (2022). An extended health belief model for COVID-19: Understanding the media-based processes leading to social distancing and panic buying. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 51, 132–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-022-00865-8

Hornsey, M., Harris, E., & Fielding, K. (2018). The psychological roots of anti-vaccination attitudes: A 24-nation investigation. Health Psychology, 37(4), 307–315. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000586

Hu, L., & Bentler, P. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118

Kawashima, S., Morita, A., & Higuchi, T. (2012). Emergency stockpiling of food and drinking water in preparation for earthquakes: Evidence from a survey conducted in Sendai City, Japan. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 7, 113–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2012.704661

Keane, M., & Neal, T. (2021). Consumer panic in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Econometrics, 220(1), 86–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2020.07.045

Kulemeka, O. (2010). US consumers and disaster: Observing 'panic buying' during the winter storm and hurricane seasons. Advances in Consumer Research, 37, 837–838.

Lazarus, J., Ratzan, S., Palayew, A., … Kimball, S., & El-Mohandes, A. (2020). A global survey of potential acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine. Nature Medicine, 27, 225–228. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1124-9

Lefever, S., Dal, M., & Matthíasdóttir, Á. (2007). Online data collection in academic research: Advantages and limitations. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(4), 574–582. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2006.00638.x

Lins, S., & Aquino, S. (2020). Development and initial psychometric properties of a panic buying scale during COVID-19 pandemic. Heliyon, 6(9), e04746. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04746

Martin, L., & Petrie, K. (2017). Understanding the dimensions of anti-vaccination attitudes: The vaccination attitudes examination (VAX) scale. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 51(5), 652–660. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-017-9888-y

McRee, A., Gower, A., Kiss, D., & Reiter, P. (2022). Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected general vaccination hesitancy? Findings from a national study. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 46, 9–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-022-00298-2

Mertens, G., Gerritsen, L., Duijndam, S., Salemink, E., & Engelhard, I. (2020). Fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19): Predictors in an online study conducted in March 2020. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 74, 102258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102258

Mertens, G., Duijndam, S., Smeets, T., & Lodder, P. (2021). The latent and item structure of COVID-19 fear: A comparison of four COVID-19 fear questionnaires using SEM and network analyses. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 81, 102415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102415

Mertens, G., Lodder, P., Smeets, T., & Duijndam, S. (2022). Fear of COVID-19 predicts vaccination willingness 14 months later. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 88, 102574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102574

Mishra, N., Das, S., Yadav, S., … Hasnain, M., & Nayak, A. (2020). Global impacts of pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic: Focus on socio-economic consequences. Sensors International, 1, 100042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sintl.2020.100042

Naeem, M. (2021). Do social media platforms develop consumer panic buying during the fear of COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, 102226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102226

Nasiha, I., & Akhrani, L. (2020). The rush before the storm: Assessing the role of fear of COVID-19 toward panic buying behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Khazanah: Jurnal Mahasiswa. https://doi.org/10.20885/khazanah.vol12.iss2.art16

Nazlı, Ş., Yığman, F., Sevindik, M., & Özturan, D. (2021). Psychological factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Irish Journal of Medical Science, 191, 71–80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-021-02640-0

Omar, N., Nazri, M., Ali, M., & Alam, S. (2021). The panic buying behavior of consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining the influences of uncertainty, perceptions of severity, perceptions of scarcity, and anxiety. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 62, 102600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102600

Pappas, G., Kiriaze, I., Giannakis, P., & Falagas, M. (2009). Psychosocial consequences of infectious diseases. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 15(8), 743–747. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-0691.2009.02947.x

Pertwee, E., Simas, C., & Larson, H. (2022). An epidemic of uncertainty: Rumors, conspiracy theories and vaccine hesitancy. Nature Medicine, 28, 456–459. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01728-z

Pınar, D. A. (2022). COVID-19 küresel salgınının ekonomik etkileri. In COVID-19 pandemisinin olumlu ve olumsuz etkileri (p. 209).

Podsakoff, P., MacKenzie, S., Lee, J., & Podsakoff, N. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879

Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879

Roozenbeek, J., Schneider, C. R., Dryhurst, S., Kerr, J., Freeman, A. L. J., Recchia, G., van der Bles, A. M., & van der Linden, S. (2020). Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 around the world. Royal Society Open Science, 7(10), 201199. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201199

Ruggeri, K., Vanderslott, S., … Fallah, M., Stock, F., & Hertwig, R. (2024). Behavioural interventions to reduce vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation on social media. BMJ, 384. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-076542

Salameh, P., Hajj, A., Badro, D., Abou Selwan, C., Aoun, R., & Sacre, H. (2020). Mental health outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic and a collapsing economy: Perspectives from a developing country. Psychiatry Research, 294, 113520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113520

Sallam, M., Dababseh, D., Eid, H., Al-Mahzoum, K., … Bakri, F. G., & Mahafzah, A. (2021). High rates of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its association with conspiracy beliefs: A study in Jordan and Kuwait among other Arab countries. Vaccines, 9(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9010042

Sarfraz, M., Ji, X., Asghar, M., Ivașcu, L., & Ozturk, I. (2022). Signifying the relationship between fear of COVID-19, psychological concerns, financial concerns and healthcare employees job performance: A mediated model. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(5), 2657. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052657

Satici, B., Gocet, E., Deniz, M., & Satici, S. (2020). Adaptation of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Its association with psychological distress and life satisfaction in Turkey. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 19, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00294-0

Schmidt, S., Benke, C., & Pané-Farré, C. (2021). Purchasing under threat: Changes in shopping patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLOS ONE, 16, e0249121. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249121

Scrima, F., Miceli, S., Caci, B., & Cardaci, M. (2021). The relationship between fear of COVID-19 and intention to get vaccinated: The serial mediation roles of existential anxiety and conspiracy beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences, 184, 111188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111188

Seih, Y., Tra, V., Lepicovsky, M., & Chang, Y. (2021). Let others buy first: Identity fusion buffers the effect of COVID-19 phobia on panic buying behavior from an economic perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 710185. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.710185

Sim, K., Chua, H., Vieta, E., & Fernandez, G. (2020). The anatomy of panic buying related to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatry Research, 288, 113015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113015

Sobierajski, T., Rzymski, P., & Wanke-Rytt, M. (2023). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on attitudes toward vaccination: Representative study of Polish society. Vaccines, 11(6), 1069. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11061069

Sterman, J., & Dogan, G. (2015). 'I'm not hoarding, I'm just stocking up before the hoarders get here': Behavioral causes of phantom ordering in supply chains. Journal of Operations Management, 39, 6–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2015.07.002

Taylor, S. (2021). Understanding and managing pandemic-related panic buying. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 78, 102364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102364

Taylor, S., Landry, C., Paluszek, M., Fergus, T., McKay, D., & Asmundson, G. (2020a). Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 72, 102232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102232

Taylor, S., Landry, C., Paluszek, M., Rachor, G., & Asmundson, G. (2020b). Worry, avoidance, and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comprehensive network analysis. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 76, 102327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102327

Turkish Ministry of Health. (2021). COVID-19 pandemic data. Turkish Ministry of Health. Link: https://COVID19.saglik.gov.tr/

Voyvoda, E. (2020). COVID-19 salgının Türkiye ekonomisi üzerine etkileri ve politika alternatiflerinin makroekonomik genel denge analizi. In Salgın ekonomisi. Eflatun Yayınevi.

Wang, H. H., & Hao, N. (2020). Panic buying? Food hoarding during the pandemic period with city lockdown. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 19(12), 2916–2925. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2095-3119(20)63448-7

World Health Organization. (2020a). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019): Situation report-54. World Health Organization. Link: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200314-sitrep-54-COVID-19.pdf

Wu, Y., Xin, L., Li, D., Yu, J., & Guo, J. (2021). How does scarcity promotion lead to impulse purchase in the online market? A field experiment. Information & Management, 58(1), 103283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2020.103283

Yildiz, E., Gungormus, Z., & Dayapoglu, N. (2021). Assessment of validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the vaccination attitudes examination (VAX) scale. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 14(1), 261–268.

Yuen, K. F., Wang, X., Ma, F., & Li, K. X. (2020). The psychological causes of panic buying following a health crisis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(9), 3513. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103513