Motivation and emotion/Book/2021/Consumer panic buying motivation

Overview


Panic buying is a behaviour observed during disaster or crisis situations, where consumers experience an urge to stockpile necessities. This behaviour serves as an attempt to reduce perceived risk and regain control over unstable circumstances. It is motivated by perceived threat and scarcity, and maintained by social pressures like FOMO. However, it causes supply issues for retailers which negatively impacts consumers as they cannot access necessities. These impacts disproportionately affect vulnerable members of society. Panic buying behaviour can be reduced through quality public health communication, retailer intervention and improved public mental health. Panic buying can also be mitigated by strengthened supply chains.

This book chapter aims to answer the following questions:Focus questions:
 * What is panic buying?
 * Why is panic buying a problem?
 * What motivates us to panic buy?
 * How can panic buying be avoided?

Panic buying behaviour


Panic buying behaviour is the act of buying excessive amounts of necessities in response to a disaster or crisis situation (Tsao et al. 2019). It is characterised by two main criteria: excessive quantity of items and unusual frequency of behaviour (Prentice et al, 2020). Consumers stockpile necessities as a form of self protective behaviour as an attempt to reduce risk (Yuen et al. 2020). The behaviour is self-interested and planned (Yuen et al. 2020). The additional supplies allow the consumer to avoid visiting stores, thereby reducing risk, and provide a sense of security that the supplies will not run out (Yuen et al. 2020). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the item most commonly panic bought is toilet paper, followed by sanitiser and food staples like rice & pasta (Prentice et al, 2020). Of 662 participants in a questionnaire conducted in India in March 2020, approximately one third had the urge to buy and stock resources (Roy et al., ). Women have been observed to engage in panic buying more than men which is understandable given the typical division of domestic responsibilities (Wang, 2020).

Panic buying is disruptive to retailer supply (Yuen et al. 2020). It results in the exhaustion of essential resources (Roy et al. 2020). This causes prevents consumers from accessing necessities (Yuen et al. 2020). The financial capacity to engage in panic buying behaviour is a privilege and many experience decreased income during a disaster or crisis (Wang, 2020). In this way, panic buying behaviour disproportionately impacts those who are vulnerable economically or socially (Douglas. 2020).


 * Case study - COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen unprecedented levels of panic buying globally (see Fig. 1 & Fig. 2). It is the first modern pandemic outside of SARS, meaning that it will be the first to be broadly researched for its effects on motivated behaviour. The panic buying behaviour observed resulting from COVID-19 has been formative for shock and crisis research (Loxton et al. 2020).

Motivating factors for panic buying
Table 1.

Individual factors predicting panic buying motivation

Individual perception
Motivation for panic buying is increased by perceived threat & scarcity (Yuen et al. 2020). Individual assessment of the crisis is a significant predictor of self-protection behaviour (Yuen et al. 2020).

Perceived threat
In the health belief model, risk susceptibility and severity are used to determine perceived threat levels (Shahnazi. 2020). In a pandemic setting, susceptibility refers to the probability of an outbreak or infection, and severity refers to the consequences of infection. When there is sufficient perceived risk, there will be increased motivation for self protection behaviour, including panic buying (Yuen et al. 2020).

Protection behaviours are designed to reduce risk in a pandemic setting. They have been organised into three categories: preventative, avoidant and management behaviours (Bish et al. 2010), all of which are expected to increase with perceived threat. Preventative behaviours include mask wearing and exercising good hygiene, avoidant behaviours include reducing contact by working from home and avoiding public transport, and management includes the use of medication and professional assistance (Yuen et al. 2020). Any increase in these behaviours will in turn increase panic buying behaviour because additional supplies are required (Yuen et al. 2020). In this way, perceived threat motivates self protective behaviour, resulting in motivation for panic buying behaviour.

Perceived scarcity
Perceived scarcity is linked to psychological reactance theory. Psychological reactance refers to a state of motivation to protect behavioural freedom if it feels threatened (Yuen et al. 2020). Government safety measures are perceived as cues for resource scarcity (Prentice et al, 2020), meaning it is likely retail products will become unavailable. This increases consumer attention and attractiveness of products, as their anticipated unavailability restricts personal freedom by limiting accessibility of resources. This causes psychological reactance, motivating consumer urgency to panic buy to protect their behavioural freedom from threat.

When deciding whether to panic buy, consumers are motivated to avoid anticipated regret (Yuen et al. 2020). In the case of panic buying, consumers tend to assess that regret is more likely to occur if they do not engage in the behaviour (Yuen et al. 2020). There are negative outcomes for panic buying, such as guilt (Prentice et al, 2020), and waste (Chua et al, 2021), but these are not as aversive as loss of access to necessities.

Social psychology
Social psychology plays a complex role in the development and maintenance of motivation for panic buying behaviour.

Reported shortages of products in news coverage and social media result in a self-fulfilling prophecy (Prentice et al, 2020) wherein consumers fear missing out on resources that are reported as becoming scarce, and aggravate the issue by panic buying. Notably, Yuen et al. found the fear of missing out itself was not a statistically significant social influence on panic buying compared to peer influence (2020). Peer influence not only predicted panic buying, but choice of products (Yuen et al. 2020).

Media coverage also has a normative influence (Prentice et al, 2020). Consumers who believe the majority are panic buying may conform in order to be accepted. This tendency to select the option chosen by the majority has been referred to as social proof (Chua et al, 2021) and is particularly influential when the observed actions are those of close relations.

Retail settings provide an ideal setting for observational learning to occur, as consumers are able to observe the decisions of others around them (Yuen et al. 2020). Belief that the majority is able to better assess the situation may lead consumers to participate in panic buying even against their own judgement (Yuen et al. 2020), concluding that participating in panic buying is the better choice if the majority has decided to do so. In this way, panic buying has a contagious element.

Panic buying motivation can also be predicted using levels of social trust (Yuen et al. 2020). Low levels of social trust are associated with individualistic behaviour, and high levels of social trust tend to result in cooperative behaviour (Yuen et al. 2020).

Fear of the unknown
Disaster and crisis situations are unpredictable. A lack of knowledge of the situation creates a sense of uncertainty in consumers, leading to rumination and fear (Yuen et al. 2020). Fear has been found to increase perceived threat (Yuen et al. 2020) and modify shopping behaviour (Wang et al. 2020). Consumers purchase more when they self-assess they are in a bad mood, seeking to reduce these negative emotions through purchases (Yuen et al. 2020). This is an important distinction, as it indicates that panic buying is not only motivated by the material need for purchased items. It is also motivated by a need to regulate negative emotions in the face of uncertainty (Yuen et al. 2020).

Coping Behaviour
Compensatory control theory states that panic buying serves as an outlet to regain control, and compensate for loss in a crisis (Yuen et al. 2020). Consumers who feel out of control of their circumstances can cope by exercising control over their access to resources. These purchases provide consumers with comfort and a sense of security (Yuen et al. 2020). They also reduce stress and allow for a temporary escape (Yuen et al. 2020).

Panic buying and motivation theory


Panic buying behaviour stems from a strong intrinsic motivation to meet psychological needs for safety and stability (Ryan et al. cited by Reeve, 2018). In a crisis setting, consumers alter their discretionary spending patterns to ensure that they have access to essentials (Loxton et al. 2020). This is illustrated by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (see Fig. 3), as focus shifts primarily to safety and physiological necessities. Retail spending also increases in anticipation of crisis or disaster (Yuen et al. 2020), strengthening these patterns.

A self regulatory model for panic buying motivation has been proposed by Cannon et al. (2019). In this theory, consumer motivation to respond to resource scarcity is characterised by the perceived mutability of the resource discrepancy. Mutability refers to the likelihood that reasonable effort investment will change the situation. In settings with high mutability, the motivated behavioural response to resource scarcity is scarcity reduction which allows the individual to self regulate (Cannon, et al. 2019). In settings with low mutability, the individual will be motivated to engage in control restoration (Cannon, et al. 2019). Consumers will disengage from the original resource, and attempt to restore a sense of personal control by achieving security in other areas. This is referred to as adaptive goal re-engagement and allows the consumer to self regulate.

How can panic buying be prevented?
Interventions to reduce panic buying can occur at a government level, or be localised to retailer interventions and personal intervention.

Public information and panic are related concepts. Panic buying is significantly related to preventative public health measures (Prentice et al, 2020), making averse spillover effects a relevant factor for future public health communication. Clarity and quality delivery of public health information can decrease levels of panic (Drury et al. 2013) and reduce blame mentality (Neville et al. 2021).

Retailer interventions do not reduce motivation to panic buy, but they can disrupt the social contagion and maintenance of the behaviour (Prentice et al, 2020). Effective interventions in the COVID-19 pandemic include retail limits on essential products of two per purchase, increased price of essential products, and dedicated shopping hours for vulnerable groups and health workers (9News, 2020, cited by Prentice et al, 2020). Notably, there are ways around these regulations for consumers determined to hoard supplies, such as visiting multiple retailers or going back more than once. In these cases, retailer intervention can strengthen panic buying behaviour (Prentice et al, 2020) but these cases do not nullify the positive impact overall.

Personal intervention is difficult to implement on a large scale, but if consumers are able to take personal action to reduce their fear and gain control over their circumstances through more positive alternatives, it is a useful avenue to reduce panic buying behaviour.

Quiz
Test your understanding! {The greatest motivating factor for panic buying is perceived threat} - False + True

{Men are more likely than women to engage in panic buying behaviour} - True + False

Conclusion
Panic buying is a behaviour observed during disaster or crisis situations, where consumers experience an urge to stockpile necessities. The behaviour serves as an attempt to reduce perceived risk and regain control over unstable circumstances. It is motivated by perceived threat and scarcity, and maintained by social pressures like FOMO. However, it causes supply issues for retailers which negatively impacts consumers as they cannot access necessities. These impacts disproportionately affect vulnerable members of society. It is therefore important that panic buying behaviour is addressed in future through quality public health communication, retailer intervention and improved public mental health.