Abstract
Fear is a powerful driver of human behavior, even more during times of crisis. Panic buying occurs when fear and panic influence behavior leading people to buy more things than usual. So far, no specific scale on this has been found in the major databases, thus the aim of this exploratory study is to develop a Panic Buying Scale (PBS) during COVID-19 pandemic. 393 Brazilians took part in this study (251 women and 142 men), answering a sociodemographic questionnaire and instruments of these variables: (1)panic buying, (2)impulse buying, (3)temporal focus, (4)optimism, (5)risk perception, (6)need for cognition. Data collection was conducted through an online questionnaire which was shared through social media networks, from April 10th to May 4th, 2020. Factorial exploratory and confirmatory analysis indicated that PBS has a unidimensional solution and showed satisfactory reliability indexes. Results revealed that men buy more by panic than women. PBS also was positively correlated with impulse buying, past and future temporal focus, and risk perception; as well as negatively correlated with optimism and age. Findings suggest that PBS is psychometrically acceptable in the Brazilian context. This new instrument can be useful to understand the psychosocial phenomena associated with consumer behavior. Future investigations could provide more evidences of validity in other contexts.
Highlights
It is unquestionable the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in all domains of our lives
Our findings suggest that Panic Buying Scale (PBS) is psychometrically acceptable in the Brazilian context, including evidence of its convergent validity
PBS was positively correlated with impulse buying, past and future temporal focus, risk perception, and socioeconomic class perceived, as well as negatively correlated with present temporal focus, optimism, and age
Summary
It is unquestionable the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in all domains of our lives. All these uncertain times evoked deeply negative emotions, like fear and panic. Since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, we witnessed a supermarket race, shelves being emptied quickly, and people making extra purchase to stock products at home. Panic buying occurs when negative feelings like fear, panic, and feelings of uncertainty influence behavior, leading people to buy more things than usual. This type of consumer behavior is more frequently observed during periods of crisis and disruptive events, such as natural disasters, as well as public and personal health emergencies. Because of access to information facilitated by social media, and the universal nature of the coronavirus’ spread, panic buying became a worldwide phenomenon never seen before (Singh and Rakshit, 2020)
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