Dual speculative hoarding: A wholesaler-retailer channel behavioral phenomenon behind potential natural hazard threats

Abstract

This study aims to address the issue of disaster-induced speculative hoarding (DISH) behavior that might co-exist in the wholesalers and retailers, which clarify the antecedents and suggested solutions for supply chain disruption risks. Drawing on human psychology and social cognition theory, the study provides a conceptual framework that reflects the endogenous and exogenous antecedents on speculative hoarding behavior in response to disasters. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) in a sample of 373 firms (255 wholesalers, 118 retailers) from the agricultural-food industry through face-to-face interviews to complete the questionnaire. Our analytical results reveal that attitude to risk-driven hoarding (AH), disaster-induced affective response (DR), coercive social influence (CI), and non-coercive social influence (NI) are the four key factors that jointly affect the agricultural-food supply chain members decision concerning. The indirect effect of non-coercive social influence (NI) on speculative hoarding is more significant, relative to coercive social influence (CI). These findings have important implications for supply chain disruption risk management.