Health pandemic in the era of (mis)information: examining the utility of using victim narrative and social endorsement of user-generated content to reduce panic buying in the U.S.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Panic buying frequently occurs in health pandemics, disturbing both the market and people’s lives. The situation is exacerbated by the easy spread of misinformation online. With a web-based experiment, the present study examined how user-generated anti-panic buying messages online could be leveraged to combat panic buying. It was found that user comments discussing how panic buying affects the lives of less advantaged social groups on social media, as well as high social endorsement of the comment, significantly reduced readers’ derogation of the comment, thereby increasing negative attitudes toward panic buying and lowering intention to engage in it. The message format (narrative vs. non-narrative), however, did not influence the amount of impact it had on participants’ attitude and purchase intentions. The findings contribute to research on message-based and heuristic-based persuasion processes in reading reactance-inducing messages online and guide the design of persuasive messages to reduce panic buying during health pandemics.