COVID-19 Panic Buying Behaviour: Individual Differences among Consumers

The global economy has been greatly affected following the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019. Not only did it trigger a massive global health and economic crisis, but it also triggered uncommon human habits, such as panic buying, across the globe. When negative emotions such as anxiety, panic, and feelings of confusion impair behaviour, panic buying happens, causing people to buy more items than normal. This chapter attempts to demonstrate how the purchasing activity of individuals is influenced by panic buying behaviour. A Google Forms questionnaire for the collection of data for the research was used to perform an online survey. The study used the panic buying scale introduced by Lins and Aquino (2020b) and the individual difference scale created by Rick et al. (2008) to collect data on the panic buying behaviour and individual differences of respondents. The panic buying was measured based on demographic information (gender, age, marital status, income, occupation, and location). An independent sample t-test was conducted to identify panic buying behaviour based on demographic factors. Correlation and ANOVA were performed to find the relationship between panic buying and the individual differences of consumers. The findings showed a positive correlation, and the results of the analysis indicate that spendthrifts exhibit a greater panic buying behaviour. The condition of panic buying induces uncertainty in the minds of customers who are likely to purchase more goods. In a panic buying situation, the negative sense of pain of paying reduces. The expectation and apprehension of an increase in price or a lack of stocks produce a condition that helps minimize the pain of paying for essential goods. As the pain of payment reduces, individuals indulge in more acquisitions of essential goods.