Dataset Information

Panic buying: An insight from the content analysis of media reports during COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Background:Panic buying is an emerging phenomenon observed during, but not restricted to, pandemic. Aim:We aimed to evaluate the nature, extent, and impact of panic buying as reported in the media. Methods:This study was conducted by collecting the information from the English media reports published till 22nd May 2020. A structured format was developed to collect data. Searching was done by using the keyword "panic buying". We have excluded the social media posts discussing the panic buying. Results:The majority of media reporting was from the USA (40.7 %), and about 46 % of reports highlighted the scarce item. Approximately 82 % of the reports presented the causes of panic buying whereas almost 80 % report covered the impact of it. About 25.7 % of reports highlighted the rumor about panic buying and only 9.3 % of reports blamed the government. Only 27.1 % reports described the remedial measures, 30.8 % reports conferred the news on the psychology behind panic buying and 67.3 % news displayed the images of empty shelves. Conclusion:A high proportion of reports on panic buying have been found from the developed countries discussing the causes & impact of panic buying on the basis of expert opinion.

SUBMITTER: Arafat SMY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7365627 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Panic buying: An insight from the content analysis of media reports during COVID-19 pandemic.

Arafat S M Yasir SMY Kar Sujita Kumar SK Menon Vikas V Kaliamoorthy Charanya C Mukherjee Srijeeta S Alradie-Mohamed Angi A Sharma Pawan P Marthoenis Marthoenis M Kabir Russell R

Neurology, psychiatry, and brain research 20200716

<h4>Background</h4>Panic buying is an emerging phenomenon observed during, but not restricted to, pandemic.<h4>Aim</h4>We aimed to evaluate the nature, extent, and impact of panic buying as reported in the media.<h4>Methods</h4>This study was conducted by collecting the information from the English media reports published till 22nd May 2020. A structured format was developed to collect data. Searching was done by using the keyword "panic buying". We have excluded the social media posts discussin ...[more]

PMID: 32834528

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Project description:The over-purchasing and hoarding of necessities is a common response to crises, especially in developed economies where there is normally an expectation of plentiful supply. This behaviour was observed internationally during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the absence of actual scarcity, this behaviour can be described as 'panic buying' and can lead to temporary shortages. However, there have been few psychological studies of this phenomenon. Here we propose a psychological model of over-purchasing informed by animal foraging theory and make predictions about variables that predict over-purchasing by either exacerbating or mitigating the anticipation of future scarcity. These variables include additional scarcity cues (e.g. loss of income), distress (e.g. depression), psychological factors that draw attention to these cues (e.g. neuroticism) or to reassuring messages (eg. analytical reasoning) or which facilitate over-purchasing (e.g. income). We tested our model in parallel nationally representative internet surveys of the adult general population conducted in the United Kingdom (UK: N = 2025) and the Republic of Ireland (RoI: N = 1041) 52 and 31 days after the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were detected in the UK and RoI, respectively. About three quarters of participants reported minimal over-purchasing. There was more over-purchasing in RoI vs UK and in urban vs rural areas. When over-purchasing occurred, in both countries it was observed across a wide range of product categories and was accounted for by a single latent factor. It was positively predicted by household income, the presence of children at home, psychological distress (depression, death anxiety), threat sensitivity (right wing authoritarianism) and mistrust of others (paranoia). Analytic reasoning ability had an inhibitory effect. Predictor variables accounted for 36% and 34% of the variance in over-purchasing in the UK and RoI respectively. With some caveats, the data supported our model and points to strategies to mitigate over-purchasing in future crises.

Dataset Information

Panic buying: An insight from the content analysis of media reports during COVID-19 pandemic.

Publications

Panic buying: An insight from the content analysis of media reports during COVID-19 pandemic.

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