The Impact of COVID-19 and Public Health Emergencies on Consumer Purchase of Scarce Products in China.
Front Public Health
; 8: 617166, 2020.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-993483
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
During public health emergencies, people often scramble to buy scarce goods, which may lead to panic behavior and cause serious negative impacts on public health management. Due to the absence of relevant research, the internal logic of this phenomenon is not clear. This study explored whether and why public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic stimulate consumers' preference for scarce products.Methods:
Applying the questionnaire survey method, two online surveys were conducted on the Credamo data platform in China. The first survey was launched in February and collected psychological and behavioral data from 1,548 participants. Considering the likelihood of population relocation due to the pandemic, a follow-up survey was conducted in August with 463 participants who had participated in the first survey and had not relocated to other cities between February and August. The hypotheses were tested with these data through stepwise regression analysis, bootstrapping, and robustness testing.Results:
Pandemic severity was found to positively affect scarce consumption behavior and the effect was found to be situational; this indicates that the impact of the pandemic on scarce consumption was only significant during the pandemic. Further, it was found that materialism plays a mediating role in the relationship between pandemic severity and scarce consumption. Finally, the need to belong was found to play a moderating role between pandemic severity and materialism.Conclusion:
This study findings imply that the scarce consumption behavior during public health emergencies can be reduced by decreasing materialism and increasing the need to belong. These findings may aid government leaders in managing public health emergencies.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Consumer Behavior
/
Emergencies
/
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Front Public Health
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Fpubh.2020.617166
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