Why did (some) consumers buy toilet papers? A cross‐cultural examination of panic buying as a maladaptive coping response to COVID‐19

• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Author: Hyunjoo Im,Naeun Lauren Kim,Ha Kyung Lee
• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12426

SPECIAL ISSUE

Why did (some) consumers buy toilet papers? A

cross-cultural examination of panic buying as a

maladaptive coping response to COVID-19

Hyunjoo Im

1

| Naeun Lauren Kim

1

| Ha Kyung Lee

2

1

Department of Design, Housing, and

Apparel, University of Minnesota, Saint

Paul, Minnesota, USA

2

Department of Clothing and Textiles,

Chungnam National University, Daejeon,

South Korea

Correspondence

Naeun Lauren Kim Ph.D., Department of

Design, Housing, and Apparel, University

of Minnesota, 1985 Buford Ave. Saint

Paul, MN 55108, USA.

Email: nlkim@umn.edu

Abstract

The high uncertainty around the COVID-19 pan-

demic elicited an unprecedented level of panic buying

during the early months. Using the framework of

stress and coping, the current study conceptualized

andtestedatheoreticalmodel that predicts individ-

uals' panic buying in two countries. A survey of US

(n=311) and Korean consumers (n=347) revealed

that negative emotions (loneliness and anxiety) con-

tributed to panic buying, yet two important coping

resources, resilience and social support, were effective

in protecting consumers from engaging in a maladap-

tive coping strategy. The hypothesis that collectivism

(vs. individualism) would make consumers rely on

social (vs. personal) coping resources was partially

supported. The results highlight the unique circum-

stance of the global pandemic in which social support

works as both a resource for healthy coping and a

source to increase negative emotions, and call for

future investigation of the complex role of social sup-

port in the context of stress and coping theory.

KEYWORDS

coping strategies, panic buying, social support

Received: 17 November 2020 Revised: 8 September 2021 Accepted: 13 November 2021

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12426

© 2021 American Council on Consumer Interests.

J Consum Aff. 2022;56:391–413. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 391

1|INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a global outbreak caused by a novel coro-

navirus first identified in December 2019 (CDC, 2020), shocked the world, recording over

160 million confirmed cases and 3.37 million deaths as of May 2021 (WHO, 2021). Consumers

have engaged in various unconventional consumption behaviors in an attempt to cope with the

global health crisis. Most notably, consumers around the world flocked to stores and stockpiled

essential goods such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, canned food, dried goods

(e.g., pasta, rice, flour), and others (Loxton et al., 2020). In early March 2020, the U.S. consumer

household spending on goods like toilet paper spiked by 212% from the previous year, and gen-

eral household spending increased by 53% from 2019 (BCG, 2020). Due to this extreme surge in

demand, stores experienced significant stock-outs and product shortages (Kirk & Rifkin, 2020).

As a result, essential hygiene products like disinfectant wipes and paper towels were sold for

2–14 times the regular price by sellers engaging in price gouging (U.S. PIRG, 2020). Such

hoarding-like behavior of consumers in times of crisis, known as panic buying, was so remark-

able that the COVID-19 pandemic was facetiously dubbed as the era of toilet paper shortages.

According to Oxford (2021), panic buying is defined as “the act of buying large quantities of

everyday items such as food, fuel, etc. because of concerns about them running out or prices ris-

ing”Panic buying has been a common maladaptive consumer response in anticipation of, dur-

ing, or after a real or perceived disaster (Du et al., 2020; Yuen et al., 2020). Panic buying had

occurred in many crises like the SARS outbreak in China in 2003, the Japanese earthquake in

2011, and the Venezuelan economic crisis in 2013 (Lins & Aquino, 2020). Despite the signifi-

cance of the topic, the current understanding of panic buying and the ways to mitigate it remain

limited. Most studies on panic buying have thus far provided little insight into mitigation strate-

gies, and the findings are largely based on opinions of academics, medical professionals, and

reporters without substantial empirical evidence (Yuen et al., 2020). Moreover, although panic

buying was a globally observed phenomenon, studies have yet to explore the influence of cul-

tural subtleties on panic buying.

Panic is a common response to overwhelmingly stressful situations, and the pandemic cer-

tainly qualifies as a very stressful event. Surprisingly, few studies viewed panic buying as a response

to stress. To understand the underlying psychological process of panic buying and to identify the

factors that reduce panic buying, the current study explains panic buying behaviors using stress and

coping theories. A threatening and dangerous situation that is beyond one's capacity to easily cope

with induces a high level of stress (Biggs et al., 2017). Since stressors deplete psychological resources

and compromise the sense of control (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), stressed consumers often resort

to consumption in a futile attempt to regain control of the situation (Durante & Laran, 2016). Panic

buying is one such ineffective compensatory behavior (Yuen et al., 2020).

Investigating panic buying from the stress and coping perspective not only explains panic

buying as a stress response behavior but also provides potential to develop specific mitigation

strategies. A sizable literature documents the importance of social and personal coping

resources, social support and resilience, in dealing with stressful life events (Cohen &

Wills, 1985; Rzeszutek et al., 2017; Sippel et al., 2015). Thus, the first purpose of the current

study is to investigate the role of consumers' coping resources in reducing panic buying behav-

iors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the stress and coping literature and the social

support literature, we specifically focused on social support and resilience and subsequent nega-

tive emotions that may trigger panic buying.

392 IM ET AL.