Understanding Consumer Stockpiling during the COVID-19 Outbreak through the Theory of Planned Behavior

We use the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate determinants of stockpiling behavior during the COVID-19 lockdown. We analyzed 518 responses to an online survey and used Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM) techniques to estimate relationships between variables. Negative attitude...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mathematics (Basel) 2021-08, Vol.9 (16), p.1950
Main Authors: Roșu, Maria-Magdalena, Ianole-Călin, Rodica, Dinescu, Raluca, Bratu, Anca, Papuc, Răzvan-Mihail, Cosma, Anastasia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
Attitudes
Consumer behavior
Consumption
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Food science
Hypotheses
Influence
Norms
Pandemics
panic buying
perceived product scarcity
Perceptions
Purchasing
self-regulation
Social distancing
Stockpiling
stockpiling behavior
Theory of planned behavior
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We use the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate determinants of stockpiling behavior during the COVID-19 lockdown. We analyzed 518 responses to an online survey and used Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM) techniques to estimate relationships between variables. Negative attitude (perceived barriers) and others’ behavior (descriptive social norms) were revealed as significant predictors for both intention to over-purchase and the actual stockpiling behavior. The lack of significance obtained for perceived behavioral control (PBC) is also an important result, strengthening the evidence that factors’ contribution to TPB’s predictive power is strongly context-dependent, respectively that PBC is less relevant in settings dominated by uncertainty. The lack of significance is especially compelling when stockpiling behavior is regarded as deviant conduct from effective consumption. Our findings expand the understanding on the applicability of TPB and offer informed practical suggestions for improving managerial strategies, public and private ones, during extreme events when self-regulation and cognitive control are expedient but hard to achieve.
ISSN:2227-7390
2227-7390
DOI:10.3390/math9161950