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Is it really "panic buying"? Public perceptions and experiences of extra buying at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PLoS One. 2022; 17(2):e0264618.Plos

Abstract

Shopping behaviour in response to extreme events is often characterized as "panic buying" which connotes irrationality and loss of control. However, "panic buying" has been criticized for attributing shopping behaviour to people's alleged psychological frailty while ignoring other psychological and structural factors that might be at play. We report a qualitative exploration of the experiences and understandings of shopping behaviour of members of the public at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 23 participants, we developed three themes. The first theme addresses people's understandings of "panic buying". When participants referred to "panic buying" they meant observed product shortages (rather than the underlying psychological processes that can lead to such behaviours), preparedness behaviours, or emotions such as fear and worry. The second theme focuses on the influence of the media and other people's behaviour in shaping subsequent shopping behaviours. The third theme addresses the meaningful motivations behind increased shopping, which participants described in terms of preparedness; some participants reported increased shopping behaviours as a response to other people stockpiling, to reduce their trips to supermarkets, or to prepare for product shortages and longer stays at home. Overall, despite frequently using the term 'panic', the irrationalist connotations of "panic buying" were largely absent from participants' accounts. Thus, "panic buying" is not a useful concept and should not be used as it constructs expected responses to threat as irrational or pathological. It can also facilitate such behaviours, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Authors+Show Affiliations

School of Psychology and Counselling, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, United Kingdom.School of Psychology, Keele University, Keele, United Kingdom.Instituto de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de O'Higgins, Rancagua, Chile.School of Management, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom.School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, United Kingdom.School of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom.Centro de Medición Mide UC, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.School of Psychology, Keele University, Keele, United Kingdom.School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom.School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

35213639

Citation

Ntontis, Evangelos, et al. "Is It Really "panic Buying"? Public Perceptions and Experiences of Extra Buying at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic." PloS One, vol. 17, no. 2, 2022, pp. e0264618.
Ntontis E, Vestergren S, Saavedra P, et al. Is it really "panic buying"? Public perceptions and experiences of extra buying at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One. 2022;17(2):e0264618.
Ntontis, E., Vestergren, S., Saavedra, P., Neville, F., Jurstakova, K., Cocking, C., Lay, S., Drury, J., Stott, C., Reicher, S., & Vignoles, V. L. (2022). Is it really "panic buying"? Public perceptions and experiences of extra buying at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. PloS One, 17(2), e0264618. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264618
Ntontis E, et al. Is It Really "panic Buying"? Public Perceptions and Experiences of Extra Buying at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. PLoS One. 2022;17(2):e0264618. PubMed PMID: 35213639.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Is it really "panic buying"? Public perceptions and experiences of extra buying at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. AU - Ntontis,Evangelos, AU - Vestergren,Sara, AU - Saavedra,Patricio, AU - Neville,Fergus, AU - Jurstakova,Klara, AU - Cocking,Chris, AU - Lay,Siugmin, AU - Drury,John, AU - Stott,Clifford, AU - Reicher,Stephen, AU - Vignoles,Vivian L, Y1 - 2022/02/25/ PY - 2021/11/16/received PY - 2022/02/14/accepted PY - 2022/2/25/entrez PY - 2022/2/26/pubmed PY - 2022/3/8/medline SP - e0264618 EP - e0264618 JF - PloS one JO - PLoS One VL - 17 IS - 2 N2 - Shopping behaviour in response to extreme events is often characterized as "panic buying" which connotes irrationality and loss of control. However, "panic buying" has been criticized for attributing shopping behaviour to people's alleged psychological frailty while ignoring other psychological and structural factors that might be at play. We report a qualitative exploration of the experiences and understandings of shopping behaviour of members of the public at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 23 participants, we developed three themes. The first theme addresses people's understandings of "panic buying". When participants referred to "panic buying" they meant observed product shortages (rather than the underlying psychological processes that can lead to such behaviours), preparedness behaviours, or emotions such as fear and worry. The second theme focuses on the influence of the media and other people's behaviour in shaping subsequent shopping behaviours. The third theme addresses the meaningful motivations behind increased shopping, which participants described in terms of preparedness; some participants reported increased shopping behaviours as a response to other people stockpiling, to reduce their trips to supermarkets, or to prepare for product shortages and longer stays at home. Overall, despite frequently using the term 'panic', the irrationalist connotations of "panic buying" were largely absent from participants' accounts. Thus, "panic buying" is not a useful concept and should not be used as it constructs expected responses to threat as irrational or pathological. It can also facilitate such behaviours, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. SN - 1932-6203 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/35213639/Is_it_really_"panic_buying"_Public_perceptions_and_experiences_of_extra_buying_at_the_onset_of_the_COVID_19_pandemic_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -