RAPID: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF PANIC BUYING DURING THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK AND HOW TO MITIGATE THEM
- Funded by National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Total publications:0 publications
Grant number: 2027620
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Key facts
Disease
COVID-19Start & end year
20202021Known Financial Commitments (USD)
$135,825Funder
National Science Foundation (NSF)Principal Investigator
Mehdi HossainResearch Location
United States of AmericaLead Research Institution
University of Rhode IslandResearch Priority Alignment
N/A
Research Category
Policies for public health, disease control & community resilience
Research Subcategory
Approaches to public health interventions
Special Interest Tags
N/A
Study Type
Non-Clinical
Clinical Trial Details
N/A
Broad Policy Alignment
Pending
Age Group
Adults (18 and older)
Vulnerable Population
Unspecified
Occupations of Interest
Unspecified
Abstract
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences - The coronavirus pandemic has influenced people?s marketplace behaviors. Panic buying has been evident among consumers all over the world, incurring substantial costs to the buyer, the society, and the marketplace. Hoarding and stockpiling creates shortage of supplies for necessities, depriving others who might be needing them the most in the situation (e.g., health care providers, older individuals), and artificially hikes price levels. For the panic buyer, this behavior creates inventory management problems. This research focuses on the consumer psychology of panic buying and how the media, policy makers, government officials and retailers can frame their communication with the general public at times of such unprecedented events, aiming to mitigate the psychological triggers of this behavior. The current research illuminates the psychological remedies of panic buying, and prescribes actions that may protect the supply chain, ensure equal distribution of necessities among the population, control price hikes of necessities, and extend consumers? financial well-being in pandemic like situations.
This research is two interrelated studies aimed at tackling the problem of panic buying owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first study explores the underlying psychological processes of panic buying during the ongoing crisis. Through an online survey, a U.S. national pool of 2750 respondents provides measures of relevant psychological factors and proneness to panic buying. The second study uses findings from the first study to develop communication frames and materials. The researcher then randomly assigns respondents to different conditions and evaluates the efficacy of the different conditions to reducing panic buying and hoarding.
This project is jointly funded by DRMS and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This research is two interrelated studies aimed at tackling the problem of panic buying owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first study explores the underlying psychological processes of panic buying during the ongoing crisis. Through an online survey, a U.S. national pool of 2750 respondents provides measures of relevant psychological factors and proneness to panic buying. The second study uses findings from the first study to develop communication frames and materials. The researcher then randomly assigns respondents to different conditions and evaluates the efficacy of the different conditions to reducing panic buying and hoarding.
This project is jointly funded by DRMS and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.