Following various precautionary measures as executed by the government to curb the transmission of COVID-19, erratic changes in the form of temporary lockdowns and movement restrictions have created an emergency phenomenon-panic buying. While such consequence has emerged as a timely and relevant topic, reviewed literature indicate an apparent oversight for portraying panic buying through the perspectives of impulsive and compulsive consumptions. Given the gap in the association between panic buying and consumers' emotional aspects within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aspires to develop a contemporary measurement that accurately defines panic buying as a research variable. A combined methodology was hereby adopted, with the employment of qualitative inquiries towards the scale development of panic buying. Following this, quantitative data as collected from a total sample of 600 respondents through an online survey was analysed via both SPSS and AMOS statistical software towards scale assessment and hypothesis testing. Obtained findings uncovered the direct significance of both personal (fear, perceived risk, and perceived scarcity) and social (word-of-mouth and social media) factors on panic buying during the pandemic, whilst having indirect significance on the ensuing post-purchase regret. Impulsivity was further confirmed to exert a substantial moderating impact on the correlation between panic consumption and post-purchase emotional distress. Implications of the study are ultimately discussed.
The advancement in digital technologies has led to an explosive information phenomenon, particularly in Internet shopping. This paper attempts to examine the trust element in the current pervasive use of the recommendation system for product promotion effectiveness. Owing to the nature of high-volume online consumers and the nonexistence of the online consumer sampling frame, sampling weight adjustment approach was utilised for ensuring sample representativeness. Additionally, the responses collected were further analysed according to gender for a holistic understanding of the trust element. A cross-sectional quantitative research approach was adopted. Specifically, snowball sampling method was used to collect responses from online consumers. The findings revealed that benevolence, integrity, and competence trust are found to be positively associated with product promotion effectiveness. Competence trust recorded a large effect size followed by benevolence and integrity trust. Both male and female consumers shown different degrees of trust level. The findings provide practical implications for online merchants. They were suggested to focus on enhancing online consumers' trust level and capitalize on competence trust for effective product promotion. They should also recognize the gender differences in the trust level for product promotion effectiveness when they are promoting gender-based products and services.