DID FEAR OF MISSING OUT TRIGGER PANIC BUYING BEHAVIOR AND COGNITIVE DISSONANCE OF CONSUMERS DURING EARLY DAYS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC? THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PANIC BUYING

Öz

Since the breakout of Covid-19 pandemic, irrational consumer behaviors have been observed in all over the world. Drawing on the drive-reduction theory and social comparison theory, this study attempts to explain some part of these irrational behaviors on the basis of the interaction between fear of missing out, panic buying and cognitive dissonance. Fear of missing out is included in this study as an independent variable that leads to cognitive dissonance as a post-purchase behavior. Panic buying is included as mediator variable in suggested model. Data were obtained from 465 respondents who were residents of Turkey and have stockpiled any supplies since the early days of Covid-19 pandemic. In order to test the associated links between the variables, structural equation modelling was utilized. The results reveal that fear of missing out and panic buying both have a significant positive influence on cognitive dissonance. Also, partial mediation impact of panic buying on the relationship between fear of missing out and cognitive dissonance is empirically suggested. The results also provide applicable insights to policy makers and practitioners to mitigate cognitive dissonance of consumers by calming down their fear of missing out and panic buying with a right communication strategy.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• cognitive dissonance
• fear of missing out
• panic buying

Kaynakça

1. Abel, J. P., Buff, C. L., & Burr, S. A. (2016). Social media and the fear of missing out: Scale development and assessment. Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 14(1), 33-44.
2. Adams, S. K., Williford, D. N., Vaccaro, A., Kisler, T. S., Francis, A., & Newman, B. (2017). The young and the restless: Socializing trumps sleep, fear of missing out, and technological distractions in first-year college students. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(3), 337-348.
3. Addo, P. C., Jiaming, F., Kulbo, N. B., & Liangqiang, L. (2020). COVID-19: fear appeal favoring purchase behavior towards personal protective equipment. The Service Industries Journal, 40(7-8), 471-490.
4. Ahmed, R. R., Streimikiene, D., Rolle, J-A, & Duc, P. A. (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Antecedants for the Impulse Buying Behavior of US Citizens. Journal of Competitiveness, 12(3), 5–27.
5. Alt, D. (2015). College students’ academic motivation, media engagement and fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 111-119.
6. Anderson, J., & Gerbing, D. (1988). Structural equation modelling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411–423.
7. Arafat, S. M., Kar, S. K., Menon, V., Alradie-Mohamed, A., Mukherjee, S., Kaliamoorthy, C., & Kabir, R. (2020). Responsible factors of panic buying: an observation from online media reports. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, 747-753.
8. Argan, M. & Argan, M. T. (2019). Toward a New Understanding of Fomo: ‘Fomsumerism’. Journal of Theory and Practice in Marketing, 5(2), 277-302.

9. Anagnostaras, S.G., & J.R. Sage. (2010). Motivation. In G.K., M. L. & R. T (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience (pp. 261-266). Elsevier.
10. Asch, S. E. (1952). Group forces in the modification and distortion of judgments. In S. E. Asch, Social psychology (p. 450–501). Prentice-Hall, Inc.
11. Bagozzi, R. P., & Yi, Y. (1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 16(1), 74–94.
12. Baker, Z. G., Krieger, H., & LeRoy, A. S. (2016). Fear of missing out: Relationships with depression, mindfulness, and physical symptoms. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2(3), 275-282.
13. Ballantine, P. W., Zafar, S., & Parsons, A. G. (2014). Changes in retail shopping behaviour in the aftermath of an earthquake. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 24(1), 1-13.
14. Baron, R.M. & Kenny, D.A. (1986) The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173-1182.
15. Blackwell, D., Leaman, C., Tramposch, R., Osborne, C., & Liss, M. (2017). Extraversion, neuroticism, attachment style and fear of missing out as predictors of social media use and addiction. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 69-72. Boström, M. (2020). The social life of mass and excess consumption. Environmental Sociology, 6(3), 268-278.
16. Chae, J. (2017). Virtual makeover: Selfie-taking and social media use increase selfie-editing frequency through social comparison. Computers in Human Behavior, 66, 370-376.
17. Chen, W., & Lee, K. H. (2013). Sharing, liking, commenting, and distressed? The pathway between Facebook interaction and psychological distress. Cyberpsychology, behavior, and social networking, 16(10), 728-734.
18. Chou, H. T. G., & Edge, N. (2012). “They are happier and having better lives than I am”: The impact of using Facebook on perceptions of others' lives. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(2), 117-121.
19. Conlin, L., Billings, A.C. & Averset, L. (2016). Time-shifting vs. appointment viewing: the role of fear of missing out within TV consumption behaviors. Communication & Society, 29(4), 151- 164.
20. Crabbe, M. (2020). Research Your Way Out of a Crisis: Covid-19’s Effect on Consumer Behaviour. Mintel Blog, visited 28/03/2021, from https://www.mintel.com/blog/consumer-market-news/research-your-way-out-of-a-crisis-covid-19s-effect-on-consumerbehaviour.
21. Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination inhuman behavior. New York: Plenum.
22. De Vries, D. A., Möller, A. M., Wieringa, M. S., Eigenraam, A. W., & Hamelink, K. (2018). Social comparison as the thief of joy: Emotional consequences of viewing strangers’ Instagram posts. Media psychology, 21(2), 222-245.
23. Dodgson, L. (2020). A human behavior expert explains 4 psychological reasons why people are panic buying items in bulk during the coronavirus pandemic. Business Insider, visited 19/04/2021, from https:// www.insider.com/why-people-are-panic-bulk-buying-during-the-coronaviruspandemic-2020-3.
24. Elhai, J. D., Levine, J. C., Dvorak, R. D., & Hall, B. J. (2016). Fear of missing out, need for touch, anxiety and depression are related to problematic smartphone use. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 509-516.
25. Elliot, A. J., McGregor, H. A., & Thrash, T. M. (2002). The need for competence. In E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 361–387). University of Rochester Press.
26. Festinger L (1954) A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117-140.
27. Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
28. Fornell, C. & Larcker, D.F. (1981). Evaluating Structural Equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(2): 39-50.
29. Fox, J., & Moreland, J. J. (2015). The dark side of social networking sites: An exploration of the relational and psychological stressors associated with Facebook use and affordances. Computers in human behavior, 45, 168-176.
30. Gibbons F.X. & Buunk, B.P. (1999). Individual differences in social comparison: development of a scale of social comparison orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,76(1): 129–142.
31. Good, M. C., & Hyman, M. R. (2020). ‘Fear of missing out’: antecedents and influence on purchase likelihood. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 28(3), 330-341.
32. Hagger, M. S. (2009). Theoretical integration in health psychology: Unifying ideas and complementary explanations. Health Psychology, 14(2), 189-194.
33. Hair, J.H., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J. & Anderson,R.E. (2013). Multivariate Data Analysis. United States of America: Pearson.
34. Herman, D. (2011). The fear of missing out. Fear of Missing Out. Website, visited 10/03/2021, from http://fomofearofmissingout.com/fomo.
35. Hill, R. P., Martin, K. D., & Chaplin, L. N. (2012). A tale of two marketplaces: Consumption restriction, social comparison, and life satisfaction. Marketing Letters, 23(3), 731-744.
36. Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of Behaviour. New York, London: D. Appleton-Century Company, Incorporated.
37. Jacobsen, S. (2021). FoMO, JoMO and Covid: How Missing Out And Enjoying Life Are Impacting How We Navigate A Pandemic. In Marketing Under Uncertainty 2021 Annual Spring Conference (p. 46).
38. Jang, K., Park, N., Song, H. (2016). Social comparison on Facebook: Its antecedents and psychological outcomes. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 147–154.
39. Iyer, G. R., Blut, M., Xiao, S. H., & Grewal, D. (2020). Impulse buying: a meta-analytic review. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(3), 384-404.
40. Kang, I., Cui, H., & Son, J. (2019). Conformity consumption behavior and FoMO. Sustainability, 11(17), 4734.
41. Kang, I., He, X., & Shin, M. M. (2020). Chinese consumers’ herd consumption behavior related to korean luxury cosmetics: The mediating role of fear of missing out. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 121.
42. Kaur, P. (2014). Unintended buying and postpurchase buyer’s remorse: A study of consumer perceptions. PRIMA: Practices & Research in Marketing, 5 (1/2), 30–36.
43. Kang, I., & Ma, I. (2020). A Study on Bandwagon Consumption Behavior Based on Fear of Missing Out and Product Characteristics. Sustainability, 12(6), 2441.
44. Keane, M., & Neal, T. (2021). Consumer panic in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of econometrics, 220(1), 86-105.
45. Kemp, E., Kennett‐Hensel, P. A., & Williams, K. H. (2014). The calm before the storm: Examining emotion regulation consumption in the face of an impending disaster. Psychology & Marketing, 31(11), 933-945.
46. Kennett‐Hensel, P.A., Sneath, J.Z. and Lacey, R. (2012). Liminality and consumption in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(1), 52-63.
47. Kim, J., Lee, Y., & Kim, M. L. (2020). Investigating ‘Fear of Missing Out’(FOMO) as an extrinsic motive affecting sport event consumer’s behavioral intention and FOMO-driven consumption’s influence on intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards, and consumer satisfaction. Plos one, 15(12), e0243744.
48. Kirk, C. P., & Rifkin, L. S. (2020). I'll trade you diamonds for toilet paper: Consumer reacting, coping and adapting behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Business Research, 117, 124-131.
49. Koller, M., & Salzberger, T. (2007). Cognitive dissonance as a relevant construct throughout the decision-making and consumption process-an empirical investigation related to a package tour. Journal of customer behaviour, 6(3), 217-227.
50. Leung, J., Chung, J. Y. C., Tisdale, C., Chiu, V., Lim, C. C., & Chan, G. (2021). Anxiety and Panic Buying Behavior during COVID-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Analysis of Toilet Paper Hoarding Contents on Twitter. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(3), 1127.
51. Lim, Z. C. W. (2016). Tendency towards the fear of missing out. Curtin University, Cutrin Business School, School of Marketing PhD Thesis.
52. Lins, S., & Aquino, S. (2020). Development and initial psychometric properties of a panic buying scale during COVID-19 pandemic. Heliyon, 6(9), e04746.
53. Liu, Q. Q., Zhou, Z. K., Yang, X. J., Niu, G. F., Tian, Y., & Fan, C. Y. (2017). Upward social comparison on social network sites and depressive symptoms: A moderated mediation model of self-esteem and optimism. Personality and Individual Differences, 113, 223-228.
54. Loxton, M., Truskett, R., Scarf, B., Sindone, L., Baldry, G., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Consumer behaviour during crises: preliminary research on how coronavirus has manifested consumer panic buying, herd mentality, changing discretionary spending and the role of the media in influencing behaviour. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13(8), 166.
55. Molyneaux, R., Gibbs, L., Bryant, R. A., Humphreys, C., Hegarty, K., Kellett, C., ... & Forbes, D. (2020). Interpersonal violence and mental health outcomes following disaster. BJPsych open, 6(1).
56. McGregor, I., Zanna, M. P., Holmes, J. G., & Spencer, S. J. (2001). Compensatory conviction in the face of personal uncertainty: going to extremes and being one self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(3), 472-488.
57. Milyavskaya, M., Saffran, M., Hope, N., & Koestner, R. (2018). Fear of missing out: prevalence, dynamics, and consequences of experiencing FOMO. Motivation and Emotion, 42(5), 725-737.
58. Nunnally, J.C. (1978). Psychometric Theory. Newyork: McGraw-Hill.
59. Phua, J., Jin, S. V., & Kim, J. J. (2017). Gratifications of using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat to follow brands: The moderating effect of social comparison, trust, tie strength, and network homophily on brand identification, brand engagement, brand commitment, and membership intention. Telematics and Informatics, 34(1), 412-424.
60. Podsakoff, P.M. & Organ, D.W. (1986) Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12(4): 531-44.
61. Podsakoff, P.M., Scott, B., MacKenzie, J.Y.L. & Podsakoff, N.P. (2003) Common Method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5): 879--903.
62. Power, M.; Doherty, B.; Pybus, K., & Pickett, K. (2020). How COVID-19 has exposed inequalities in the UK food system: The case of UK food and poverty. Emerald Open Research. 2020, 2: 11.
63. Prentice, C., Quach, S., & Thaichon, P. (2020). Antecedents and consequences of panic buying: The case of COVID‐19. International Journal of Consumer Studies. 2020, 1–15.
64. Przybylski, A. K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C. R., & Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in human behavior, 29(4), 1841-1848.
65. Reagle, J. (2015). Following the Joneses: FOMO and conspicuous sociality. First Monday, 20(10), visited 15/03/2021, from https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/ 6064/ 4996.
66. Reer, F., Tang, W. Y., & Quandt, T. (2019). Psychosocial well-being and social media engagement: The mediating roles of social comparison orientation and fear of missing out. New Media & Society, 21(7), 1486-1505.
67. Riordan, B. C., Flett, J. A., Hunter, J. A., Scarf, D., & Conner, T. S. (2015). Fear of missing out (FoMO): The relationship between FoMO, alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences in college students. Annals of Neuroscience and Psychology, 2(7), 1-7.
68. Rogers, Ronald W. (1975). A Protection Motivation Theory of Fear Appeals and Attitude Change. The Journal of Psychology, 91 (1): 93–114.
69. Saavedra, C. M. C., & Bautista Jr, R. A. (2020). Are you" in" or are you" out"?: Impact of FoMO (Fear of Missing Out) on Generation Z's Masstigebrand Apparel Consumption. Asia-Pacific Social Science Review, 20(2), 106-118.
70. Saleh, M. A. H. (2012). An investigation of the relationship between unplanned buying and post-purchase regret. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(4), 106-120.
71. Schwartz, S. H. (2010). Basic Values: How they motivate and inhibit prosocial behavior. In Mario Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior: The better angels of our nature: 221-241. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
72. Shaifali, C., Banerjee, R., & Mittal, M. (2020). An Analytical Study on Impulse Buying for Online Shopping During Covid-19. Journal of Content, Community & Communication, 12(6), 198-209.
73. Sheu, J. B., & Kuo, H. T. (2020). Dual speculative hoarding: A wholesaler-retailer channel behavioral phenomenon behind potential natural hazard threats. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 44, 101430.
74. Singh, C. K., & Rakshit, P. (2020). A critical analysis to comprehend panic buying behaviour of Mumbaikar’s in COVID-19 era. Studies in Indian Place Names, 40(69), 44-51. Solomon, M. R., & Behavior, C. (1994). Consumer Behavior: Buying, having and being. London: Prenticle Hall.
75. Steven, D., O'Brien, E., & Jones, B. D. (Eds.). (2014). The new politics of strategic resources: Energy and Food Security Challenges in the 21st century. Brookings Institution Press: Washington, DC, USA.
76. Tabachnick, B.G. & Fidell, L.S. (2013). Using Multivariate Statistics. Boston: Pearson Education.
77. Tandoc Jr, E. C., Ferrucci, P., & Duffy, M. (2015). Facebook use, envy, and depression among college students: Is facebooking depressing?. Computers in human behavior, 43, 139-146.
78. Taylor, S. (2019). The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
79. Taylor, S. (2021). Understanding and managing pandemic-related panic buying. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 78(2021), 102364.
80. Tsao, Y. C., Raj, P. V. R. P., & Yu, V. (2019). Product substitution in different weights and brands considering customer segmentation and panic buying behavior. Industrial Marketing Management, 77, 209-220.
81. Wang, H. H., & Na, H. A. O. (2020). Panic buying? Food hoarding during the pandemic period with city lockdown. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 19(12), 2916-2925.
82. Wesseler, J. (2019). Storage policies: Stockpiling versus immediate release. Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, 18(1), 1-9.
83. Wood, W., & Hayes, T. (2012). Social Influence on consumer decisions: Motives, modes, and consequences. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(3), 324-328.
84. Yang, C. C. (2016). Instagram use, loneliness, and social comparison orientation: Interact and browse on social media, but don't compare. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 19(12), 703-708.
85. Yoshizaki, H. T., de Brito Junior, I., Hino, C. M., Aguiar, L. L., & Pinheiro, M. C. R. (2020). Relationship between Panic Buying and Per Capita Income during COVID-19. Sustainability, 12(23), 9968.
86. Yuen, K. F., Wang, X., Ma, F., & Li, K. X. (2020). The psychological causes of panic buying following a health crisis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(10), 3513.
87. Zhang, Z., Jiménez, F. R., & Cicala, J. E. (2020). Fear of missing out scale: A self‐concept perspective. Psychology & Marketing, 37(11), 1619-1634.
88. Zheng, R., Shou, B., & Yang, J. (2020). Supply disruption management under consumer panic buying and social learning effects. Omega, 101, 102238.