Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise in early 2020. The preventive measures imposed by many countries limited human movement, causing uncertainty and disrupting consumption patterns and consumer decision-making. This study aims to explore consumers’ panic buying (PB) and compulsive buying (CB) as outcomes of the intolerance of uncertainty (IU). The moderating role of sustainable consumption behaviours (SCBs) (e.g. quality of life [QOL], concern for future generation and concern for environmental well-being) were also tested to raise awareness of responsible and mindful consumption amongst the society and business stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

To empirically examine the grocery shopping behaviours of Malaysian consumers during COVID-19, a total of 286 valid grocery consumer survey responses based on a purposive sampling were collected and analysed during the movement control order period between March and July 2020.

Findings

The findings confirmed the statistically significant impact of IU on both PB and CB and the impact of PB on CB behaviour. Amongst the three SCBs tested, only QOL significantly moderated the relationship between the IU and PB.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to construct a framework of consumers’ PB and CB during the pandemic, building upon the stimulus-organism-response model and the concepts of IU and SCB. This study further serves as the pioneering study on the moderating role of SCB in consumer behaviour research in the pandemic context, whereby consumers’ QOL significantly moderates the relationship between their IU and PB. This study has also drawn specific implications for grocery retailers and government agencies for retail and policy planning to promote positive social transformation in consumer buying behaviours during a pandemic or crisis.

中文翻译：

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可持续消费重要吗？消费者杂货店购物行为与大流行

目的

2020 年初，COVID-19 大流行让世界大吃一惊。许多国家采取的预防措施限制了人员流动，造成了不确定性，并扰乱了消费模式和消费者决策。本研究旨在探讨消费者的恐慌性购买 (PB) 和强迫性购买 (CB) 作为不容忍不确定性 (IU) 的结果。还测试了可持续消费行为 (SCB)（例如生活质量 [QOL]、对后代的关注和对环境福祉的关注）的调节作用，以提高社会和企业利益相关者对负责任和谨慎消费的认识。

设计/方法/方法

为了实证检验马来西亚消费者在 COVID-19 期间的杂货购物行为，在 2020 年 3 月至 7 月的行动控制令期间，共收集和分析了 286 份基于有目的抽样的有效杂货消费者调查回复。

发现

研究结果证实了 IU 对 PB 和 CB 的统计显着影响以及 PB 对 CB 行为的影响。在测试的三个 SCB 中，只有 QOL 显着调节了 IU 和 PB 之间的关系。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，这是第一项基于刺激-生物-反应模型以及 IU 和 SCB 概念构建大流行期间消费者 PB 和 CB 框架的研究。本研究进一步作为关于 SCB 在大流行背景下消费者行为研究中的调节作用的开创性研究，其中消费者的 QOL 显着调节了他们的 IU 和 PB 之间的关系。这项研究还对杂货零售商和政府机构的零售和政策规划产生了具体影响，以促进大流行或危机期间消费者购买行为的积极社会转变。