An empirical study about the intention to hoard food during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study examines the expanded TPB model with the risk perception variable of intention to hoard food under the COVID-19 pandemic condition. All assumptions are supported by the traditional independent variables of the TPB model that affect the hoarding intention of food. However, the results of this study are completely different from previous studies when using the risk perception variable in the planned behavior theory model. In previous studies, the risk perception variable always negatively affected attitude and perceived behavior and buying intention. In this study, in contrast, the higher the risk perception the consumers get, the stronger the attitude the consumers purchase reserve goods. This demonstrates that a high-risk perception, in the case of COVID-19 pandemic or other civil unrests, will cause the intention to buy goods that no longer follows the common sense. This paper added a new perspective on the negative aspects of risk perception.