IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v73y2023ics096969892300111x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mitigating panic buying behavior in the epidemic: An evolutionary game perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Shan, Haiyan
  • Pi, Wenjie

Abstract

The panic buying behavior under public health emergencies will lead to many adverse consequences, such as material waste, price fluctuation and uneven distribution of epidemic prevention materials, which will pose a threat to the social stability and economic development. In this paper, we construct a tripartite game model to explore the strategic choices of the public, merchants and the government in order to effectively respond to the panic buying behavior in the epidemic. The results demonstrate that: (1) Eight evolutionary stable strategies emerge in the panic buying events. The worst scenario can be improved by adjusting some relevant parameters. (2) The probability of the public choosing the strategy of “not involving in panic buying†depends on the potential benefits and losses of snapping up, rather than the extent of price rising. (3) The probability of merchants choosing the strategy of “not bid up price†depends on the intangible benefits. (4) The probability of the government choosing the strategy of “active supervision†depends on the supervision costs and government credibility, rather than the amount of fines. In addition, strategic suggestions to mitigate panic buying behavior are put forward from the perspective of each stakeholder.

Suggested Citation

  • Shan, Haiyan & Pi, Wenjie, 2023. "Mitigating panic buying behavior in the epidemic: An evolutionary game perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:73:y:2023:i:c:s096969892300111x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103364
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096969892300111X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103364?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keane, Michael & Neal, Timothy, 2021. "Consumer panic in the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 220(1), pages 86-105.
    2. Antoci, Angelo & Sabatini, Fabio & Sacco, Pier Luigi & Sodini, Mauro, 2022. "Experts vs. policymakers in the COVID-19 policy response," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 22-39.
    3. Amaral, Marco A. & Oliveira, Marcelo M. de & Javarone, Marco A., 2021. "An epidemiological model with voluntary quarantine strategies governed by evolutionary game dynamics," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    4. Ritzberger, Klaus & Weibull, Jorgen W, 1995. "Evolutionary Selection in Normal-Form Games," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(6), pages 1371-1399, November.
    5. Prentice, Catherine & Chen, Jinyan & Stantic, Bela, 2020. "Timed intervention in COVID-19 and panic buying," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    6. Liu, Dandan & Wang, Delu & Mao, Jinqi, 2023. "Study on policy synergy strategy of the central government and local governments in the process of coal de-capacity: Based on a two-stage evolutionary game method," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Liu, Weihua & Long, Shangsong & Xie, Dong & Liang, Yanjie & Wang, Jinkun, 2021. "How to govern the big data discriminatory pricing behavior in the platform service supply chain?An examination with a three-party evolutionary game model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    8. Yuen, Kum Fai & Tan, Lydia Sonia & Wong, Yiik Diew & Wang, Xueqin, 2022. "Social determinants of panic buying behaviour amidst COVID-19 pandemic: The role of perceived scarcity and anticipated regret," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    9. Laato, Samuli & Islam, A.K.M. Najmul & Farooq, Ali & Dhir, Amandeep, 2020. "Unusual purchasing behavior during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: The stimulus-organism-response approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    10. Kogan, Konstantin & Herbon, Avi, 2022. "Retailing under panic buying and consumer stockpiling: Can governmental intervention make a difference?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    11. Shan, Haiyan & Yang, Junliang, 2019. "Sustainability of photovoltaic poverty alleviation in China: An evolutionary game between stakeholders," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 264-280.
    12. Friedman, Daniel, 1991. "Evolutionary Games in Economics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(3), pages 637-666, May.
    13. Qing-Hua Mao & Jiang-Xiao Hou & Peng-Zhen Xie, 2022. "Dynamic Impact of the Perceived Value of Public on Panic Buying Behavior during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.
    14. Xu, Yingying & Lien, Donald, 2022. "Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on price Co-movements in China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Duncan J. Watts & Steven H. Strogatz, 1998. "Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 393(6684), pages 440-442, June.
    16. Zheng, Shan & Yu, Lianghong, 2022. "The government's subsidy strategy of carbon-sink fishery based on evolutionary game," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    17. Zhou, Yuxun & Rahman, Mohammad Mafizur & Khanam, Rasheda & Taylor, Brad R., 2022. "The impact of penalty and subsidy mechanisms on the decisions of the government, businesses, and consumers during COVID-19 ——Tripartite evolutionary game theory analysis," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 9(C).
    18. Islam, Tahir & Pitafi, Abdul Hameed & Arya, Vikas & Wang, Ying & Akhtar, Naeem & Mubarik, Shujaat & Xiaobei, Liang, 2021. "Panic buying in the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country examination," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    19. Liu, Dehai & Xiao, Xingzhi & Li, Hongyi & Wang, Weiguo, 2015. "Historical evolution and benefit–cost explanation of periodical fluctuation in coal mine safety supervision: An evolutionary game analysis framework," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 243(3), pages 974-984.
    20. Naeem, Muhammad, 2021. "Do social media platforms develop consumer panic buying during the fear of Covid-19 pandemic," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    21. Chen, Tinggui & Jin, Yumei & Yang, Jianjun & Cong, Guodong, 2022. "Identifying emergence process of group panic buying behavior under the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel, Christopher & Hernandez, Tony, 2024. "What retail apocalypse? A Delphi forecast of commercial space demand in the Toronto region," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Pan, Xiaodan & Dresner, Martin & Li, Guang & Mantin, Benny, 2024. "Stocking up on hand sanitizer: Pandemic lessons for retailers and consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Di, Kaisheng & Chen, Weidong & Shi, Qiumei & Cai, Quanling & Liu, Sichen, 2024. "Analysing the impact of coupled domestic demand dynamics of green and low-carbon consumption in the market based on SEM-ANN," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Meng, Jie & Chen, Kai, 2024. "Rethinking preemptive consumption: Building mechanisms of reciprocity, contextuality, and risk hedging across scenarios," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Tinggui Chen & Yumei Jin & Bing Wang & Jianjun Yang, 2024. "The government intervention effects on panic buying behavior based on online comment data mining: a case study of COVID-19 in Hubei Province, China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Soltanzadeh, Shima & Rafiee, Majid & Weber, Gerhard-Wilhelm, 2024. "Disruption, panic buying, and pricing: A comprehensive game-theoretic exploration," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Ma, Xuan & Yu, Deqing & Wang, Ke, 2024. "Unraveling the intricacies of panic buying: An evolutionary game-theoretic exploration of the evolution and intervention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Xunqing Wang & Nan Zhang & Hang Zhou & Xinpeng Huang & Rundong Luo, 2023. "Multi-Agent Evolutionary Game Analysis of Group Panic Buying in China during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-24, July.
    9. Agarwal, Reeti & Mehrotra, Ankit & Pant, Manoj Kumar & Alzeiby, Ebtesam Abdullah & Vishnoi, Sushant Kumar, 2024. "Digital photo hoarding in online retail context. An in-depth qualitative investigation of retail consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ma, Xuan & Yu, Deqing & Wang, Ke, 2024. "Unraveling the intricacies of panic buying: An evolutionary game-theoretic exploration of the evolution and intervention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Pan, Xiaodan & Dresner, Martin & Li, Guang & Mantin, Benny, 2024. "Stocking up on hand sanitizer: Pandemic lessons for retailers and consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Sarraf, Shagun & Kushwaha, Amit Kumar & Kar, Arpan Kumar & Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Giannakis, Mihalis, 2024. "How did online misinformation impact stockouts in the e-commerce supply chain during COVID-19 – A mixed methods study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    4. Ashutosh Sarkar & Debadyuti Das & Arindam Debroy, 2024. "Panic Buying, Product Substitution and Channel-Shifting Behaviour During Pandemic," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 13(1), pages 25-43, January.
    5. Guohua He & Zirun Hu, 2022. "A Model of Panic Buying and Workforce under COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Chen, Tinggui & Jin, Yumei & Yang, Jianjun & Cong, Guodong, 2022. "Identifying emergence process of group panic buying behavior under the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    7. Tinggui Chen & Yumei Jin & Bing Wang & Jianjun Yang, 2024. "The government intervention effects on panic buying behavior based on online comment data mining: a case study of COVID-19 in Hubei Province, China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    8. Jiang, Yi & Wang, Xueqin & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2021. "Augmented reality shopping application usage: The influence of attitude, value, and characteristics of innovation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    9. Guthrie, Cameron & Fosso-Wamba, Samuel & Arnaud, Jean Brice, 2021. "Online consumer resilience during a pandemic: An exploratory study of e-commerce behavior before, during and after a COVID-19 lockdown," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    10. Katarina Valaskova & Pavol Durana & Peter Adamko, 2021. "Changes in Consumers’ Purchase Patterns as a Consequence of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(15), pages 1-17, July.
    11. Dash, Ganesh & Alharthi, Majed & Albarrak, Mansour & Aggarwal, Shalini, 2024. "Saudi millennials’ panic buying behavior during pandemic and post-pandemic: Role of social media addiction and religious values and commitment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Meng, Jie & Chen, Kai, 2024. "Rethinking preemptive consumption: Building mechanisms of reciprocity, contextuality, and risk hedging across scenarios," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Huang, Xingjun & Lin, Yun & Lim, Ming K. & Zhou, Fuli & Ding, Rui & Zhang, Zusheng, 2022. "Evolutionary dynamics of promoting electric vehicle-charging infrastructure based on public–private partnership cooperation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).
    14. Lin, Yuanfang & Pazgal, Amit, 2024. "Effects of information quantity and diversity on consumers under complex uncertainty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    15. Liu, Yanfeng & Li, Xue & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2023. "Revenge buying: The role of negative emotions caused by lockdowns," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    16. Yuen, Kum Fai & Tan, Lydia Sonia & Wong, Yiik Diew & Wang, Xueqin, 2022. "Social determinants of panic buying behaviour amidst COVID-19 pandemic: The role of perceived scarcity and anticipated regret," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Sit, Kokho Jason & Ballantyne, Erica E.F. & Gorst, Jonathan, 2022. "Profiling shoppers’ coping behaviours during a pandemic crisis: A regulatory focus perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Mostafa Ghodsi & Ali Ardestani & Arash Rasaizadi & Seyednaser Ghadamgahi & Hao Yang, 2021. "How COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Urban Trips? Structural Interpretive Model of Online Shopping and Passengers Trips during the Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    19. Arnet, Sandro & Nißen, Marcia & von Wangenheim, Florian, 2024. "Don’t be a hamster! Social appeals to curb panic buying at the point-of-sale," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Wei Wang & Yanbin Li & Jinzhong Li & Yun Li, 2024. "Can pumped-storage power stations stimulate rural revitalization? Evidence from the four-party evolutionary game," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 595-645, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:73:y:2023:i:c:s096969892300111x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.