COVID-19-Induced Hoarding Intention Among the Educated Segment in Indonesia

The media commonly reports panic buying amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Panic buying occurs when people engage in hoarding of basic needs as well as protective materials, which drives scarcity and price increases. There are four variables integrated in this study which are COVID-19-induced hoarding intention, COVID-19-related attitude, COVID-19-related knowledge, and health locus of control. This study gathered 265 university professors from 25 prominent public and private universities in Indonesia. To our best knowledge, this is the first study that discusses hoarding intention during the pandemic among the educated segment. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM analysis) via AMOS software was employed to test the hypotheses. This study reveals that (a) a better knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic increases vigilance toward the COVID-19 pandemic and (b) a higher external health locus of control increases the COVID-19-induced hoarding intention. The theoretical contributions as well as managerial implications of this study, especially to policy makers, are provided.