Panic buying just makes shortages worse. Why do people do it anyway

What we found

Across all three product categories, we found people's attitudes and risk perceptions were linked with how much they bought.

Put simply, when people believed stocking up was sensible or wise, they were more likely to buy extra. Similarly, if people felt there was a risk in not stocking up, they tended to purchase more.

We found social influences also played a role, but only for non-perishable food items. People were more likely to stock up if they felt others approved of doing so, or that people like them were doing the same.

Interestingly, a number of important factors were not linked to increased panic buying in our study. For example, differences in age, gender, income and household size did not predict whether people would buy more.

On top of this, people's personality traits - such as tolerance for distress and uncertainty, and even past hoarding tendencies - did not consistently predict stockpiling.

This suggests panic buying behaviour is largely driven by how everyday people interpret risk and decide what feels reasonable in uncertain situations.

Crafting better messages

Based on these findings, we conducted a follow-up study. This time, we used our research to design an intervention that would stop panic buying, then tested its effectiveness on a sample of Australian community members.

We showed them a video that described supply chains as stable and emphasised why buying normally helps the community and protects vulnerable people. It also highlighted the fact most people were behaving responsibly and appealed to shared values about doing the right thing.

This successfully reduced people's intentions to stockpile. It also measurably shifted their attitudes and perceptions of social norms. And they saw choosing not to stockpile as less risky.