Pathology

Sociology

Business

Disease

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Social science

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Pandemic

Moderation

Scarcity

Creativity

Epistemology

Psychiatry

Marketing

Philosophy

Materialism

Cognitive psychology

Interdependence

Psychology

Economics

Microeconomics

Originality

Hedonism

Stimulus (psychology)

Panic

Anxiety

Medicine

Social psychology

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

Purpose The present study operationalizes and tests the impact of extrinsic (store environment, promotional activities) and intrinsic (hedonism, materialism) variables on impulsive buying during the COVID-19 period. It also considers the dual-factor approach (panic and impulsive buying tendency) using the “Stimulus-Organism-Response” approach and “Dual-Factor Theory”. Design/methodology/approach Purposive sampling was used to obtain data from 362 responses from retail shoppers and analyzed by path analysis. The moderation of novel constructs (scarcity and COVID-19 pandemic) examines the backdrop of retail impulse shopping. Findings The store environment has a detrimental effect on panic and impulsive buying. Promotional activities have a beneficial effect on impulsive buying tendency. Similarly, hedonism and materialism have a substantial positive effect on panic and impulsive buying tendencies. Between stimulus (intrinsic and extrinsic) and response variables, organism factors (panic and impulsive buying inclinations) influenced positively (impulsive buying); in terms of moderation, scarcity and the COVID-19 pandemic exhibit substantial moderation between organism and response. Originality/value The results contribute substantially to the existing domain of customers’ panic and impulsive purchasing behavior for the scarcity of essential items during the COVID-19 epidemic. Research in this field is limited, varied and inconclusive. New insights were obtained as this research blends the “Stimulus-Organism-Response” and Dual factor theories.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motives: panic buying and impulsive buying during a pandemic