Bulletin No. 1, 2020

The Corona Chronicle 13 B e it hand sanitizer or household cleaner, tinned soup or toilet paper, what we had considered ordinary items were flying off the shelves when ‘panic buying’ reached a frenzy in Hong Kong. It spread to countries including the UK, the US, Singapore and Australia, sending people flocking to their local stores and raiding their every nook and cranny. This mass phenomenon was something that greatly intrigued Prof. Catherine Yeung . The associate professor of the Department of Marketing studies how people make decisions and has keen research interests in behavioural science and consumers’ well-being. Panic buying, according to her, ultimately boils down to just one thing—emotions. ‘Emotions, or feelings of uncertainty in this case, are the crux of the panic buying phenomenon,’ Professor Yeung said. ‘Humans are generally risk-averse and tend to envisage the worst-case scenario rather than the best. Such imagination often comes with fear and anxiety. These emotions drive our behaviours and, in turn, shape our comprehension and responses in facing disasters.’ She backed up her theory with some concrete research data: a study surveyed about 1,000 Hong Kong citizens from 8 to 18 March and investigated the correlations between their stockpiling patterns and respective anxiety levels. Interestingly, the research found out that the more anxious a person is, the more likely for him or her to stockpile. For instance, of those who hoarded toilet paper, around 50% of them exhibited a moderate level of anxiety. So why do the masses have such an apprehensive tendency? After digging through various academic papers and reconstructing the timeline of recent incidents, Professor Yeung concluded: ‘It all began when some Hong Kong folks received a WhatsApp message on 5 February, telling them that COVID-19 had shut down the logistics in China entirely and led to a serious shortage of toilet paper.’ Elaborating further, Professor Yeung pointed out that social media constantly bombarded us with images of vacant streets and empty shelves in Wuhan and other places in China. Therefore, the WhatsApp message, however short and simple, stuck firmly in people’s minds. The fear of not having toilet paper became so vivid that anxiety clouded their judgments. She also made a special note on the aspect of emotions. ‘Emotions such as fear and anxiety are not a bad thing per se —although seemingly irrational at times, they are an instinctual element of human behaviour and alert us to take action to protect ourselves; it is only when we overreact and experience a high level of anxiety nonstop that it is damaging to our mental health.’ Stock up or Suffer? Prof. Catherine Yeung Department of Marketing