Impact of Consumers’ Psychological Stress on Hoarding Behavior During the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Pandemic: Moderating Role of Trust in Online Commerce

After the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, retailers have faced an unusual situation in which consumers hoard daily necessities amid a sharp increase in the proportion of online sales in several countries. Recently, scholars investigate consumers' pandemic-induced hoarding behavior, but studies that examined hoarding behavior concerning online commerce are insufficient. This study investigates how corona-related stress is led to the daily necessities hoarding model. Next, we explore whether consumers' trust in online commerce strengthens the hoarding mechanism. The results show that corona-related stress affects hoarding behavior through perceived scarcity, anticipated regret, and the urge to buy. In this process, the relationship between anticipated regret and the urge to buy is stronger in those who highly trust online commerce. This result suggests that it would be helpful for online commerce providers to build trust with customers during the pandemic.