Sustainable Brand Resilience: Mitigating Panic Buying through Brand Value and Food Waste Attitudes Amid Social Media Misinformation

Athanasios Poulis (), Prokopis Theodoridis and Evi Chatzopoulou
Additional contact information
Athanasios Poulis: Department of Tourism Management, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece
Prokopis Theodoridis: School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, 26335 Patras, Greece
Evi Chatzopoulou: Department of Tourism Management, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between user-generated content on social media and panic buying, with a focus on how attitudes towards food waste and brand value act as moderating variables. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), data from an online survey with 370 responses were analyzed. The findings show that user-generated content significantly contributes to the dissemination of inaccurate information, which in turn triggers panic buying. However, the impact of inaccurate information on panic buying is moderated by consumer attitudes towards food waste and brand value. Specifically, consumers with negative attitudes towards food waste and high brand trust are less likely to engage in panic buying when exposed to misinformation. These results suggest that promoting responsible consumption and leveraging brand value can mitigate the adverse effects of misinformation during crises. This study contributes to sustainability by providing insights into developing strategies for retailers and policymakers to manage consumer behavior, emphasizing the importance of accurate information and brand communication in reducing panic buying tendencies.

Keywords: brand value; panic buying; social media misinformation; food waste attitudes; crisis consumer behavior; sustainable consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/15/6658/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/15/6658/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:15:p:6658-:d:1449494

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().