I'll trade you diamonds for toilet paper: Consumer reacting, coping and adapting behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic

Keywords Coronavirus; COVID-19; Pandemic; Hoarding; Social distancing; Do-it-yourself; Digital technology; Consumer behavior Abstract In this research, we document some of the many unusual consumer behavior patterns that came to dominate the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. We offer insights based on theory to help explain and predict these behaviors and associated outcomes in order to inform future research and marketing practice. Taking an environmentally-imposed constraints point of view, we examine behaviors during each of three phases: reacting (e.g., hoarding and rejecting), coping (e.g. maintaining social connectedness, do-it-yourself behaviors, changing views of brands) and longer-term adapting (e.g. potentially transformative changes in consumption and individual and social identity). We discuss implications for marketing researchers and practice. Author Affiliation: (a) Manhattan College, 4513 Manhattan College Pkwy, The Bronx, NY 10471, United States (b) New York Institute of Technology, 1855 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, United States (c) Brooklyn College, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210, United States * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 13 May 2020; Accepted 14 May 2020 (footnote)1 Authors contributed equally. Byline: Colleen P. Kirk [ckirk01@nyit.edu] (a,b,*,1), Laura S. Rifkin [laura.rifkin@brooklyn.cuny.edu] (c,1)