2.1. Impulsive Consumption in Social Emergencies
Impulsive consumption refers to consumers’ sudden, spontaneous, and unplanned behavior to purchase goods, which is characterized by quick decision-making and immediate ownership [
6]. Usually, driven by the external environment or pursuit of timely pleasure, consumers take little thoughtful consideration when making impulsive consumption decisions [
7]. It is found that external factors can induce impulsive consumption behavior. For example, research indicates that people are more likely to react with impulsive consuming behavior when stimulated by a shopping atmosphere [
8]. However, previous research on impulsive consumption has mainly focused on behavior marketing situations or online shopping [
9,
10,
11]. Thus, there are limited data available on social situations during certain emergencies. This study focuses on whether the COVID-19 pandemic, as a public health emergency, motivates people’s impulsive consumption behavior.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic may have multiple impacts on an individual, which may motivate their impulsive consumption behavior. For example, COVID-19 triggers an individual’s fear of death. Studies in consumer behavior have found that consumers may over-consume and overindulge in challenging times. The studies indicate an increase in an individual’s demand for immediate enjoyment during this time [
12,
13]. Moreover, during a pandemic, people are often experiencing various forms of psychological distress, such as fear and anxiety. Previous studies found that these consumers are more likely to consume impulsively to obtain immediate satisfaction to improve their mood [
14]. For example, research indicates that many Americans suffered psychological trauma after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. As a result, the psychological trauma correlates to increasing impulsive consumption and dependence on alcohol [
15]. Based on the above logic analysis, we assume that the COVID-19 pandemic can have a positive effect on people’s impulsive consumption tendency, which would increase with the scale of the pandemic. The following hypothesis is proposed:
Hypothesis 1 (H1): The severity of the pandemic is positively associated with an individual’s impulsive consumption tendency.
2.2. Perceived Control
Perceived control refers to individuals’ beliefs that they are able to control external factors and their environment. Perceived control differs from possessing the capacity to control one’s external environment [
15]. Once an individual’s external environment is filled with uncertainty and is difficult to control, the sense of control will reduce [
16]. Specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic creates an environment with a high degree of uncertainty, which leads to a decrease in the individual’s level of control. As a consequence, the more severe the pandemic, the less control one perceives. Based on the above logic analysis, the following hypothesis is proposed:
Hypothesis 2 (H2): The severity of the pandemic is negatively associated with an individual’s perceived level of control.
Researchers have found that perceived control has an impact on an individual’s physical and mental health. The higher the level of perceived control an individual has, the healthier [
17] and happier they will be [
18]. Thus, lower levels of perceived control can cause anxiety and other negative psychological outcomes [
19]. Losing control is categorized as a negative psychological experience, and as a result, individuals try and compensate for the loss. According to the compensatory control theory, individuals can increase the feeling of control by obtaining external resources [
20]. Since purchasing goods is a common way for individuals to obtain external resources, purchasing may increase when an individual perceives a lack of control. Previous literature suggests that the consumption of certain products helps restore an individual’s sense of control. For example, individuals losing control are more willing to make nostalgic consumption and prefer products or logos with boundaries [
21,
22,
23]. Liu et al. found that individuals with low perceived control are more willing to touch the products when they are making purchase decisions [
24], while Peck and Childers found that touching products can increase consumers’ impulsive consumption tendency [
25]. Moreover, when losing control, individuals will have a series of negative psychological reactions such as anxiety [
26], which makes them more likely to react impulsively when making purchasing decisions. Based on the above logic analysis, the following hypothesis is proposed:
Hypothesis 3 (H3): Perceived control is negatively associated with consumers’ impulsive consumption tendency.
2.3. Materialism
Materialism is a kind of value orientation that represents the extent to which individuals value possessions as an indicator of succeeding in life [
27]. Materialistic individuals tend to pursue material wealth or property to achieve a sense of fulfillment and happiness [
28]. Materialists mainly have the following characteristics: trying to have more than others, believing that property can bring happiness, valuing material possessions more, and desiring to obtain and keep property [
29]. Although society values materialistic things [
30], materialism is often perceived in a negative light. Studies have found that materialism leads to negative psychological effects on individuals. For example, research indicates that materialistic individuals are often characterized by stinginess and jealousy [
31]. Moreover, these individuals tend to overspend, leaving them in debt [
32].
Materialists highly value material possessions and tend to derive satisfaction from consumption [
33,
34]. Belk proposed that individuals with materialistic tendencies are willing to make impulsive purchases [
31]. This is because they regard the acquisition of material wealth as important and as an indicator of success and the key to happiness [
35,
36]. Therefore, materialists are unlikely to resist the temptation to purchase when confronted with attractive products [
37] and have a higher impulsive consumption tendency [
38]. Some studies proved a positive correlation between the materialistic tendency and impulsive consumption of female college students [
39]. Based on the above, this study proposes the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4 (H4): Consumers’ materialism orientation is positively associated with their impulsive consumption tendency.
The outbreak of COVID-19 made people aware of how fragile life is and, as certain studies have shown, fear of death can lead to an increase in greed and materialistic tendencies [
40]. Arndt et al. explained the increase in greed and the need for possessions with the use of the terror management theory [
41]. Firstly, the theory indicates that individuals would enhance self-esteem to cope with the threat of death, while the findings indicate that possession and wealth could be an effective way to improve self-esteem. Secondly, individuals will cope with the threat of death with the use of psychological defense mechanisms such as their cultural worldview when faced with mortality salience [
42,
43]. Culture refers to the norms, beliefs, customs, laws, and habits of a specific group of people. Research indicates that the pursuit of material things has become a common cultural value of many social groups [
44]. Therefore, individuals will support this cultural value to resist uneasiness in times of crisis. Based on the above, this study suggests that individuals’ materialistic tendencies will increase due to the threat of death caused by COVID-19. This study further suggests that the more serious the threat, the stronger the materialistic tendency. Based on the above, this study proposes the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 5 (H5): The severity of the pandemic is positively associated with individuals’ levels of materialism.
This study further proposes that a low level of perceived control can increase materialism. This is because losing control is a negative psychological experience, and individuals try and counter these emotions. Enriching internal or external resources can help individuals regain the sense of control [
20]. Due to the supplement of internal resources needs much more time and effort, individuals are more likely to adopt the method of supplementing external resources to compensate for losing control. The main form of external resources is the material and the desire to acquisition and possession of such material resources can lead a tendency of materialism [
45]. Thus, people with low perceived control may have a high materialistic tendency. Based on the above, this study proposes the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 6 (H6): Perceived control is negatively associated with consumers’ materialism.
Based on the rationale above, we proposed that the severity of a pandemic could affect people’s impulsive consumption in two ways. First, the severity of a pandemic can increase the uncertainty of individuals’ external environment, reducing their perceived control [
16]. Losing control makes them more likely to react impulsively when making purchasing decisions [
25,
26]. Second, according to terror management theory, the fear of death, which grows with the severity of a pandemic, can lead to an increase in individuals’ materialistic tendencies [
40,
41]. Materialism often makes people consume impulsively [
38,
39]. To sum up, the severity of a pandemic increases people’s impulsive consumption either by reducing their perceived control or by increasing their materialistic tendencies, that is, perceived control and materialism both mediate the effect of the severity of a pandemic on consumers’ impulsive consumption. Thus, we proposed the following theoretical model shown in
Figure 1, as well as the hypothesis for the meditating effects as follows:
Hypothesis 7 (H7): Perceived control and materialism can play mediating roles between the severity of the pandemic and impulsive consumption.