Abstract:
Stock-outs of product goods are a common problem in the retail industry. The Sri Lankan media
recently reported on an island-wide shortage of milk powder. However, there is a lack of
information and very little is known about consumer responses during stock-out situations in Sri
Lanka. As a result, the current study was designed to investigate how the relevance of items to
objective needs, consumer preference, and emotional effect influence consumers' behavioral
responses to milk powder unavailability. The study adopted the scales used by previous
researchers and all the measurements were taken using 7-point Likert scale. First and second year undergraduates of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna were selected as the
target population who represent the segment of young consumers (N=435). A Google form-based
structured questionnaire was prepared and emailed to the respondents. They were asked to fill
out the questionnaires based on the milk powder buying behaviour of them during the stock-out.
Accordingly, 100 responses have been obtained with a 23% response rate. The relationships
among the main constructs considered in the study were tested using SMART PLS 3.0 with the
bootstrap re-sampling method. Results revealed that the emotional effect (t= 2.566; p= 0.011) of
the consumer significantly influenced the behavioural responses (number of milk powder packets
bought) during the milk powder stock-out, at 5% significant level. Furthermore, relevance to
objective needs (t= 1.343; p= 0.180) and consumer preference (t= 1.055; p= 0.292) did not
influence the behavioural responses during the stock-out. The study concluded that young
consumers’ emotional effects lead to the changed milk powder buying behaviour and they tend to
buy more milk powder packets during the stock-out. The findings of the present study are of a
great significance for the milk powder marketers and retailers to understand the behaviour of the
young consumers during stock-outs and to avoid negative behavioural responses to minimize
negative consequences.
