“We are out of toilet paper”: Testing the mediating effect of product scarcity on consumers’ competitive arousal in family firms

Drawing on Lemon and Verhoef’s customer journey, this study examines the context of local family businesses to investigate product scarcity’s role as a mediator between information overload and competitive arousal in affecting consumers’ behavioural intentions during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected regarding purchases in three famous local family businesses operating in the Food and Beverage sector in the North of Italy. Results reveal that during a sanitary emergency, the consumer in family firms are less inclined to react impulsively than those in large distribution, except when they perceive product scarcity, which increases their level of competitiveness towards the market and other consumers. This behaviour towards other businesses is due to the family business efficacy, which pushes family firms in reinventing themselves and takes care of their trusted consumers. The paper ends by highlighting the main theoretical and managerial contributions, delineating new paths of analysis.