How Does Misinformation and Capricious Opinions Impact the Supply Chain - A Study on the Impacts During the Pandemic

Arpan Kumar Kar (), Shalini Nath Tripathi (), Nishtha Malik (), Shivam Gupta () and Uthayasankar Sivarajah ()
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Arpan Kumar Kar: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Shalini Nath Tripathi: Jaipuria Institute of Management
Nishtha Malik: Jaipuria Institute of Management
Shivam Gupta: NEOMA Business School
Uthayasankar Sivarajah: University of Bradford

Annals of Operations Research, 2023, vol. 327, issue 2, No 6, 713-734

Abstract: Abstract Misinformation or fake news has had multifaceted ramifications with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, creating widespread panic amongst people. This study investigates the impact of misinformation/ fake news (on internet platforms) on consumer buying behavior, impact of fear (created by fake news) on hoarding of essential products and consumer spending and finally impact of misinformation-induced panic buying on supply chain disruptions. It draws upon the consumer decision theory and the cognitive load theory for explaining the psychological and behavioral responses of consumers. The study follows an inductive approach towards theory building using a multi-method approach. Initially, a qualitative research method based on interviews followed by text-mining has been used followed by analysis using python for topic modelling using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). The findings revealed several prominent themes like consumer shift to online buying, two contrasting spending intentions namely financial security and compensatory consumptions, irrational panic buying, uncertainty/ambiguity of government protocol and norms, social media fraudulent practices and misinformation dissemination, personalized buying experience, reduced trust on news and marketers, logistics and transportation bottlenecks, labor shortage due to migration and plant closures, and bullwhip effect in supply chains.

Keywords: Fake news; Consumer buying behavior; Hoarding; Consumer spending; Supply chain disruptions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10479-022-04997-6

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