Purpose

Fake news on social media about COVID-19 pandemic and its associated issues (e.g. lockdown) caused public panic that lead to supply chain (SC) disruptions, which eventually affect firm performance. The purpose of this study is to understand how social media fake news effects firm performance, and how to mitigate such effects.

Design/methodology/approach

Grounded on dynamic capability view (DCV), this study suggests that social media fake news effects firm performance via SC disruption (SCD) and SC resilience (SCR). Moreover, the relation between SCD and SCR is contingent upon SC learning (SCL) – a moderated mediation effect. To validate this complex model, the authors suggest effectiveness of using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Using an online survey, the results support the authors’ hypotheses.

Findings

The results suggest that social media fake news does not affect firm performance directly. However, the authors’ serial mediation test confirms that SCD and SCR sequentially mediate the relationship between social media fake news and firm performance. In addition, a moderated serial mediation test confirms that a higher level of SCL strengthens the SCD–SCR relationship.

Research limitations/implications

This work offers a new theoretical and managerial perspective to understand the effect of fake news on firm performance, in the context of crises, e.g. COVID-19. In addition, this study offers the advancement of PLS as more robust for real-world applications and more advantageous when models are complex.

Originality/value

Prior studies in the SC and marketing domain suggest different effects of social media fake news on consumer behavior (e.g. panic buying) and SCD, respectively. This current study is a unique effort that investigates the ultimate effect of fake news on firm performance with complex causal relationships via SCD, SCR and SCL.

中文翻译：

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假新闻对 COVID-19 期间公司绩效的影响：使用 PLS-SEM 评估有节制的连续调解

目的

社交媒体上有关 COVID-19 大流行及其相关问题（例如封锁）的假新闻引起公众恐慌，导致供应链 (SC) 中断，最终影响公司业绩。本研究的目的是了解社交媒体假新闻如何影响公司业绩，以及如何减轻这种影响。

设计/方法/途径

基于动态能力观 (DCV)，这项研究表明社交媒体假新闻通过 SC 中断 (SCD) 和 SC 弹性 (SCR) 影响公司绩效。此外，SCD 和 SCR 之间的关系取决于 SC 学习 (SCL)——一种调节的中介效应。为了验证这个复杂的模型，作者建议使用偏最小二乘结构方程建模 (PLS-SEM) 的有效性。使用在线调查，结果支持作者的假设。

发现

结果表明，社交媒体假新闻不会直接影响公司绩效。然而，作者的连续中介检验证实 SCD 和 SCR 依次中介社交媒体假新闻与公司绩效之间的关系。此外，调节系列调解测试证实，更高水平的 SCL 加强了 SCD-SCR 关系。

研究局限性/影响

这项工作提供了一个新的理论和管理视角来理解假新闻在危机背景下（例如 COVID-19）对公司业绩的影响。此外，这项研究提供了 PLS 的进步，因为它对现实世界的应用程序更稳健，并且在模型复杂时更有优势。

原创性/价值

SC 和营销领域的先前研究分别表明社交媒体假新闻对消费者行为（例如恐慌性购买）和 SCD 的不同影响。目前的这项研究是一项独特的研究，它通过 SCD、SCR 和 SCL 调查假新闻对具有复杂因果关系的公司绩效的最终影响。