Understanding misinformation and rumors that generated panic buying as a social practice during COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Twitter, YouTube and focus group interviews

Lessons learned from behaviors of the employees in Iranian banks during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis: A phenomenological study

The aim of this research is to analyze the experiences of employees during the Covid-19 pandemic cri-sis and conceptualize the lessons learned to deal with similar crises in the future. To achieve this, a qualitative approach with a phenomenological strategy was conducted through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 16 front-line employees of Bank Melli, the largest state bank in Iran. The study found that employee behavior plays a critical role in crisis management, with functional behaviors such as preventive measures, stress management, and sharing valid information being essential. Dysfunctional behaviors such as resistance to change and inconsistent behaviors were also identified. The prevention of infection and stress management were identified as key behaviors to cope with the crisis, while media literacy and acceptance of change were crucial for correct information analysis and crisis management. Overall, the study highlights the challenges faced by employees during the Covid-19 crisis and provides valuable lessons from a behavioral perspective for managers in the banking industry to manage disruptions caused by current and future pandemics. The study emphasizes the importance of learning from the lessons of the Covid-19 crisis to reduce negative effects on physical and mental health.

COVID-19 vaccine-related misinformation identification among Chinese residents during a regional outbreak

Objectives

Misinformation about the COVID vaccines poses a significant challenge to vaccination efforts in many countries. This study examined Chinese citizens' ability to correctly identify COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in geographic areas with and without a regional outbreak. We also investigated the associations between misinformation identification and information source usage, source trust, perceived information quality, and demographic characteristics.

Setting

The online survey was conducted in four cities from June 8th to 15th, 2021 in Guangdong Province, two of which were experiencing a regional surge of COVID-19 delta variant infections, and four cities in Hunan Province, a neighboring province largely unaffected.

Participants

A total of 4,479 individuals aged 18 and above completed the online questionnaire. Given survey length, those who finished the study under 5 min were excluded, resulting in a final sample of 3,800.

Outcome measurements

Misinformation identification, source exposure, source trust, and perceived information quality.

Results

Results showed slightly higher levels of correct misinformation identification in surge vs. non-surge areas. Trust in official information sources was positively associated with correct misinformation identification in full sample analysis, while trust in informal sources was negatively associated with the same outcome. Perceived information quality was positively associated with correct misinformation identification in the full sample.

Conclusion

Information providers in China should enhance the quality of the vaccine information they provide, and the Chinese public should balance their usage of different sources of information to acquire vaccine knowledge.

Fake news on Facebook and their impact on supply chain disruption during COVID-19

Social media (SM) fake news has become a serious concern especially during COVID-19. In this study, we develop a research model to investigate to what extent SM fake news contributes to supply chain disruption (SCD), and what are the different SM affordances that contribute to SM fake news. To test the derived hypotheses with survey data, we have applied partial least square based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. Further, to identify how different configurations of SC resilience (SCR) capabilities reduce SCD, we have used fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results show that SM affordances lead to fake news, which increases consumer panic buying (CPB); CPB in turn increases SCD. In addition, SM fake news directly increases SCD. The moderation test suggests that, SCR capability, as a higher-order construct, decreases the effect of CPB on SCD; however, neither of the capabilities individually moderates. Complimentarily, the fsQCA results suggest that no single capability but their three specific configurations reduce SCD. This work offers a new theoretical perspective to study SCD through SM fake news. Our research advances the knowledge of SCR from a configurational lens by adopting an equifinal means towards mitigating disruption. This research will also assist the operations and SC managers to strategize and understand which combination of resilience capabilities is the most effective in tackling disruptions during a crisis e.g., COVID-19. In addition, by identifying the relative role of different SM affordances, this study provides pragmatic insights into SM affordance measures that combat fake news on SM.

COVID-19 information seeking behavior versus value perception among U.S. ethnic/racial minorities: differences and vaccination implications

Purpose

This study explores information behavior and perception and vaccination among America's three largest ethnic minorities, Hispanic, Black/African American and Asian, in COVID-19 context. Information behavior and perception are investigated from cultural and demographic characteristics, while vaccination is explored from COVID-19 related information behavior and utility/value of COVID-19 vaccine information.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Qualtrics survey panel, a national survey of America's Hispanic, Black/African American and Asian population was conducted to better understand the impact of cultural and demographic factors on COVID-19 related information. Data were collected in Fall 2021. Multiple and logistic regression were conducted to analyze data.

Findings

Results show that cultural factors (i.e. cultural identity, social identity, social capital and religiousness) exert significant impact on information value and seeking across all three minority groups, while some demographic factors, Republicanism and age, also significantly predict COVID-19 related information seeking and value for Black/African Americans and Hispanics, but less for Asian Americans. Lastly, information value was found to significantly predict vaccine status, willingness and eagerness, the three facets of vaccination as conceptualized in this study, for top three racial/ethic minorities.

Originality/value

The finding of this study reveal that there are variations in terms of the level and type of attachment to one's culture/social group in COVID-19 informational context. Between the three groups, granular differences were observed regarding the relationship between cultural factors and perceived COVID-19 information value. While cultural identity is most associated with African Americans, social capital is most evident for the Asian Americans, but social identity was the strongest predictor among Hispanics. Thus, this study offers important strategic insights into a unique population sample to better understand the impact of COVID-19 related information perception and vaccination implication.

Understanding the process of meanings, materials, and competencies in adoption of mobile banking

COVID-19 has changed the way people live, bank, shop, and work by moving them toward digitalization. It has also driven the trend toward a cashless society, and this change has taken place in an increasingly uncertain and fearful environment. This study explores the social practice of mobile banking (MB) adoption during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from banking customers and managers using online customer reviews, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups to develop an in-depth understanding of the subjective realities of their use of MB. This approach also ensured that social distancing practices were maintained during interviews conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak. Analysis of the data suggests that social media, social circles, family members, and teams of customer service agents play an important role in developing the social practice of MB. This study culminates in the presentation of the social practice of MB adoption (SPOTA) framework. This framework is based on extended social practice theory in the context of MB adoption. The study discusses the practical implications of the findings for systems developers. The many expectations of people with or without disabilities of MB are discussed and the findings could be used to improve the accessibility and habitual practice of MB adoption.

Establishing the typology and the underlying structure of rumor-combating behaviors: a multidimensional scaling approach

Purpose

Social media rumor combating is a global concern in academia and industry. Existing studies lack a clear definition and overall conceptual framework of users' rumor-combating behaviors. Therefore, this study attempts to empirically derive a typology of rumor-combating behaviors of social media users.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-phase typology development approach is adopted, including content analysis, multidimensional scaling (MDS), interpreting and labeling. Qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods are employed.

Findings

The elicited 40 rumor-combating behaviors vary along two dimensions: high versus low difficulty of realization, and low versus high cognitive load. Based on the two dimensions, the 40 behaviors are further divided into four categories: rumor-questioning behavior, rumor-debunking behavior, proactive-appealing behavior, and literacy enhancement behavior.

Practical implications

This typology will serve as reference for social media platforms and governments to further explore the interventions to encourage social media users to counter rumor spreading based on various situations and different characteristics of rumor-combating behaviors.

Originality/value

This study provides a typology of rumor-combating behaviors from a novel perspective of user participation. The typology delves into the conceptual connotations and basic forms of rumor combating, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the complete spectrum of users' rumor-combating behaviors. Furthermore, the typology identifies the similarities and the differences between various rumor-combating behaviors, thus providing implications and directions for future research on rumor-combating behaviors.

Severity assessment and the early warning mechanism of public events based on the comparison of microblogging characteristics

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the severity of public events in real time from the perspective of social media and to construct the early warning mechanism of public events.

Design/methodology/approach

This study constructed the severity assessment system of public events from the dimensions of the netizens' role, the Internet media's role, the spread of public events and the attitudes and feelings of netizens. The method of analyzing the influence tendency of the public event severity indicators was proposed. A total of 1,107,308 microblogging entries regarding four public events were investigated. The severity of public events was divided into four levels.

Findings

It is found that serious public events have higher indicator values than medium level events on the microblogging platform. A quantitative severity classification standard for public events was established and the early warning mechanism of public events was built.

Research limitations/implications

Microblogging and other social media platforms provide rich clues for the real-time study and judgment of public events. This study only investigated the Weibo platform as the data source. Other social media platforms can also be considered in future.

Originality/value

Different from the ex-post evaluation method of judging the severity of public events based on their physical loss, this study constructed a quantitative method to dynamically determine the severity of public events according to the clues reflected by social media. The results can help the emergency management departments judge the severity of public events objectively and reduce the subjective negligence and misjudgment.

Social media exposure assessment: influence on attitudes toward generic vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

Even though social media (SM) has been explored in-depth, its role remains unclear regarding short- and long-term preventive attitudes in global health emergencies. To fill this gap, the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework aims to clarify the social media exposure mission in acknowledging risk perception and triggering preventive attitudes and behaviors toward COVID-19 and general vaccination.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted an explanatory-predictive study on 480 Romanian students, using partial least squares structural equation modeling, and performed model evaluation, multi-group, model selection, and importance-performance map analyses.

Findings

The study provides insights in understanding significant relationships and drivers explaining and predicting attitudes towards vaccines. The main relationships are between fear and risk perception; risk and preventive attitudes and behaviors; and vaccination degree and attitudes to vaccines. The most important factor is the vaccination degree and media exposure is the most performant.

Practical implications

Developing and applying regulations and communication strategies for quality mass information may positively increase attitudes toward vaccines by indirectly enforcing the main drivers.

Social implications

Organizations, authorities, and opinion leaders must have a coherent supportive presence in media.

Originality/value

This study filled the literature gap by building a generic theoretical and empirical proven framework that investigates the mediated effect towards vaccines of all media types by COVID-19 experience and vaccination degree.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-11-2021-0621