Open AccessSocial Media, Consumer Behaviour and Information Disclosure: Evidence from the MERS Outbreak in South Korea
Author(s) -
Hailey Hayeon Joo,
HyoungGoo Kang,
Jungmin Lee
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of empirical economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2810-9449
pISSN - 2810-9430
DOI - 10.1142/s2810943022500032
Subject(s) - marketing buzz , outbreak , social media , government (linguistics) , business , advertising , environmental health , medicine , political science , linguistics , philosophy , virology , law
South Korea’s health officials did not disclose the identities of hospitals exposed to MERS-CoV for the first three weeks of the outbreak in 2015, leading to amplified fear in the society. To ascertain the uncertainty costs due to the failure of timely information provision, we examine the effect of the information regarding MERS outbreak on shopping patterns in the retail market. We find that those facing social buzz of MERS hospitals near their home significantly reduced their spending at crowded shopping places such as big-box and department stores. However, the avoidance behaviour disappeared after the government started to disclose the accurate information. This finding suggests that the information uncertainty raised excessive anxiety among the consumers.