Does crowdsourcing services moderate effect on supply risk management performance in COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from India

Abstract

ABSTRACT As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, supply chains face challenges requiring significant social distancing measures to ensure that critical goods continue to be shipped to local shops and doorsteps of consumers. In this study, an attempt is being made to understand crowdsourcing’s scope to maintain the social distancing in the hotspot areas where connectivity is imperfect. An internet-based survey using a semi-structured snowball sampling technique has been conducted and a total of 167 responses were received from Indian MSME sector (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) i.e., retail and wholesale business. A research framework has been developed considering supplier dependency, customer orientation, and systematic purchasing to measure the retail supply chain risk management (SCRM) performance and understand the moderating role of crowdsourcing on process to provide solutions that concurrently take lesser time while maintaining social distancing. The results revealed that in the pandemic situation, crowdsourcing services moderate the effect on supply risk management performance. Thus, the crowdsourcing strategy can lead to maintain social distancing in the pandemic.