Share if you care: The impact of information sharing and information quality on humanitarian supply chain performance

Although the performance of Humanitarian Supply Chain (HSC) receives considerable attention in current literature, measuring HSC performance remains challenging. HSC performance depends largely on the ability to meet the needs of the sufferers which contradicts with current performance measures that focus on input metrics such as donations and expenditures rather than output metrics. In this paper, we address this gap in the literature by examining refugee service performance as perceived by refugees themselves. We examine the impact of information sharing and information quality on HSC service performance. We further draw on social capital theory to investigate how the dimensions of social capital influence information sharing and information quality. Data collected from 276 refugees in Zaatari camp in Jordan provide support for our proposed model. Our paper makes two contributions. First, we extend current literature on HSC performance by examining the impact of information sharing and the quality of the information shared on the beneficiaries’ perception of HSC performance. We therefore focus on output metrics rather than input metrics. Second, we apply a social capital theoretical lens to investigate how social ties and relations influence information sharing and information quality in HSC. We also offer theoretical and practical implications for academics and stakeholders in the field of HSC