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This study investigates the impact of online disinformation and hate speech on a country's image, considering its implications for the destination's image and tourism prospects. Utilizing the theoretical lens of soft power, the study performs a macro-level empirical analysis across 56 countries on the influence of a diverse array of online disinformation variants and hate speech on the nation's brand image. The results from the configurational analysis demonstrate the increasing dominance of state and partisan factions-led disinformation, which collectively impact the nation's image. The findings also shed light on the diminishing role of foreign disinformation, while the ancillary function of online hate emphasizes the significance of disinformation amplified hate speech, which has become increasingly commonplace in global political discourse, with such disinformation campaigns using hate speech as an amplification strategy. The study contributes to contemporary tourism research, which underscores the vitality of the country's image to tourism and offers recommendations to destination marketing organizations towards intensifying efforts to preserve the country's image. • A nation's brand image affects a destination's image and tourism prospects. • Disinformation and hate speech pose a grave threat to nations' brand image. • A cross-country study evaluates impact of these constructs on nations' brand image. • Combined dominance of disinformation by state and partisan factions is highlighted. •The ancillary role of hate speech is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nation's development is determined by its predisposition for innovation and commitment to fostering innovation ecosystems. However, the political structures and disinformation within them represent a significant threat to innovation endeavors. Despite disinformation's far-reaching repercussions, its role in stifling innovation remains largely unknown. Anchored on the need to shed light on its debilitating effects, the current study examines the influence of social media disinformation from the government, political parties, and foreign governments in derailing nations' innovation performance. Drawing upon complexity theory and configurational analysis, the results of a cross-country examination based on data from 2021 to 22 and encompassing 131 nations indicate that the spread of disinformation by governments and political parties poses an increasing threat to innovation performance, surpassing the influence exerted by foreign disinformation. The supplemental analysis reinforces this finding but emphasizes that the risk of foreign disinformation remains a persistent concern for innovation efforts in developed countries. The results have implications for the emergent body of technology research on the dark side of social media and the escalating crisis of false information over the past few years while also extending recent claims regarding the role of political systems in influencing the innovation ecosystem within countries. • Political disinformation poses a significant threat to nations' innovation endeavors. • A cross-country configurational analysis provides empirical evidence of this threat. • Social media disinformation by governments and political parties surpasses the impact exerted by foreign disinformation. • Developed nations cannot disregard foreign disinformation and must minimize it to exhibit strong innovation performance. • The findings are significant for research on dark side of social media and the escalating crisis of political disinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disinformation poses a formidable threat to the tourism industry, but empirical studies remain limited. Recognizing this escalating crisis, this study undertakes a theoretically grounded cross-country investigation of political disinformation and its crippling consequences on the travel and tourism sector. While the pre-pandemic analysis from 2018 constituting 160 countries demonstrates the impact of foreign disinformation on the sector's performance, a supplemental analysis from 2021 comprising 117 countries highlights domestic disinformation emerging as a greater threat over disinformation from foreign operatives. Qualitative insights are presented for specific configurations. The study overcomes theoretical vagueness around disinformation as a phenomenon and provides a robust theoretical foundation anchored on agenda-building and soft power theories for the understanding of disinformation and its impact on tourism performance. [Display omitted] • The impact of disinformation on tourism is widely acknowledged in the literature. • Despite the escalating crisis, empirical research on this issue remains limited. • A cross-country investigation on impact of political disinformation is conducted. • The analysis reveals the growing threat that disinformation poses to the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability research has witnessed significant growth over the past three decades, owing to the multiplicity of concerns and innovations to address them. Fake news, on the other hand, is a growing challenge to this dynamic narrative about sustainability and associated innovations. Notwithstanding few attempts to glean insights from literature at the nexus of sustainability, concomitant innovations, and fake news, the current study undertakes an integrative literature review with the objective of comprehending the repertoire of interactions between fake news, concomitant acts of deception, and sustainability-focused innovations. The review yielded 81 research articles published between 1992 and 2022. This collection represents a highly heterogeneous body of work encompassing these dimensions wherein comprehensive frameworks are rare and empirical works have focused on a limited range of innovations and fake news. The paper organizes the extant literature across four key themes and identifies five crucial gaps that have remained underexplored to date. Based on gaps in the literature, a research agenda with a set of thematic pathways and a holistic conceptual framework is presented to serve as a foundation for advancing research in the domain. This study is one of the first attempts to shed light on the menace of fake news in the context of sustainability-focused innovations and provides the necessary impetus for researchers to investigate empirical relationships and causal mechanisms surrounding the triadic nature of interlinkages between sustainability concerns, associated innovations, and fake news. The insights from this study aid practitioners in evaluating innovations from a novel vantage point and devising strategies to navigate potential pitfalls, while also serving as crucial evidence for policymakers to leverage an optimal mix of policy levers to circumvent sustainability concerns and foster innovations amidst the looming crisis of fake news. • The threat of fake news in the context of sustainability and related innovations is a growing concern. • The phenomenon has evoked scholarly interest but is progressing without a strong theoretical foundation. • An integrative review of literature is conducted to holistically map its current intellectual boundaries. • Four thematic focal points and five crucial gaps in the literature are discussed. • A conceptual framework is proposed with set of themes to guide future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fake news is an all-pervasive phenomenon that has transcended social and political boundaries and infiltrated the hospitality industry. While its growing prominence has piqued the interest of scholars, fake news literature in the hospitality industry is still in an embryonic stage and progressing without a strong theoretical foundation. The fragmented nature of research leaves a lot to be desired and presents an opportune moment to organize the extant literature to chart the course for future research. We respond to this call by conducting a systematic literature review of 51 articles discussing fake news in the hospitality industry and provide a comprehensive synthesis of the extant knowledge. In doing so, we identify a set of thematic trends, highlight gaps in the literature and develop a comprehensive conceptual framework that encapsulates the phenomenon in its entirety. Furthermore, we put forth a series of theme-based research avenues to inspire future research. • The threat of fake news in the hospitality industry is a growing concern. • The phenomenon has evoked scholarly interest but is progressing without a strong theoretical foundation. • A systematic literature review is conducted to holistically map its current intellectual boundaries. • Gaps in extant literature are discussed. • A conceptual framework is proposed with set of themes to guide future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]