IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p5505-d559012.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Presumed Influence of COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Survey Research from Two Countries in the Global Health Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Yunjuan Luo

    (Department of Online Communication, School of Journalism and Communication, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
    Co-first author, these authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Yang Cheng

    (Department of Communication, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
    Co-first author, these authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

While the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is spreading all over the world, misinformation, without prudent journalistic judgments of media content online, has begun circulating rapidly and influencing public opinion on social media. This quantitative study intends to advance the previous misinformation research by proposing and examining a theoretical model following an “influence of presumed influence” perspective. Two survey studies were conducted on participants located in the United States (N = 1793) and China (N = 504), respectively, to test the applicability of the influence of presumed influence theory. Results indicated that anger and anxiety significantly predicted perceived influence of misinformation on others; presumed influence on others positively affected public support in corrective and restrictive actions in both U.S. and China. Further, anger toward misinformation led to public willingness to self-correct in the U.S. and China. In contrast, anxiety only took effects in facilitating public support for restrictive actions in the U.S. This study conducted survey research in China and the U.S. to expand the influence of presumed influence (IPI) hypothesis to digital misinformation in both Western and non-Western contexts. This research provides implications for social media companies and policy makers to combat misinformation online.

Suggested Citation

  • Yunjuan Luo & Yang Cheng, 2021. "The Presumed Influence of COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media: Survey Research from Two Countries in the Global Health Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5505-:d:559012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5505/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5505/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dietram A. Scheufele & Nicole M. Krause, 2019. "Science audiences, misinformation, and fake news," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(16), pages 7662-7669, April.
    2. Xudong Liu & Ven-hwei Lo & Ran Wei, 2020. "Violent Videogames, Telepresence, Presumed Influence, and Support for Taking Restrictive and Protective Actions," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yang Cheng & Yuan Wang & Feihong Pan, 2022. "The Impact of CSR Perceptions on Employees’ Turnover Intention during the COVID-19 Crisis in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Wasim Ahmed & Josep Vidal-Alaball & Josep M. Vilaseca, 2022. "A Social Network Analysis of Twitter Data Related to Blood Clots and Vaccines," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-8, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlos Carrasco-Farré, 2022. "The fingerprints of misinformation: how deceptive content differs from reliable sources in terms of cognitive effort and appeal to emotions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    2. James N. Druckman, 2022. "Threats to Science: Politicization, Misinformation, and Inequalities," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 8-24, March.
    3. Xuhao Shao & Ao Li & Chuansheng Chen & Elizabeth F. Loftus & Bi Zhu, 2023. "Cross-stage neural pattern similarity in the hippocampus predicts false memory derived from post-event inaccurate information," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Philipp Lorenz-Spreen & Stephan Lewandowsky & Cass R. Sunstein & Ralph Hertwig, 2020. "How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(11), pages 1102-1109, November.
    5. Huiru Cao & Xiaomin Li & Yanfeng Lin & Songyao Lian, 2022. "Hybrid Fake Information Containing Strategy Exploiting Multi-Dimensions Data in Online Community," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(18), pages 1-13, September.
    6. Danielle Caled & Mário J. Silva, 2022. "Digital media and misinformation: An outlook on multidisciplinary strategies against manipulation," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 123-159, May.
    7. Sukayna Younger-Khan & Nils B. Weidmann & Lisa Oswald, 2024. "Consistent effects of science and scientist characteristics on public trust across political regimes," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Abayomi Samuel Oyekale, 2021. "Willingness to Take COVID-19 Vaccines in Ethiopia: An Instrumental Variable Probit Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-11, August.
    9. Juana Farfán & María Elena Mazo, 2021. "Disinformation and Responsibility in Young People in Spain during the COVID-19 Era," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-8, August.
    10. Niels G. Mede, 2022. "Legacy media as inhibitors and drivers of public reservations against science: global survey evidence on the link between media use and anti-science attitudes," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. Jonathon P. Schuldt & Adam R. Pearson & Neil A. Lewis jr. & Ashley Jardina & Peter K. Enns, 2022. "Inequality and Misperceptions of Group Concerns Threaten the Integrity and Societal Impact of Science," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 195-207, March.
    12. Lee, Edmund W.J. & Bao, Huanyu & Wang, Yixi & Lim, Yi Torng, 2023. "From pandemic to Plandemic: Examining the amplification and attenuation of COVID-19 misinformation on social media," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    13. Alberto Barchetti & Emma Neybert & Susan Powell Mantel & Frank R. Kardes, 2022. "The Half-Truth Effect and Its Implications for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-19, June.
    14. Kaisu Koivumäki & Timo Koivumäki & Erkki Karvonen, 2020. "“On Social Media Science Seems to Be More Human”: Exploring Researchers as Digital Science Communicators," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 425-439.
    15. Jiexun Li & Xiaohui Chang, 2023. "Combating Misinformation by Sharing the Truth: a Study on the Spread of Fact-Checks on Social Media," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1479-1493, August.
    16. Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Olya, Hossein & Shah, Zahra & Li, Huaiyu, 2024. "Virtual influencers and pro-environmental causes: The roles of message warmth and trust in experts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    17. Beniamino Schiavone & Andrea Vitale & Mena Gallo & Gianlucasalvatore Russo & Domenico Ponticelli & Mario Borrelli, 2021. "Overview of Facebook Use by Hospitals in Italy: A Nationwide Survey during the COVID-19 Emergency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-17, July.
    18. Peter D. Gluckman & Anne Bardsley & Matthias Kaiser, 2021. "Brokerage at the science–policy interface: from conceptual framework to practical guidance," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Juan Antonio Simón-Sanjurjo & Ana Isabel Beltran-Velasco & Carmen Cecilia Laborde-Cárdenas & Juan Camilo Benitez-Agudelo & Álvaro Bustamante-, 2022. "Mis–Dis Information in COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-24, April.
    20. Sheshadri Chatterjee & Ranjan Chaudhuri & Demetris Vrontis, 2023. "Role of fake news and misinformation in supply chain disruption: impact of technology competency as moderator," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 327(2), pages 659-682, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5505-:d:559012. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.