IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v13y2023i4p21582440231215586.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Too Real to be Questioned: Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Spread of Online Scientific Rumors in China

Author

Listed:
  • Lingfei Wang
  • Mengmeng Yue
  • Guoyan Wang

Abstract

With the popularity of mobile terminals and social media increasing, misinformation about science has increased in China. To understand the nature of the popularity of scientific rumors, we analyzed 206 typical cases released by four authoritative platforms in China from 2010 to 2020. Content analysis revealed that the majority of scientific rumors are related to health and safety (76.8%), use a visual format (61.2%), are published on social media (62.2%), and provide more than three narrative elements (78.2%). In addition, rumors from unidentified netizens’ claims or homemade experiments are the most common (35.9%), followed by highly credible sources, such as expert assertions (20.9%) or scientific research results (19.4%). A further qualitative comparative analysis indicated that a combination of details and fear-mongering are significant conditions that make rumors receive significant attention. Visual presentation also plays an important role, while state media and the presence of scientific terminology have a weak effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Lingfei Wang & Mengmeng Yue & Guoyan Wang, 2023. "Too Real to be Questioned: Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Spread of Online Scientific Rumors in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:21582440231215586
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440231215586
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440231215586
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440231215586?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruiz-Mafe, Carla & Chatzipanagiotou, Kalliopi & Curras-Perez, Rafael, 2018. "The role of emotions and conflicting online reviews on consumers' purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 336-344.
    2. Alessandro Bessi & Mauro Coletto & George Alexandru Davidescu & Antonio Scala & Guido Caldarelli & Walter Quattrociocchi, 2015. "Science vs Conspiracy: Collective Narratives in the Age of Misinformation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Lingnan He & Yue Chen & Xiling Xiong & Xiqian Zou & Kaisheng Lai, 2021. "Does Science Literacy Guarantee Resistance to Health Rumors? The Moderating Effect of Self-Efficacy of Science Literacy in the Relationship between Science Literacy and Rumor Belief," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-10, February.
    4. Pappas, Ilias O. & Papavlasopoulou, Sofia & Mikalef, Patrick & Giannakos, Michail N., 2020. "Identifying the combinations of motivations and emotions for creating satisfied users in SNSs: An fsQCA approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    5. Ragin, Charles C., 2006. "Set Relations in Social Research: Evaluating Their Consistency and Coverage," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(3), pages 291-310, July.
    6. Elena Cerdá-Mansilla & Natalia Rubio & Sara Campo, 2021. "Critical success factors for sharing information and knowledge of COVID-19 through Twitter," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 445-453, October.
    7. Johannes Meuer & Christian Rupietta, 2017. "A review of integrated QCA and statistical analyses," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 2063-2083, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Marie Romuald Pouka Pouka & Viviane Ondoua Biwolé, 2024. "Does causal analysis improve the understanding of entrepreneurial support for SME performance?," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Bigerna, Simona & D'Errico, Maria Chiara & Polinori, Paolo, 2022. "Understanding the green-growth: which pathways cities undertake in their climate programs," MPRA Paper 114156, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Du, Yunzhou & Liu, Qiuchen & Kim, Phillip H. & Meuer, Johannes, 2024. "Studying complex causal processes in technological innovation and entrepreneurship with set-theoretic mediation models," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    4. Hakim Lyngstadaas, 2020. "Packages or systems? Working capital management and financial performance among listed U.S. manufacturing firms," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 403-450, December.
    5. Waseem Anwar & Amir Zaib Abbasi & Mousa Albashrawi & Ghazanfar Ali Abbasi & Umm-e-Habiba, 2024. "Asymmetric and symmetric approaches to the extension of UTAUT2 in the M-payment adoption of Pakistani apps," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(3), pages 1175-1193, September.
    6. Akhmedova, Anna & Marimon, Frederic & Mas-Machuca, Marta, 2020. "Winning strategies for customer loyalty in the sharing economy: A mixed-methods study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 33-44.
    7. Khan, Asad & Rezaei, Sajad & Valaei, Naser, 2022. "Social commerce advertising avoidance and shopping cart abandonment: A fs/QCA analysis of German consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. De Marchi, Valentina & Molina-Morales, F. Xavier & Martínez-Cháfer, Luis, 2022. "Environmental innovation and cooperation: A configurational approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    9. Kimmitt, Jonathan & Muñoz, Pablo & Newbery, Robert, 2020. "Poverty and the varieties of entrepreneurship in the pursuit of prosperity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    10. Emily Bacon & Michael D. Williams & Gareth H. Davies, 2023. "On the Combinatory Nature of Knowledge Transfer Conditions: A Mixed Method Assessment," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 1039-1061, June.
    11. Casey A. Klofstad & Joseph E. Uscinski & Jennifer M. Connolly & Jonathan P. West, 2019. "What drives people to believe in Zika conspiracy theories?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
    12. Prosman, Ernst Johannes & Cagliano, Raffaella, 2022. "A contingency perspective on manufacturing configurations for the circular economy: Insights from successful start-ups," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    13. Grohs, Reinhard & Raies, Karine & Koll, Oliver & Mühlbacher, Hans, 2016. "One pie, many recipes: Alternative paths to high brand strength," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 2244-2251.
    14. Barry Cooper & Judith Glaesser, 2016. "Analysing necessity and sufficiency with Qualitative Comparative Analysis: how do results vary as case weights change?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 327-346, January.
    15. Yu-Li Lin & Hsiu-Wen Liu & Fengzeng Xu & Hao Wang, 2016. "Environmental Conditions, Entrepreneur Alertness and Social Capital on Performance," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(8), pages 1-13, August.
    16. Thomas Mellewigt & Glenn Hoetker & Martina Lütkewitte, 2018. "Avoiding High Opportunism Is Easy, Achieving Low Opportunism Is Not: A QCA Study on Curbing Opportunism in Buyer–Supplier Relationships," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1208-1208, December.
    17. Federica Nieri & Luciano Ciravegna & Ruth V. Aguilera & Elisa Giuliani, 2019. "Larger, more internationalized, better behaved? A configurational study of em erging market multinational enterprises' involvement in corporate wrongdoing," Discussion Papers 2019/255, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    18. Germano, Fabrizio & Sobbrio, Francesco, 2020. "Opinion dynamics via search engines (and other algorithmic gatekeepers)," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    19. Muñoz, Pablo & Kibler, Ewald, 2016. "Institutional complexity and social entrepreneurship: A fuzzy-set approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 1314-1318.
    20. Ferguson, Graham & Megehee, Carol M. & Woodside, Arch G., 2017. "Culture, religiosity, and economic configural models explaining tipping-behavior prevalence across nations," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 218-233.

    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:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:21582440231215586. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.