Balakrishnan, Vimala and Ng, Kee Seong and Rahim, Hajar Abdul (2021) To share or not to share: The underlying motives of sharing fake news amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Technology in Society, 66. ISSN 0160-791X, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101676.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This study investigates the underlying motives for online fake news sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented time that witnessed a spike in the spread of false content. Motives were identified based on a fake news sharing model developed using the SocioCultural-Psychological-Technology (SCulPT) model, Uses and Gratification (U&G) theory and Self-Determination Theory (SDT), and further extended using fake news predictors/gratifications from past studies. A self-administered survey resulted in 869 online Malaysian respondents aged between 18 and 59 years old (Mean = 22.6, Standard deviation = 6.13). Structured equation modelling revealed the fake news sharing model to collectively account for 49.2 % of the variance, with Altruism (13 = 0.333; p < 0.001), Ignorance (13 = 0.165; p < 0.001) and Entertainment (13 = 0.139; p < 0.001) significantly predicting the behaviour. Conversely, Availability/Effort, Pass Time and Fear of Missing Out were found to be insignificant. Our findings indicate that fake news sharing behavior is determined by different motives, hence these need to be understood in order to develop better solutions to mitigate this problem.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Funders: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Fake news sharing; Motives; COVID-19; Altruism; Ignorance; Entertainment |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology Faculty of Medicine |
| Depositing User: | Ms Zaharah Ramly |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Jun 2022 03:43 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Jun 2022 03:43 |
| URI: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/27231 |
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