Fake news on Facebook: examining the impact of heuristic cues on perceived credibility and sharing intention

Abstract

PurposeAs the epidemic of online fake news is causing major concerns in contexts such as politics and public health, the current study aimed to elucidate the effect of certain “heuristic cues,” or key contextual features, which may increase belief in the credibility and the subsequent sharing of online fake news.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a 2 (news veracity: real vs fake) × 2 (social endorsements: low Facebook “likes” vs high Facebook “likes”) between-subjects experimental design (N = 239).FindingsThe analysis revealed that a high number of Facebook “likes” accompanying fake news increased the perceived credibility of the material compared to a low number of “likes.” In addition, the mediation results indicated that increased perceptions of news credibility may create a situation in which readers feel that it is necessary to cognitively elaborate on the information present in the news, and this active processing finally leads to sharing.Practical implicationsThe results from this study help explicate what drives increased belief and sharing of fake news and can aid in refining interventions aimed at combating fake news for both communities and organizations.Originality/valueThe current study expands upon existing literature, linking the use of social endorsements to perceived credibility of fake news and information, and sheds light on the causal mechanisms through which people make the decision to share news articles on social media.

Fake news on the internet: a literature review, synthesis and directions for future research

“…Individuals with a high cognitive ability are less trustful of FNI (Tandoc et al, 2021), including deepfakes (Ahmed, 2021a, c). Cognitive elaboration serves as a mediator between perceived credibility and sharing intention (Ali et al, 2022). Cognitiveperceptual schizotypy directly affects sharing intention (Buchanan and Kempley, 2021).…”

“…The FNI-related factors affecting the acceptance and spread of FNI are information cues, news type, credibility of news sources and the presentation format of news. News containing trolling (Fichman and Vaughn, 2021) and persuasive and uncertain words (Zhou et al, 2021a), and that accompanying a high number of Facebook "likes" (Ali et al, 2022) are more likely to be disseminated. The veracity of headlines has little effect on sharing intention despite the fact that it has a considerable effect on judgements of accuracy (Pennycook et al, 2021).…”

“…4.1.3 Psychology theories. The information processing theory ) and the dual process theory (Ahmed, 2021c;Ali et al, 2022;Tandoc et al, 2021) are proposed to describe the process by which users' perceptions and evaluations are formed. By using the heuristic systematic model, studies analyse how to process messages heuristically or systematically in two different ways (Ali et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2021).…”

“…The information processing theory ) and the dual process theory (Ahmed, 2021c;Ali et al, 2022;Tandoc et al, 2021) are proposed to describe the process by which users' perceptions and evaluations are formed. By using the heuristic systematic model, studies analyse how to process messages heuristically or systematically in two different ways (Ali et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2021). While Talwar et al (2019) relied on the rational choice theory to analyse users' perceptions and spreading behaviours, Ali et al (2022) believed that the limited capacity model and bounded rationality theory were more suitable in analysing users' utilities and perceptions.…”

“…By using the heuristic systematic model, studies analyse how to process messages heuristically or systematically in two different ways (Ali et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2021). While Talwar et al (2019) relied on the rational choice theory to analyse users' perceptions and spreading behaviours, Ali et al (2022) believed that the limited capacity model and bounded rationality theory were more suitable in analysing users' utilities and perceptions. The uses and gratifications theory helps to explain the rationale behind people's use of Internet media by analysing the needs they seek to satisfy and exploring motivations for the widespread use of the internet platforms (Apuke and Omar, 2021a, c;Balakrishnan et al, 2021;Gioia et al, 2012;Tandoc et al, 2020).…”