Mediating and Moderating Roles of Trust in Government in Effective Risk Rumor Management: A Test Case of Radiation‐Contaminated Seafood in South Korea

Abstract

This study has two aims: to identify effective strategies for managing false rumors about risks and to investigate the roles that basic and situational trust in government play in that process. Online experiment data were collected nationwide from 915 adults in South Korea. They were exposed to a false rumor about radiation-contaminated seafood and were randomly assigned to one of three rumor response conditions (refutation, denial, attack the attacker). One-way ANOVA indicated that the refutation response yielded the highest level of situational trust in government response (TGR). Results of moderated mediation models using the PROCESS Macro indicated the following. (1) The refutation response had a positive effect on TGR, and the attack response had a negative effect. (2) There were significant interaction effects between the attack response and preexisting basic trust in government (BTG) in that the attack response had a negative effect on TGR only when BTG was low. (3) TGR significantly mediated the relationship between each of the three rumor responses and two dependent variables (intentions for rumor dissemination and for unwarranted actions), but in dramatically different ways across the responses. This study provides evidence for the superior effectiveness of the refutation rumor response and identifies specific roles of trust in government in the risk rumor management process.

Confidence in government and rumors amongst migrant worker men involved in dormitory outbreaks of COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey

“…Finally, participants in our study reported high confidence in the government. This finding was unexpected, because: (i) previous studies had linked the spread of rumors to low trust in government [30] , (ii) several migrant groups had reported low trust in government following the onset of COVID-19 [31] , (iii) the pandemic had uncovered large disparities between migrant workers and the general population [17] , and (iv) a non-trivial group of participants (40%) expressed fears about their health or about job security. Together, these factors might be expected to dampen participants’ confidence.…”

Confidence in government and rumors amongst international migrant workers involved in dormitory outbreaks of COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey

“…Finally, participants in our study reported high confidence in the government. This finding was unexpected, because: (i) previous studies had linked the spread of rumors to low trust in government [29], (ii) the pandemic had revealed health disparities between participants and the general population [17], and (iii) a non-trivial group of participants (40%) expressed fears about their health or about job security. Nonetheless, interviews with migrant workers suggest that they may have compared their situation to that of other countries [30].…”

Communicating Uncertainties during the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…Regarding the institutions and people who provide such messages, two key characteristics are expertise, which refers to perceptions of their knowledge and competence, and trustworthiness, which refers to perceptions of credibility, validity, honesty, and sincerity in their communication (for overview, see Paek & Hove, 2019). On the issue of whether openly communicating uncertainty enhances or harms public perceptions of these characteristics, findings have been mixed (Markon, Crowe, & Lemyre, 2013).…”