Stumble on information or misinformation? Examining the interplay of incidental news exposure, narcissism, and new media literacy in misinformation engagement

Abstract

PurposeIn the current media landscape where misinformation circulation becomes a primary threat to public health and society's intellectual well-being, incidental news exposure's role in influencing misperceptions and misinformation engagement remains under-explored. Moreover, less is known regarding how and to what extent personal factors such as personality and media literacy may drive the sharing of misinformation.Design/methodology/approachUnder the theoretical guidance of the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, the authors surveyed 546 college students aged 18 and above to explore the relationship between incidental news exposure and misinformation sharing.FindingsFindings buttressed the hypothesized relationship built on the S-O-R model and revealed a path from incidental online news exposure to misinformation sharing, mediated by misperceptions. The mediated path was further moderated by narcissism and media literacy. Specifically, narcissists have higher misperceptions when they encounter online news more often; higher misperceptions in turn give rise to greater misinformation sharing behaviors. The ability to critically consume new media information only decreases misinformation sharing behavior for narcissists with lower misperceptions.Originality/valueGuided by the S-O-R framework, this study takes the first step in examining the link between incidental news exposure and misinformation sharing and accounts for the moderating influences of personality and media literacy factors. Findings provide a theoretical foundation and practical implications for future interventions to combat misinformation.

Buffering Against Exposure to Mental Health Misinformation in Online Communities: The Interplay of Depression Literacy and Expert Moderation

“…This rst result is concerning as members look for information on online communities to make important health decisions (66). However, the study also found that individuals with higher levels of depression literacy were better equipped to resist mental health-related misinformation (H2), consistent with prior research (44)(45)(46). It is important to note that there were no signi cant differences in Depression Literacy or misinformation agreements among participants in the three types of OCMHs studied (peer, mixed, and expert).…”

An empirical evaluation of the predictors and consequences of social media health-misinformation seeking behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…2.5 Social media health-misinformation seeking behavior and social media users' anxiety Social cognitive theory explains how individuals within a network, social system and online environment enact several human practices, such as the adoption and usage of health (mis) information (Bandura, 2001;Middleton et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2021), which may bring forth specific expected outcomes (Malik et al, 2022) During the pandemic, many self-owned social media outlets frequently spread nonevidence-based incorrect health information or greatly exaggerated rare sequelae of COVID-19 lacking common consent of systematic study for the sake of attention, leading masses to fear of death, panic about infection and phobia of multi-organ failure which can trigger social media users' anxiety (Shan et al, 2022;Xiao and Su, 2023). Particularly in situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of change, degree of complexity and ambiguity make inaccurate information and inadequate information prevalent (Wang et al, 2022).…”

“…During the pandemic, many self-owned social media outlets frequently spread non-evidence-based incorrect health information or greatly exaggerated rare sequelae of COVID-19 lacking common consent of systematic study for the sake of attention, leading masses to fear of death, panic about infection and phobia of multi-organ failure which can trigger social media users' anxiety (Shan et al , 2022; Xiao and Su, 2023). Particularly in situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of change, degree of complexity and ambiguity make inaccurate information and inadequate information prevalent (Wang et al , 2022).…”

Understanding health misinformation sharing among the middle-aged or above in China: roles of social media health information seeking, misperceptions and information processing predispositions

“…Sampat and Raj (2022) proposed a conceptual model with user gratifications and personality traits as stimuli (S), which serve as the antecedents of instant news sharing and news authentication (O) and finally affect fake news sharing (R). According to Xiao and Su (2022), in the context of misinformation engagement, the "S" can be conceptualized as media exposure, which serves as a starting point for following reasoning processes and behavioral responses (Shah et al, 2007). The "O" can be conceptualized as perceptions or beliefs formed upon information exposure, while the "R" represents the final outcome behaviors (Xiao and Su, 2022).…”

“…Furthermore, since misinformation susceptibility and sharing may be fueled or buffered by certain individual traits (e.g. information processing predispositions) (Nan et al, 2022;Wu et al, 2022b;Xiao and Su, 2022), we also discussed how individual differences in information processing (i.e. need for cognition (NFC) and faith in intuition (FI)) would condition the S-O-R-based psychological process.…”