Fake news and youngsters’ decision journey: An evaluation of the influence of misinformation on social media

IF 1 Q4 MANAGEMENT

Intangible Capital Pub Date : 2023-11-28 DOI:10.3926/ic.2312

Olga Kanashina, Rubén Huertas Garcia, A. Jiménez-Zarco

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose: Social media has changed the way users interact with each other, and has become an important part of numerous lives. However, there is an increasing flow of implausible content circulating on social media, which points to the need for some categorization and regulation. This study will examine how the proliferation of fake news on social media impacts students and their choice of university. To answer this question, market research was conducted on the precedents that affect the acceptance of fake news among university students when choosing to study for a master's degree that will help them in their professional careers.Design/methodology/approach: The study used a quantitative method. A parsimonious model of causal relationships was proposed based on scales taken from the literature, assessed by a convenience sample of students, and adjusted by structural equation modelling (SEM).Findings: Results show that the parsimonious model explains 35% of fake news acceptance and that media dependency (ISMD) and parasocial interaction (PSI) are the main direct effects, while perceived media richness (PR) has a significant indirect influence on the attitude towards fake news and, consequently, on its acceptance. Furthermore, fake news literacy plays a correct moderating role with the most relevant source of influence, SNS dependency.Research limitations: A convenience sample was used, and a parsimonious model with three antecedent factors and one mediating factor was proposed. Other social factors could have been considered, including multicultural variables.Practical implications: The results point to students' expressed dependence on social networks as the main factor explaining their attitude towards fake news, negatively moderated by students' level of knowledge about the importance of this phenomenon in social networks. Therefore, it is relevant to promote knowledge about this phenomenon among students to reduce its influence on decision-making processes.Originality/value: This paper provides a novel context for the study of the proliferation of fake news on social networks: the process of choosing a university by students addicted to the news circulating on social media.

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假新闻与青少年的决策之旅：评估社交媒体上错误信息的影响

目的：社交媒体改变了用户之间的互动方式，已成为许多人生活的重要组成部分。然而，社交媒体上流传的虚假内容越来越多，这说明有必要对其进行分类和监管。本研究将探讨社交媒体上假新闻的泛滥如何影响学生及其大学选择。为了回答这个问题，我们对大学生在选择攻读对其职业生涯有帮助的硕士学位时，影响其接受假新闻的先例进行了市场调研：本研究采用定量方法。根据文献中的量表提出了一个因果关系解析模型，由方便抽样的学生进行评估，并通过结构方程模型（SEM）进行调整：结果表明，解析模型解释了 35% 的假新闻接受度，媒体依赖（ISMD）和寄生社会互动（PSI）是主要的直接影响因素，而感知媒体丰富度（PR）对假新闻的态度以及假新闻的接受度有显著的间接影响。此外，假新闻素养与最相关的影响源--SNS 依赖性--起着正确的调节作用：研究局限性：本研究使用了便利样本，并提出了一个包含三个前因因素和一个中介因素的简化模型。本可以考虑其他社会因素，包括多元文化变量：研究结果表明，学生对社交网络的明显依赖是解释他们对假新闻态度的主要因素，而学生对社交网络中这一现象重要性的了解程度则对这一因素起负调节作用。因此，有必要向学生宣传有关这一现象的知识，以减少其对决策过程的影响：本文为研究社交网络上假新闻的扩散提供了一个新的背景：沉迷于社交媒体上流传的新闻的学生选择大学的过程。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Intangible Capital MANAGEMENT-

CiteScore

1.50

自引率

16.70%

发文量

审稿时长

33 weeks

期刊介绍： The aim of Intangible Capital is to publish theoretical and empirical articles that contribute to contrast, extend and build theories that contribute to advance our understanding of phenomena related with management, and the management of intangibles, in organizations, from the perspectives of strategic management, human resource management, psychology, education, IT, supply chain management and accounting. The scientific research in management is grounded on theories developed from perspectives taken from a diversity of social sciences. Intangible Capital is open to publish articles that, from sociology, psychology, economics and industrial organization contribute to the scientific development of management and organizational science. Intangible Capital publishes scholar articles that contribute to contrast existing theories, or to build new theoretical approaches. The contributions can adopt confirmatory (quantitative) or explanatory (mainly qualitative) methodological approaches. Theoretical essays that enhance the building or extension of theoretical approaches are also welcome. Intangible Capital selects the articles to be published with a double bind, peer review system, following the practices of good scholarly journals. Intangible Capital publishes three regular issues per year following an open access policy. On-line publication allows to reduce publishing costs, and to make more agile the process of reviewing and edition. Intangible Capital defends that open access publishing fosters the advance of scientific knowledge, making it available to everyone. Intangible Capital publishes articles in English, Spanish and Catalan.