The charm of emojis: the heterogeneous effects of emoji use on users’ intention to share in online tourism rumor correction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Improving users’ intention to share rumor-correcting information is crucial for the tourism rumor correction. Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theoretical framework, this study explored the heterogeneous effects of emoji use on users’ sharing intention during tourism rumor correction using the experimental method. The results indicate that emoji use while correcting rumors can increase the persuasive effect, but the emoji meaning’s multipleness will reduce users’ intention to share. Furthermore, perceived information authenticity and processing fluency are mediating factors. Moreover, information sources is an effective moderator. For individual sources, the multiple meanings of emojis increase the negative effect on users’ sharing intention, whereas organizational sources can decrease this negative effect.