What message features influence the intention to share misinformation about COVID-19 on social media? The role of efficacy and novelty

Abstract

Given the amount of misinformation being circulated on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential threat to public health, it is imperative to investigate ways to hinder its transmission. To this end, this study aimed to identify message features that may contribute to misinformation sharing on social media. Based on the theory of social sharing of emotion and the extant research on message credibility, this study examined if emotions and message credibility serve as mechanisms through which novelty and efficacy of misinformation influence sharing intention. An online experiment concerning COVID-19 misinformation was conducted by employing a 2 (novelty conditions: high vs. low) × 2 (efficacy conditions: high vs. low) between-subjects design using a national quota sample in South Korea (N = 1,012). The findings suggested that, contrary to the expectation, the overall effects of novelty on sharing intention were negative. The specific mechanisms played significant and unique roles in different directions: novelty increased sharing intention by evoking surprise, while also exerting a negative influence on sharing intention through an increase in negative emotions and a decrease in positive emotions and message credibility. Consistent with the expectation, efficacy exhibited positive total effects on sharing intention, which was explained by higher levels of (self- and response-) efficacy of protective action increasing positive emotions and message credibility but decreasing negative emotions. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Keywords: COVID-19; Efficacy; Emotion; Fake news; Message credibility; Misinformation; Novelty; Sharing intention.

Fig. 1

The effects of novelty and efficacy on sharing intention. The y-axis indicates the estimated marginal means of sharing intention from the analysis of covariance testing the effects of novelty and efficacy with covariates.

Fig. 2

Path model of the effects of novelty and efficacy of misinformation on sharing intention. ^∗p < .05, ^∗∗p < .01, ^∗∗∗p < .001. Significant and non-significant paths are indicated with solid and dotted lines, respectively. Novelty and efficacy were entered as dummy variables (high = 1, low = 0). Covariates were included in the model but are not shown in the figure for parsimonious reporting. The path from efficacy to surprise was not a part of the hypotheses, but it was included for completeness in testing the roles of the four mediators in the model.