A study of the antecedents of fake news sharing and the moderating effect of online trust

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships between behavioral factors and fake news sharing and explore the moderating effect of online trust on that relationship. For this, the present study collected data from 352 social media users in South Korea through the survey for which the professional survey company gave electronic gift cards to respondents to increase the response rate and reduce the non-response bias. And, it used hierarchical multiple regression analyses. First, the results show that the more socialization, pass-time, or information-seeking gratification participants perceive online, the more favorable fake news sharing they have. Conversely, entertainment was not significantly associated with fake news sharing in this study. Second, the positive relationship between socialization gratification support and fake news sharing is stronger for participants with high rather than low online trust. However, online trust was found to have no significance on the relationship between other gratification factors and fake news sharing. This study enhances understanding of sharing fake news online, linking negative social media use to fake news sharing. It connects antecedents and variables based on U&G theory and prior research. It also recommends screen time tracking apps with warnings to address social media fatigue and prevent fake news.