Abstract
In the present era of information technology, people tend to seek out news to enhance their current knowledge and awareness and to gain literacy. The reliance on seeking out news and relevant information has become very necessary to accomplish personal and organizational objectives. The present study has undertaken an inquiry to investigate the impact of social media news overload on news avoidance and news filtering with the mediating and moderating mechanisms of the need for news and media literacy, respectively. For this purpose, data were obtained from 358 Chinese social media users through the aid of survey forms. The data obtained were then analyzed through Smart-PLS software. The statistical technique used for analysis is structural equation modeling (SEM) to determine the validity of the proposed hypotheses. The results of the study indicated that social media news overload has a significant effect on news avoidance, the need for news, and news filtering behavior. It was also observed that the need for news had a significant impact on news avoidance. In addition to this, it was also revealed that the need for news significantly mediated the relationship between social media news overload and news avoidance; however, it did not mediate the relationship between social media news overload and news filtering. Lastly, it was identified that media literacy significantly moderated the relationship between the need for news and news avoidance and it did not moderate the relationship between the need for news and news filtering behavior. This study has made important theoretical contributions by advancing the current literature in terms of the empirical evidence that indicates a significant relationship between social media news overload, news avoidance, and news filtering. Practically, this study contributed by emphasizing the need to encourage and train people to use strategies to seek relevant news in a vast repository of information available through information technology.
Highlights
The popularity of social media has enabled the dissemination of news, rapidly and widely, to the vast population (Sun et al, 2021)
The need to seek news and relevant information has become all the more important in this age as it significantly aids an individual in broadening their knowledge and awareness, and helping them in making better and informed decisions
The results reveal that social media news overload has a significant effect on news avoidance, need for news, and news filtering behavior
Summary
The popularity of social media has enabled the dissemination of news, rapidly and widely, to the vast population (Sun et al, 2021). People gain information regarding current affairs and politics from social media rather than from mass media (Song et al, 2020). The study provides greater insights for the readers to understand the impact of social media news overload, because this topic is quite crucial in the present era of social media which is widely used among masses. Need for news among the people might get affected when overloaded with social media news because too much information increases level of anxiety among people. The reader would understand that media literacy plays a significant role in avoiding and filtering the available news on social media. The social media page owners would understand that overloading public with massive information would bring negative consequences such as low need for news, avoidance, and filtering of news. Media literacy among masses can help to hamper the adverse effect of need for need on avoidance and filtering of social media
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