INFORMATION PROCESSING – HEURISTIC VS SYSTEMATIC AND SUSCEPTIBILITY OF SHARING COVID 19-RELATED FAKE NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

Social media has turned into a fertile ground for COVID-19 fake news. The present study aims to provide a hypothetical and empirical background to elucidate the psychological and behavioral aspects of information processing and susceptibility of sharing the fake news, with especial reference to COVID-19 news on social media. The study explores the relation between the select variables and heuristic and systematic information processing. Grounded on prior studies, this paper presents a research model to address susceptibility of sharing the fake news on social media, and identifies characteristics that may be more susceptible than others for sharing fake news on social media including Sharing Motivation (SM), Social Media Fatigue (SMF), Feel Good Factor (FGF), Fear of Missing out (FoMO), News Characteristics (NC) and five Big Personality Traits. The data collected from 244 respondents was analyzed with the help of IBM SPSS 23, using descriptive and statistical test, including means, standard deviations, and correlation analysis conducted. Correlation exploration was utilized to study the association between the select variables and systematic and heuristic information processing and susceptibility of sharing the fake news on social media. The findings show several factors contribute to information processing in both modes. The study confirms that heuristic processing is significantly associated with susceptibility of sharing fake news. The research adds to the media studies, behavioral and psychological disciplines, as it examines the relationships between the select variables and the systematic and heuristic information processing and COVID-19 fake news on social media. The present investigation makes an innovative and original contribution to media studies by exploring the relationship between select variables and susceptibility for sharing fake news on social media. The study presents a research model to identify the influence of select variables on information processing and the susceptibility to falling prey to fake news on social media and contributes to the domain to media studies.