Modeling the relationship between internet epistemic belief, digital literacy and social media engagement of adult social media users: a practical implication for education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Social media engagement is part of our society, especially for the younger generation who are keen on technology. Nowadays, social media has become the most used platform to pick up information. Therefore, the increased number of social media users was not followed by the ability to distinguish between fake and authentic information online. There is a reason that drives someone to hold a specific belief since epistemic is a domain-dependent form that exists contextually. This study develops a scale with 33 items to investigate the variables of internet epistemic beliefs, digital literacy, and social media engagements. A total of 512 participants administered the survey using the snowball sampling method. This study generates five CFA analysis factors and concludes a model through an SEM analysis. This study investigated the interrelationship between internet epistemic belief and social media engagement with digital literacy as a mediation role. Findings draw some conclusions and practical implications in preparing the youth to be digitally adaptive and wise.