Lift the veil of rumors: the impact of the characteristics of information sources on the effectiveness of rumors spreading
ISSN: 1066-2243
Article publication date: 25 August 2021
Issue publication date: 18 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impacts of rumors' information characteristics on people's believing and spreading of rumors online.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a mixed-methods approach by combining qualitative and quantitative methods. In study 1, the authors explored different types of rumors and their information source characteristics through qualitative research. In study 2, the authors utilized the findings from study 1 to develop an empirical model to verify the impact of these characteristics on the public's behaviors of believing and spreading rumors by content analysis and quantitative research.
Findings
The results show that five information source characteristics – credibility, professionalism, attractiveness, mystery and concreteness – influence the spreading effect of different types of rumors.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to rumor spreading research by deepening the theory of information source characteristics and adding to the emerging literature on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Practical implications
Insights from this research offer important practical implications for policymakers and online-platform operators by highlighting how to suppress the spread of rumors, particularly those associated with COVID-19.
Originality/value
This research introduces the theory of information source characteristics into the field of rumor spreading and adopts a mixed-methods approach, taking COVID-19 rumors as a typical case, which provides a unique perspective for a deeper understanding of rumor spreading's antecedences.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72102099, and 7183201), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 2020A151501530), Youth Innovation Talent Program of General Universities of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No.2019WQNCX106), Philosophy and Social Science Program of Shenzhen City, (Grant No. SZ2021D021).
Lu (Monroe) Meng and Tongmao Li are co-first authors.
Citation
Meng, L.(M)., Li, T., Huang, X. and Li, S.(K). (2022), "Lift the veil of rumors: the impact of the characteristics of information sources on the effectiveness of rumors spreading", Internet Research, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 90-119. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-11-2020-0620
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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