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Health-related fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic: perceived trust and information search

Lei Zheng (School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China) (Center for China Social Trust Research, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China) (Institute of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China)
Jon D. Elhai (Department of Psychology, The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA)
Miao Miao (Department of Medical Psychology, School of Health Humanities, Peking University, Beijing, China)
Yu Wang (School of Business Administration, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China)
Yiwen Wang (School of Economics and Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China) (Center for China Social Trust Research, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China) (Institute of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China)
Yiqun Gan (School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China)

Internet Research

ISSN: 1066-2243

Article publication date: 4 January 2022

Issue publication date: 9 May 2022

1389

Abstract

Purpose

Health-related online fake news (HOFN) has become a major social problem. HOFN can lead to the spread of ineffective and even harmful remedies. The study aims to understand Internet users' responses to HOFN during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic using the protective action decision model (PADM).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected pandemic severity data (regional number of confirmed cases) from government websites of the USA and China (Studies 1 and 2), search behavior from Google and Baidu search engines (Studies 1 and 2) and data regarding trust in two online fake news stories from two national surveys (Studies 2 and 3). All data were analyzed using a multi-level linear model.

Findings

The research detected negative time-lagged relationships between pandemic severity and regional HOFN search behavior by three actual fake news stories from the USA and China (Study 1). Importantly, trust in HOFN served as a mediator in the time-lagged relationship between pandemic severity and search behavior (Study 2). Additionally, the relationship between pandemic severity and trust in HOFN varied according to individuals' perceived control (Study 3).

Originality/value

The authors' results underscore the important role of PADM in understanding Internet users' trust in and search for HOFN. When people trust HOFN, they may seek more information to implement further protective actions. Importantly, it appears that trust in HOFN varies with environmental cues (regional pandemic severity) and with individuals' perceived control, providing insight into developing coping strategies during a pandemic.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: This study is supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (20CSH073) to Lei Zheng and (19ZDA361) to corresponding author Yiwen Wang, and Fujian Social Science Foundation for Education Product (JAS19029) to Lei Zheng.

Conflicts of interest: None.

Ethics approval: All participants gave the informed consent which was approved by the Ethics Committee of Fuzhou University.

Citation

Zheng, L., Elhai, J.D., Miao, M., Wang, Y., Wang, Y. and Gan, Y. (2022), "Health-related fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic: perceived trust and information search", Internet Research, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 768-789. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-11-2020-0624

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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