Examining the effects of disinformation and trust on social media users' COVID-19 vaccine decision-making

Author(s)

Zulma Valedon Westney, Northern Virginia Community College
Inkyoung Hur, Florida Atlantic University
Ling Wang, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Junping Sun, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Researcher ID

0000-0001-9164-8061

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Information Technology & People

ISSN

0959-3845

Publication Date

5-4-2023

Abstract

Purpose

Disinformation on social media is a serious issue. This study examines the effects of disinformation on COVID-19 vaccination decision-making to understand how social media users make healthcare decisions when disinformation is presented in their social media feeds. It examines trust in post owners as a moderator on the relationship between information types (i.e. disinformation and factual information) and vaccination decision-making.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducts a scenario-based web survey experiment to collect extensive survey data from social media users.

Findings

This study reveals that information types differently affect social media users' COVID-19 vaccination decision-making and finds a moderating effect of trust in post owners on the relationship between information types and vaccination decision-making. For those who have a high degree of trust in post owners, the effect of information types on vaccination decision-making becomes large. In contrast, information types do not affect the decision-making of those who have a very low degree of trust in post owners. Besides, identification and compliance are found to affect trust in post owners.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on online disinformation and individual healthcare decision-making by demonstrating the effect of disinformation on vaccination decision-making and providing empirical evidence on how trust in post owners impacts the effects of information types on vaccination decision-making. This study focuses on trust in post owners, unlike prior studies that focus on trust in information or social media platforms.

DOI

10.1108/ITP-05-2022-0410

Comments

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

NSUWorks Citation

Westney, Zulma Valedon; Hur, Inkyoung; Wang, Ling; and Sun, Junping, "Examining the effects of disinformation and trust on social media users' COVID-19 vaccine decision-making" (2023). CCE Faculty Articles. 531.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_facarticles/531