Encountering misinformation online: antecedents of trust and distrust and their impact on the intensity of Facebook use
Abstract
Purpose: This study focused on the impact of misinformation on social networking sites. Through theorizing and integrating literature from interdisciplinary fields such as information behavior, communication and relationship management, this study explored how misinformation on Facebook influences users' trust, distrust and intensity of Facebook use. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed quantitative survey research and collected panel data via an online professional survey platform. A total of 661 participants in the USA completed this study, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the theoretical model using Amos 20. Findings: Based on data from an online questionnaire ( N = 661) in the USA, results showed that information trustworthiness and elaboration, users' self-efficacy of detecting misinformation and prescriptive expectancy of the social media platform significantly predicted both trust and distrust toward Facebook, which in turn jointly influenced users' intensity of using this information system. Originality/value: This study contributes to the growing body of literature on information and relationship management and digital communication from several important aspects. First, this study disclosed the underlying cognitive psychological and social processing of online misinformation and addressed the strategies for future system design and behavioral intervention of misinformation. Second, this study systematically examined both trust and distrust as cognitive and affective dimensions of the human mindsets, encompassed the different components of the online information behavior and enriched one’s understanding of how misinformation affected publics' perceptions of the information system where it appeared. Last but not least, this study advanced the relationship management literature and demonstrated that a trustful attitude exerted a stronger influence on the intensity of Facebook use than distrust did. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2020-0130
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There is a lack of consensus on the meaning of 'trust' in the context of social media.
“we lack basic agreement as to what trust means in the context of social media.”
From What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
Trust in social media has diverse impacts on people's behaviors and attitudes.
“the diverse impacts of trust on people's behaviors and attitudes [16,39,118].”
From What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
Prior research has produced conflicting results regarding who and what strengthens trust in social media.
“the conficting results from prior research regarding who and what strengthens trust in social media”
From What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
In Cheng et al. [16], trust had a stronger impact on Facebook use intensity than distrust.
“Furthermore, trust had a stronger impact on use intensity of Facebook than distrust.”
From What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
Cheng et al. [16] found that trust and distrust in Facebook concurrently and distinctly influenced users' intensity of use.
“Their study [16] shows that trust and distrust in Facebook concurrently and distinctly infuenced users' intensity of use.”
From What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
Many trust scholars outside HCI have advocated that trust and distrust should be treated as two distinct concepts, rather than opposites.
“Yet, outside of the feld of HCI, many trust scholars have advocated for the notion that trust and distrust should be treated as two distinct concepts, rather than opposites [16,38,63,102].”
From What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
Cheng et al. [16] assessed trust in Facebook by measuring integrity and competence, and assessed distrust in Facebook by measuring skepticism and vulnerability.
“Cheng et al. [16] assessed trust in Facebook by measuring integrity and competence, while also assessing distrust in Facebook by measuring skepticism and vulnerability.”
From What Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
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“We note that there are many definitions, measures, and factors of reliance and trust [27, 46, 90, 93, 107].”
BackgroundRETRACTED: Debiasing misinformation: how do people diagnose health recommendations from AI?
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RetractedWhat Do We Mean When We Talk about Trust in Social Media? A Systematic Review
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- Authors
- Cheng, Y., & Chen, Z. F.
- Affiliations
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of San Francisco (US)
- Venue
- Online Information Review
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2020-12-04
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 372-388
- ISSN
- 1468-4527 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3108812612
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 6.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Online Information Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Spam and Phishing Detection
- Keywords
- online misinformation, Facebook, trust in social media, distrust, usage intensity, information trustworthiness, elaboration, self-efficacy, relationship management, information behavior, social networking sites
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