To share or not: intention to verify news before sharing to social media

Abstract

This research aims to determine whether individuals intend to verify the validity of information before posting it on social media platforms. The intention to verify news before posting it on social media is the dependent variable. The four independent variables are attitudes, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms, and awareness and knowledge. This study used a quantitative approach and a self-administered questionnaire as its research instrument. It was then delivered to the respondents via Google Forms, and the data that was gathered was then analysed using IBM SPSS version 26.0. The total number of respondents is 402. Female participants are 221 (55.0%), while males are 181 (45.0%). The result revealed a significant relationship between all the independent variables (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and awareness and knowledge) and the dependent variable (intention to verify). From the standardised regression coefficients (beta coefficients), it shows that the most significant relative influence of the explanatory variables is Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC =0.358), followed by Attitude (Att =0.334), Awareness And Knowledge (AFN= 0.169) and Subjective Norms (SN= 0.092). This study helps make improvements to these elements to halt the escalation of the spread of fake news on social media among the general population.

Keywords

• attitude
• subjective norms
• perceive behavioural control
• awareness and knowledge
• fake news