Chen, Guangyu
(2023)
Rumour Response Strategy And Behavioural Intention: The Mediating Roles Of Anxiety And Government Reputation During Covid-19 “Infodemic” In China.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
The rising popularity of social media has inevitably led to the dissemination of
both factual and truthful information as well as rumours. Specifically, numerous health
rumours have circulated on digital platforms following the global COVID-19
pandemic. Relevant government bodies must proactively convey public information
to influence individuals’ behaviour and subsequent involvement in emergency
decision-making during a major health crisis. As such, the right rumour response
strategy must be used by the government to avoid negative reaction from the public
amidst a major health crisis. This study was based on three key objectives: (i) to
identify the most effective government rumour response strategies to address rumours
during a health crisis; (ii) to examine the role of anxiety in this process; (iii) to examine
the role of government reputation in the process. The Situational Crisis
Communication Theory (SCCT) served as the theoretical foundation of the study.
Online survey experimental data were collected from 245 Chinese participants, who
were exposed to a false social media rumour stimulus that potato chips could spread
Covid-19. Notably, the participants were subjected to one of the three following
rumour response strategy: denial, refute, and attack. The one-way ANOVA results
revealed that the impact of the refutation response led to the lowest rumour
dissemination intention. The refutation response also led to the lowest behavioural
intention to consume rumour-related products.
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