Validation of the COVID-19 Transmission Misinformation Scale and Conditional Indirect Negative Effects on Wearing a Mask in Public

Stephen Bok, Daniel E. Martin, Erik Acosta, Maria Lee and James Shum
Additional contact information
Stephen Bok: Marketing Department, California State University, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA 94542, USA
Daniel E. Martin: Management Department, California State University, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA 94542, USA
Erik Acosta: Marketing Department, California State University, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA 94542, USA
Maria Lee: Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 92697, USA
James Shum: Accounting Department, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-23

Abstract: The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic devastated the world economy. Global infections and deaths altered the behaviors of generations. The Internet acted as an incredible vehicle for communication but was also a source of unfounded rumors. Unfortunately, this freedom of information sharing and fear of COVID-19 fostered unfounded claims about transmission (e.g., 5G networks spread the disease). With negligible enforcement to stop the spread of rumors and government officials spouting unfounded claims, falsities became ubiquitous. Organizations, public health officials, researchers, and businesses spent limited resources addressing rumors instead of implementing policies to overcome challenges (e.g., speaking to defiant mask wearers versus safe reopening actions). The researchers defined COVID-19 transmission misinformation as false beliefs about the spread and prevention of contracting the disease. Design and validation of the 12-item COVID-19 Transmission Misinformation Scale (CTMS) provides a measure to identify transmission misinformation believers. Indirect COVID-19 transmission misinformation beliefs with a fear of COVID-19 decreased wearing a mask in public intentions. Callousness exacerbated COVID-19 transmission misinformation beliefs as a moderator.

Keywords: COVID-19 Transmission Misinformation Scale (CTMS); validation; reliability; interitem correlation; predictive validity; moderated mediation analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11319/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11319/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11319-:d:666668

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().