Systematic Review of Misinformation in Social and Online Media for the Development of an Analytical Framework for Agri-Food Sector

Ataharul Chowdhury (), Khondokar H. Kabir, Abdul-Rahim Abdulai and Md Firoze Alam
Additional contact information
Ataharul Chowdhury: School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Khondokar H. Kabir: School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Abdul-Rahim Abdulai: Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Md Firoze Alam: School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-25

Abstract: The ubiquity of social and online media networks, the credulousness of online communities, coupled with limited accountability pose a risk of mis-, dis-, mal-, information (mis-dis-mal-information)—the intentional or unintentional spread of false, misleading and right information related to agri-food topics. However, agri-food mis-dis-malinformation in social media and online digital agricultural communities of practice (CoPs) remains underexplored. There is also a limited theoretical and conceptual foundation for understanding mis-dis-malinformation topics in the agri-food sectors. The study aims to review mis-dis-malinformation literature and offer a framework to help understand agri-food mis-dis-malinformation in social media and online CoPs. This paper performs a systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). The review shows that many disciplines, particularly communication, social media studies, computer science, health studies, political science and journalism, are increasingly engaging with mis-dis-malinformation research. This systematic research generates a framework based on six thematic categories for holistically understanding and assessing agri-food mis-dis-malinformation in social and online media communities. The framework includes mis-dis-malinformation characterization, source identification, diffusion mechanisms, stakeholder impacts, detection tactics, and mis-dis-malinformation curtailment and countermeasures. The paper contributes to advancing the emerging literature on ‘controversial topics’, ‘misinformation’, and ‘information integrity’ of the virtual agri-food advisory services. This is the first attempt to systematically analyze and incorporate experience from diverse fields of mis-dis-malinformation research that will inform future scholarly works in facilitating conversations and advisory efforts in the agri-food sector.

Keywords: mis-dis-malinformation; agri-food; social and online media; communities of practice; communication (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/4753/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/4753/ (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:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:4753-:d:1090342

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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