Factors That Motivates Fake News Sharing Among Social Media Users: A Case of an Emerging Economy

Saeeda Ghaznavi, Syed Yousuf Ali, Neha Mahmood Khan, Mahrukh Fatima and Iqra Shakoor

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: False news is not new but it is becoming more common, it has become a serious issue as a result of social media's expansion, which has permitted individuals to engage and share thoughts. The primary aim of the research is to investigate those factors that influence fake news sharing on social media in an emerging economy. It is necessary to target emerging economy as fake news create a massive panic in such challenging economies that ultimately affect various sectors. For this purpose, Uses and Gratification theory (U&G) is used. In this research, the independent variable is False information and dependent variables are Altruism, Information sharing, Socialization, Entertainment and Pass time. In this research, quantitative method is used to investigate concepts to find relationships between variables and forecast results. In this research, the correlation research approach is used. A survey was conducted with local students via questionnaire (n=150). For data analysis, SPSS and smart PLS-SEM is used in this research. According to the findings of the study, altruism is the foremost imperative indicator of fake news distribution among Pakistanis. We have come to the conclusion that Altruism, Entertainment and Pass the Time foresee the spread of bogus news positively while Sharing of Information and Socialization impacts negatively. We recommend that online platforms users must verify the veracity of the information they have encounter and then post on social media websites.

Keywords: Fake News Sharing; COVID-19; Social media users; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 M3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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