IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v11y2021i4p21582440211061324.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information Source Use and Social Media Engagement: Examining their Effects on Origin of COVID-19 Beliefs

Author

Listed:
  • Kristin E. Gibson
  • Catherine E. Sanders
  • Alexa J. Lamm

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a highly infectious virus transmitted through droplets from sneezes and coughs, was declared a global pandemic in 2020. Measures implemented by organizations as a result of COVID-19 were controversial among United States (U.S.) citizens. Perceptions of governmental and scientific information further divided U.S. citizens and distrust in science fostered conspiratorial thinking toward the origin of the virus. The purpose of this study was to determine if critical thinking style (CTS), the use of COVID-19 information sources, and social media connections were predictors of origin of COVID-19 beliefs. A survey was disseminated to 1,048 U.S. adults in May 2020 when most states were under shelter-in-place orders. Results indicated select COVID-19 information sources used and social media connections predicted origin of COVID-19 beliefs. CTS was not a significant predictor. Findings revealed a partisan divide between COVID-19 information sources. Implications for science communicators engaging the public during crisis were discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristin E. Gibson & Catherine E. Sanders & Alexa J. Lamm, 2021. "Information Source Use and Social Media Engagement: Examining their Effects on Origin of COVID-19 Beliefs," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:4:p:21582440211061324
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440211061324
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440211061324
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440211061324?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jay J. Van Bavel & Katherine Baicker & Paulo S. Boggio & Valerio Capraro & Aleksandra Cichocka & Mina Cikara & Molly J. Crockett & Alia J. Crum & Karen M. Douglas & James N. Druckman & John Drury & Oe, 2020. "Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(5), pages 460-471, May.
    2. Constanze Rossmann & Lisa Meyer & Peter J. Schulz, 2018. "The Mediated Amplification of a Crisis: Communicating the A/H1N1 Pandemic in Press Releases and Press Coverage in Europe," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 357-375, February.
    3. Allcott, Hunt & Boxell, Levi & Conway, Jacob & Gentzkow, Matthew & Thaler, Michael & Yang, David, 2020. "Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    4. Dan Kahan, 2012. "Why we are poles apart on climate change," Nature, Nature, vol. 488(7411), pages 255-255, August.
    5. Friederike Hendriks & Dorothe Kienhues & Rainer Bromme, 2016. "Trust in Science and the Science of Trust," Progress in IS, in: Bernd Blöbaum (ed.), Trust and Communication in a Digitized World, edition 1, pages 143-159, Springer.
    6. Thunström, Linda & Newbold, Stephen C. & Finnoff, David & Ashworth, Madison & Shogren, Jason F., 2020. "The Benefits and Costs of Using Social Distancing to Flatten the Curve for COVID-19," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 179-195, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zixuan Weng & Aijun Lin, 2022. "Public Opinion Manipulation on Social Media: Social Network Analysis of Twitter Bots during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bazzi, Samuel & Fiszbein, Martin & Gebresilasse, Mesay, 2021. "“Rugged individualism” and collective (in)action during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    2. Paul Bokern & Jona Linde & Arno Riedl & Peter Werner, 2023. "The Robustness of Preferences during a Crisis: The Case of Covid-19," CESifo Working Paper Series 10595, CESifo.
    3. Jay Joseph van Bavel & Aleksandra Cichocka & Valerio Capraro & Hallgeir Sjåstad & John Nezlek & Tomislav Pavlović & Mark Alfano & Michele Gelfand & Flavio Azevedo & Michèle Birtel & Aleksandra Cislak , 2022. "National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic: Results from 67 nations," Post-Print hal-03543504, HAL.
    4. Cindy Cheng & Joan Barceló & Allison Spencer Hartnett & Robert Kubinec & Luca Messerschmidt, 2020. "COVID-19 Government Response Event Dataset (CoronaNet v.1.0)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(7), pages 756-768, July.
    5. Grimalda, Gianluca & Murtin, Fabrice & Pipke, David & Putterman, Louis & Sutter, Matthias, 2023. "The politicized pandemic: Ideological polarization and the behavioral response to COVID-19," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Shuguang Jiang & Qian Wei & Luyao Zhang, 2022. "Individualism Versus Collectivism and the Early-Stage Transmission of COVID-19," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 791-821, November.
    7. Seres, Gyula & Balleyer, Anna & Cerutti, Nicola & Friedrichsen, Jana & Süer, Müge, 2020. "Face mask use and physical distancing before and after mandatory masking: Evidence from public waiting lines," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2020-305, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    8. Mellacher, Patrick, 2023. "The impact of corona populism: Empirical evidence from Austria and theory," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 113-140.
    9. Floyd Jiuyun Zhang, 2023. "Political endorsement by Nature and trust in scientific expertise during COVID-19," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(5), pages 696-706, May.
    10. Seres, Gyula & Balleyer, Anna & Cerutti, Nicola & Friedrichsen, Jana & Süer, Müge, 2021. "Face mask use and physical distancing before and after mandatory masking: No evidence on risk compensation in public waiting lines," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 765-781.
    11. Lea-Rachel Kosnik & Allen Bellas, 2020. "Drivers of COVID-19 Stay at Home Orders: Epidemiologic, Economic, or Political Concerns?," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 503-514, October.
    12. Rehse, Dominik & Tremöhlen, Felix, 2022. "Fostering participation in digital contact tracing," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. Avinash Collis & Kiran Garimella & Alex Moehring & M. Amin Rahimian & Stella Babalola & Nina H. Gobat & Dominick Shattuck & Jeni Stolow & Sinan Aral & Dean Eckles, 2022. "Global survey on COVID-19 beliefs, behaviours and norms," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 1310-1317, September.
    14. Upravitelev, A., 2023. "Efficacious methods of restraining COVID-19 through behavioral public policy," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 61(4), pages 203-222.
    15. Jay J. Van Bavel, 2022. "National Identity Predicts Public Health Support During A Global Pandemic," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2022-81, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Jul 2022.
    16. Hee-Seung Yang & Sungjin Kim, 2022. "Trusted Institutions and Policy Compliance: Evidence from COVID-19 Mobility Patterns in Korea," Working papers 2022rwp-206, Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute.
    17. Janel Jett & Leigh Raymond, 2021. "Issue Framing and U.S. State Energy and Climate Policy Choice," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(3), pages 278-299, May.
    18. Jacek Rothert, 2020. "Optimal federal redistribution during the uncoordinated response to a pandemic," Departmental Working Papers 64, United States Naval Academy Department of Economics.
    19. Wanja Wolff & Corinna S. Martarelli & Julia Schüler & Maik Bieleke, 2020. "High Boredom Proneness and Low Trait Self-Control Impair Adherence to Social Distancing Guidelines during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-10, July.
    20. Chaikaew, Pasicha & Hodges, Alan W. & Grunwald, Sabine, 2017. "Estimating the value of ecosystem services in a mixed-use watershed: A choice experiment approach," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 228-237.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:4:p:21582440211061324. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.