IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20220086.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Disinformation for Hire: Examining the Production of False COVID-19 Information

Author

Listed:
  • Alain Cohn

    (University of Michigan)

  • Jan Stoop

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Hatim A. Rahman

    (Northwestern University)

Abstract

Misinformation is linked to increased social divisions and adverse health outcomes. While most research focuses on the spread of misinformation, we examine the production of misinformation intended to mislead (disinformation). Our field experiment (N=1,200) found, adjusting for circumstantial factors, 87% of workers in an online labor market completed a job requesting them to create a misleading COVID-19 graph. Viewing a disinformation graph from the experiment negatively affected people’s beliefs and behavioral responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, including increased vaccine hesitancy. Using a “wisdom-of-crowds” approach, we highlight how online labor markets can introduce features that may reduce the production of disinformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Alain Cohn & Jan Stoop & Hatim A. Rahman, 2022. "Disinformation for Hire: Examining the Production of False COVID-19 Information," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-086/II, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220086
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/22086.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John A. List & Azeem M. Shaikh & Yang Xu, 2019. "Multiple hypothesis testing in experimental economics," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 22(4), pages 773-793, December.
    2. Dimant, Eugen, 2015. "On Peer Effects: Behavioral Contagion of (Un)Ethical Behavior and the Role of Social Identity," MPRA Paper 68732, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Dimant, Eugen, 2019. "Contagion of pro- and anti-social behavior among peers and the role of social proximity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 66-88.
    4. Claire M. Hart & Timothy D. Ritchie & Erica G. Hepper & Jochen E. Gebauer, 2015. "The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Short Form (BIDR-16)," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(4), pages 21582440156, December.
    5. William D. Brink & Tim V. Eaton & Jonathan H. Grenier & Andrew Reffett, 2019. "Deterring Unethical Behavior in Online Labor Markets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 71-88, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Linek, Maximilian & Traxler, Christian, 2021. "Framing and social information nudges at Wikipedia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 1269-1279.
    2. Bolton, Gary & Dimant, Eugen & Schmidt, Ulrich, 2021. "Observability and social image: On the robustness and fragility of reciprocity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 946-964.
    3. Jeworrek, Sabrina & Waibel, Joschka, 2021. "Alone at home: The impact of social distancing on norm-consistent behavior," IWH Discussion Papers 8/2021, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    4. Gary Bolton & Eugen Dimant & Ulrich Schmidt, 2018. "When a Nudge Backfires. Using Observation with Social and Economic Incentives to Promote Pro-Social Behavior," PPE Working Papers 0017, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    5. Desmet, Pieter T.M. & Engel, Christoph, 2021. "People are conditional rule followers," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    6. Carolin V. Zorell, 2020. "Nudges, Norms, or Just Contagion? A Theory on Influences on the Practice of (Non-)Sustainable Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.
    7. Borau, Sylvie & Couprie, Hélène & Hopfensitz, Astrid, 2022. "The prosociality of married people: Evidence from a large multinational sample," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Bicchieri, Cristina & Dimant, Eugen & Gächter, Simon & Nosenzo, Daniele, 2022. "Social proximity and the erosion of norm compliance," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 59-72.
    9. Cristina Bicchieri & Eugen Dimant, 2018. "It's Not A Lie If You Believe It. Lying and Belief Distortion Under Norm-Uncertainty," PPE Working Papers 0012, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    10. Hattori, Keisuke & Yamada, Mai, 2023. "Closing the Psychological Distance: The Effect of Social Interactions on Team Performance," MPRA Paper 117042, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Giorgio Gulino & Federico Masera, 2021. "Contagious Dishonesty: Corruption Scandals and Supermarket Theft," Working Papers 1267, Barcelona School of Economics.
    12. Despoina Alempaki & Genyue Fu & Jingcheng Fu, 2021. "Lying and social norms: a lab-in-the-field experiment with children," Discussion Papers 2021-01, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    13. Dimant, Eugen & van Kleef, Gerben A. & Shalvi, Shaul, 2020. "Requiem for a Nudge: Framing effects in nudging honesty," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 247-266.
    14. Buckenmaier, Johannes & Dimant, Eugen, 2021. "The experience is (not) everything: Sequential outcomes and social decision-making," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    15. Liu, Yajie & Dong, Feng & Li, Guoqing & Huang, Jianheng & Yang, Shanshan & Wang, Yulong, 2023. "Public willingness to support the policy of banning gasoline vehicles sales and its internal mechanism," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    16. Charness, Gary & Naef, Michael & Sontuoso, Alessandro, 2019. "Opportunistic conformism," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 100-134.
    17. Eugen Dimant, 2020. "Hate Trumps Love: The Impact of Political Polarization on Social Preferences," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 029, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    18. Jun Goto & Takashi Kurosaki & Yuko Mori, 2022. "Distance to news: how social media information affects bribe-giving in India," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 179-209, January.
    19. Liza Charroin & Bernard Fortin & Marie Claire Villeval, 2022. "Peer effects, self-selection and dishonesty," Post-Print hal-03712450, HAL.
    20. Benistant, Julien & Galeotti, Fabio & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2022. "Competition, information, and the erosion of morals," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 148-163.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    disinformation; field experiment; online labor markets; immoral work;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:tin:wpaper:20220086. 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: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    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.