Fake news: How emotions, involvement, need for cognition and rebuttal evidence (story vs. informational) influence consumer reactions toward a targeted organization

• Published in: Public relations review Vol. 47; no. 4; p. 102088
• Main Authors: Vafeiadis, Michail, Xiao, Anli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Silver Spring Elsevier Inc 01-11-2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Anxiety; Cognition; Consumers; Emotions; Fake news; Involvement; Mass media; NFC; Refutation; Rumors; Social media; Social networks; Storytelling; Involvement; NFC; Refutation; Fake news; Storytelling; Emotions
• ISSN: 0363-8111; 1873-4537
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2021.102088

•High-involved and high-need for cognition (NFC) consumers developed positive reactions when the organization responded to the allegations.•High-involved consumers preferred an informational refutation, whereas low-involved ones favored a story-based refutation.•After rebutting the fake news, the influence of negative emotions was reduced whereas consumers displayed positive affective reactions.•Following a rebuttal, high-involved and high-NFC consumers exhibited more positive emotions than their low-involved and low-NFC counterparts.•Positive emotions mediated the effects of a story-based refutation, high-involved, and high-NFC consumers on the study’s outcome measures.
This study investigated the interplay of consumer involvement, NFC, and emotional reactions when exposed to fake news on social media, and subsequently to an organizational rebuttal. In doing so, a 2 (rebuttal evidence type: story vs. informational) x 2 (involvement: low vs. high) x 2 (need for cognition, NFC: low vs. high) experiment was conducted.
Results showed that individuals high in involvement and NFC perceived favorably the rebuttal message as well as exhibited positive attitudes and higher donation intentions toward the affected organization when it responded to the rumors.
A significant two-way interaction between rebuttal evidence type and involvement indicated that high-involved consumers reacted positively toward the informational evidence, whereas low-involved ones preferred storytelling evidence and this increased their donation intentions.
Following an organizational refutation, it was demonstrated that the effects of negative emotions (e.g., anger, fear, sadness, disgust, anxiety) were mitigated while those of positive emotions (e.g., hope, happiness, empathy, contentment, interest) increased, leading to favorable attitudinal, donation, and social media engagement reactions. Also, individuals high in involvement and NFC displayed more positive affective reactions after receiving a rebuttal message than their low-involved and low-NFC counterparts.
The mediation analyses revealed that positive emotions were significant mediators of the effects of the story-based refutation, high-involved, and high-NFC consumers on the latter’s evaluations of the targeted organization.