Fake news and the willingness to share: a schemer schema and confirmatory bias perspective
| Date | 06 May 2019 |
| Pages | 180-187 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-12-2018-2155 |
| Published date | 06 May 2019 |
| Author | Kelly Weidner,Frederik Beuk,Anjali Bal |
| Subject Matter | Marketing |
Fake news and the willingness to share:
a schemer schema and confirmatory
bias perspective
Kelly Weidner
School of Economics and Business Administration, Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, California, USA
Frederik Beuk
Department of Marketing, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, USA, and
Anjali Bal
Marketing Division, Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to present a theory of how corporations and brands can address the prevalence of fake news. A matrix is
proposed to examine how the transparency of the motivation of the communicator disseminating fake news interacts with how well the content of
the fake news coincides with a consumer’s previously held bias.
Design/methodology/approach –A dichotomy is presented examining the role of “Schemer’s Schema”transparency by confirmatory bias.
Findings –Consumers will react differently to fake news depending on their “schemer schema”and the source of the information, as well as the
believability of the story based on already existing beliefs.
Research implications/limitations –This paper provides readers with a strategy to address the prevalence and reality of fake new s. The purpose
of this paper is theoretical in nature. While this manuscript lays the foundation for future empirical studies, said studies have not been conducted.
Further, given the ever-changing nature of fake news dissemination this manuscript provides a picture at a specific time and place.
Practical implications –This manuscript provides insights for brand managers who are forced to address fake news.
Originality/value –This manuscript provides marketers with a strategy to better address fake news for organizations and brand.
Keywords Fake news, Confirmatory bias, Post truth, Schemer schema
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
In today’s online community, the consumption of digital
information is the norm –consumers frequently acquire news
from social media sites rather than directly from trusted news
sources. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center,
two-thirds of Americans (67 per cent) report getting at least some
of their news through social media sites such as Facebook,
YouTube and Twitter (Shearer and Gottfried, 2017). In a time
when unverified information is readily available, shared, and
promoted, the need for editorial oversight and consumer
judgment is greater than ever. Scholars have called for a
multidisciplinary effort to address the age of misinformation by
creating a new system of safeguards (Lazer et al.,2018).
The marketing industry is at a moral crossroads. At a time
when research shows that 75 per cent of American adults who
were familiar with a fake news headline viewed the story as
accurate (Silverman and Singer-Vine, 2016), consumers are
more likely than ever to pass along “news”that is inaccurate
and potentially even harmful. Additionally, brands are at risk.
Google and Facebookare under increasing pressure to take aim
at the perpetrators. The American electorateis at the epicenter
of fake news, with many reports suggesting the 2016 election
fell prey to online fake news sources perpetrating attacks on
various political entities.Popular brands have also fallen victim
to fake news stories, impactingrevenue and customer equity.
This paper explores the following research question: what are
the conditions under which consumers trust and believe fake
news? In the following sections, we first explore the phenomena
of fake news and then add to the conversation by proposing a
conceptual framework that addresses the conditions under which
consumers experience challenges in detecting fake news or
misinformation. Our study aims to better understand these
increasingly troublesome phenomena, and we posit that people
have trouble detecting fake news if it meets certain conditions
(e.g. includes a video or proposes a plausible social theory). We
also suggest that fake news propagators exploit these weaknesses.
In the next section, we discuss the background of fake news.
We then address the evolution of fakenews in terms of types of
news, motives of the sender, the medium and the contentof the
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalisavailableon
Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
29/2 (2020) 180–187
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-12-2018-2155]
Received 4 December 2018
Revised 9 February 2019
Accepted 17 February 2019
180
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