Refuting fake news on social media: nonprofits, crisis response strategies and issue involvement
| Date | 13 May 2019 |
| Pages | 209-222 |
| Published date | 13 May 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-12-2018-2146 |
| Author | Michail Vafeiadis,Denise S. Bortree,Christen Buckley,Pratiti Diddi,Anli Xiao |
Refuting fake news on social media: nonprofits,
crisis response strategies and issue
involvement
Michail Vafeiadis
Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA
Denise S. Bortree, Christen Buckley and Pratiti Diddi
Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA, and
Anli Xiao
Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The dissemination of fake news has accelerated with social media and this has important implications for both org anizations and their
stakeholders alike. Hence, the purpose of this study is to shed light on the effectiveness of the crisis response strategies of denial and attack in
addressing rumors about consumer privacy when non-profit organizations are targeted on social media.
Design/methodology/approach –To test the hypotheses, a 2 (response type: denial vs attack) 2 (privacy concerns: low vs high), between-group
online experiment was conducted via Qualtrics.
Findings –The results indicated that one’s involvement level in the issue determines the effectiveness of the crisis response strate gy.Dat a showed
that attacking the source of fake news (as a crisis response) reduces the message’s credibility more than denying fake news. Furthermore, highly
involved individuals are more likely to centrally process information and develop positive supportive in tentions toward the affected non-profit brand.
High issue involvement also predicted organizational and response credibility. Conversely, an attack rebuttal message increased the credibility of the
circulated malicious rumors for low involved individuals.
Research limitations/implications –The findings suggest that issue involvement plays a key role in message perceptions of false information
regarding consumer privacy in social media.
Practical implications –Practically, this study offers insights for organizations that are developing response strategies in the current environment
of fake news. Findings from this study suggest that organizations need to consider the degree to which audiences are currently involved in an issue
before deciding how aggressively to respond to perpetrators of fake news.
Originality/value –The present study examines the intersection of fake news and crisis management in the non-profit sector, with an emphasis on
various response strategies and issue involvement. This is one of the first attempts to experimentally investigate how social media strategies can
defend and protect non-profit reputation in the fake news era.
Keywords Fake news, Crisis response strategies, Crisis management, Social media, ELM, Information processing, Brand image, Reputation,
Consumer privacy
Paper type Research paper
The speed through which information disseminates online,
along with the pervasiveness of social media, has accelerated
the transmission of fake news. Thepropagation of fake news is
attributed either to the financial gainthat derives from clickbait
or to the promotion of a political agenda to muster voters’
support (Osatuyi and Hughes, 2018). A recentstudy analyzing
data from 126,000 stories on Twitter found that fake news
stories spread fasterthan real ones and can elicit feelings of fear,
disgust and surprise (Vosoughi et al., 2018). Even more
alarmingly, a survey of 3,015 adults in the USA found that 75
per cent of Americans whohave encountered fake news tend to
believe them (Silverman and Singer-Vine, 2016), highlighting
the reputational damage that disinformation can inflict on
companies if notrefuted.
Brands are currently scrambling to combat fake news, as
several of them have been victims of disinformation campaigns
(Berthon and Pitt, 2018). After the Pepsi CEO allegedly told
Trump supporters to “take their business elsewhere”, the
company’s positive socialbrand sentiment plummeted from 72
to 4.5 per cent (Birkner, 2016). Furthermore, Pepsi faced a
boycott and its stock price plunged by nearly 4 per cent after
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalisavailableon
Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
29/2 (2020) 209–222
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-12-2018-2146]
This work was supported by the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in
Public Communication.
Received 1 December 2018
Revised 3 February 2019
27 February 2019
Accepted 13 March 2019
209
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