Trust, personality, and belief as determinants of the organic reach of political disinformation on social media
Authors: T Buchanan
Published: 2024
Publication: The Social Science Journal, 2025 - Taylor & Francis
The organic reach of political disinformation on social media is driven more by lower conscientiousness and belief in the stories' truth than by trust in the source or agreeableness.
Methods: An online experiment exposed participants to real disinformation stories and asked them to rate their likelihood of sharing and interacting with the content.
Key Findings: The influence of trust in the source, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and belief in the truth of disinformation on likelihood of sharing (organic reach).
Limitations: Findings are based on self-reported sharing likelihood, which may not fully reflect actual behavior on social media.
Institution: University of Westminster
Research Area: Social Media, Political Communication,Misinformation Research
Discipline: Computational Social Science
Sample Size: 172 participants
Citations: 30