Rumor characteristics affecting spreading intention on social media through psychological motivation: A case of young people in Ho Chi Minh city

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychological mechanisms underlying individual online rumor transmission behavior by employing the theory of stimulus-organism-response. The study aimed to identify the informational characteristics of online rumors and psychological motivators that promote online rumor forwarding. The main research method is quantitative, combined with qualitative research to clarify the problem. In addition, we conducted a survey with 301 people in Ho Chi Minh City, our target audience is people aged 16-24 years old. The study found that four information characteristics, including sense-making, personal relevance, dreadfulness, and funniness, along with three psychological motivators - fact-finding, rumor anxiety, and self-enhancement - promote online rumor-forwarding behavior. The study's findings that rumors with personal relevance were most strongly associated with intention to forward rumors through perceived self-enhancement when spreading rumors. This study's contributions help to address the growing concern over the prevalence of online rumors and fake information on social media. The research results suggest that organizations and businesses when preventing and dealing with rumors should pay attention to the aspect of how rumors directly affect others and find ways to correct rumors quickly. as much as possible because people tend to be the greatest when it comes to rumours.