What makes people share news on social media? Exploring the moderating role of perceived fakeness

Abstract

Social media platforms help individuals form social relationships. They enable the quick spread of information. One of the most common misuses of these platforms is the creation and sharing of fake or misleading news or content. ‘The extent to which an individual believes that a news article is fake’ varies among different individuals for various reasons. This study proposes the concept of ‘perceived fakeness’ as a key factor influencing news readers' intentions to share the news. The research model explores the relationship between emotional reaction, topic expertise, topic attitude, and individual news readers’ intention to share news articles on social media and investigates the moderating effect of perceived fakeness. This study uses survey data from 367 individuals. The findings show that all three factors positively affect the intention to share news on social media. And perceived fakeness significantly negatively moderates the relationship between topic expertise and intention to share.