Mansoori Ahmed, Tahat Khalaf, Tahat Dina, Habes Mohammad, Salloum Said A, Mesbah Hesham, Elareshi Mokhtar
Media & Creative Industries Department, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
Education & Humanities Sciences College, Al Ain University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
Heliyon. 2023 Aug 29;9(9):e19425. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19425. eCollection 2023 Sep.
Misinformation remained a critical consideration during the COVID-19 that further cultivated fears leading to strong unrest among the public globally. This study clarifies certain misconceptions related to the pandemic by investigating whether factors such as altruism, entertainment, information-sharing, information-seeking, comprehensibility have impact on COVID-19 misinformation acceptance and sharing it in the UAE culture, with gender as a moderating factor. An online survey (google.com) was used, with a sample of 200 university students, and analyzed using PLS-SEM software to determine the effects of constructed factors. The findings indicated that entertainment, information-sharing, and information-seeking factors have impact on sharing COVID-19 misinformation, while comprehensibility has impact on acceptance of misinformation. Interestingly, gender was found to have no impact on all the constructed factors, suggesting that other moderating factors (e.g., age) need to be considered in future research. Generally, online users need to learn how to verify online information that they receive/share on other social media, especially regarding health concern.
在新冠疫情期间，错误信息仍是一个关键问题，它进一步加剧了人们的恐惧，在全球范围内引发了公众的强烈不安。本研究通过调查利他主义、娱乐、信息分享、信息寻求、可理解性等因素是否会影响阿联酋文化中对新冠疫情错误信息的接受和传播，以性别作为调节因素，澄清了与该疫情相关的一些误解。研究采用在线调查（google.com）的方式，以200名大学生为样本，并使用PLS-SEM软件进行分析，以确定所构建因素的影响。研究结果表明，娱乐、信息分享和信息寻求因素会影响新冠疫情错误信息的传播，而可理解性则会影响对错误信息的接受。有趣的是，研究发现性别对所有构建因素均无影响，这表明未来的研究需要考虑其他调节因素（如年龄）。总体而言，网络用户需要学会如何核实他们在其他社交媒体上接收/分享的在线信息，尤其是与健康相关的信息。
