Purpose

This paper aims to examine how content relevancy influences consumers’ preference to receive and share fake news. Further, it investigates how these receivers perceive the social image of the people who share fake news. Finally, this study examines how brand strength and valence and credibility of fake content influence consumer’s word-of-mouth recommendations, purchase intentions and attitude toward the brand.

Design/methodology/approach

Three experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses. The data was analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance and PROCESS techniques.

Findings

Findings indicate that people prefer to receive and share relevant content, even if it is fake. Sharing fake news conveys the sender’s sociability but also creates a negative perception of narcissism. Individuals are more likely to recommend a brand if the fake news is perceived as credible and positive (vs negative). Finally, brand-strength can help brands to negate the harmful effects of fake news.

Research limitations/implications

Future research can explore the role of group dynamics, tie-strength and media richness (text, image and videos) in the dispersion of fake news and its impact on brands.

Practical implications

Marketers should communicate and educate consumers that sharing fake content can harm their social image, which can reduce information dispersion. Marketers should also improve brand-strength that can protect the brand against the adverse impact of fake news.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the emerging literature on fake news by studying the impact of fake news on consumer intentions and attitudes toward the brand, which are critical for the success of any brand.

中文翻译：

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假新闻对社会形象感知和消费者行为意图的影响

目的

本文旨在研究内容相关性如何影响消费者接收和分享假新闻的偏好。此外，它还调查了这些接收者如何看待分享假新闻的人的社会形象。最后，本研究考察了品牌强度、虚假内容的效价和可信度如何影响消费者的口碑推荐、购买意图和对品牌的态度。

设计/方法/方法

进行了三个实验来检验这些假设。使用方差和过程技术的双向分析来分析数据。

发现

调查结果表明，人们更愿意接收和分享相关内容，即使它是假的。分享假新闻传达了发件人的社交能力，但也会产生自恋的负面看法。如果假新闻被认为是可信且正面的（而非负面的），个人更有可能推荐一个品牌。最后，品牌实力可以帮助品牌抵消假新闻的有害影响。

研究限制/影响

未来的研究可以探索群体动态、联系强度和媒体丰富度（文本、图像和视频）在假新闻传播中的作用及其对品牌的影响。

实际影响

营销人员应该传达和教育消费者，分享虚假内容会损害他们的社会形象，从而减少信息分散。营销人员还应提高品牌实力，以保护品牌免受假新闻的不利影响。

原创性/价值

本研究通过研究假新闻对消费者对品牌的意图和态度的影响，为有关假新闻的新兴文献做出贡献，这对任何品牌的成功都至关重要。