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International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Who Believes Hoaxes? Xenophobia and Religiosity as Hoax Predictors among Social Media Users

Morissan A, Andy Corry Wardhani, Tri Dhiah Cahyowati

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i2/8383

Open access

Several studies show that social media is a source of hoaxes. This study aims to find out who among Muslim social media users who easily believe hoaxes. The dependent variable in this study was the ease of believing hoaxes, while religiosity and xenophobia are predictor variables. Demographic attributes such as education, income, age, and time spent using social media are control variables. This study uses a sample survey with a structured questionnaire. The purposive sampling technique used resulted in 350 respondents residing in Jakarta and surrounding areas. Data analysis was performed using hierarchical multiple regression and structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings show that xenophobia gives an exceptionally large influence of 71.8 percent in encouraging people to easily believe hoaxes while religiosity contributes 13.5%. The combined strength of the two constructs even reaches more than 85% to further drive Muslims to believe hoaxes. The resulting regression equation also shows that xenophobia tends to increase with the religiosity rise. Analysis using structural equation modeling also supports the proposed structural model which involves the four constructs namely hoaxes, religiosity, xenophobia, and social media use.

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In-Text Citation: (Morissan et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Morissan, Wardhani, A., C., & Cahyowati, T. D. (2021). Who Believes Hoaxes? Xenophobia and Religiosity as Hoax Predictors among Social Media Users. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(2), 1–21.