Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Department of Information Science, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Nowadays, evaluating the credibility of information in the context of social networks has become an important issue for information users. Current research aims to investigate the effect of social network credibility on information credibility through the mediating role of individual expertise among the students of the University of Tabriz. This research is a correlational study that has been done using Structural Equation Modeling and the survey method. The population of the study was all 15732 students of UoT in the academic year 2020-2021, of which 375 students were selected as a sample using stratified random sampling. Lee and Sooh’s questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SEM with Partial Least Squares method. The results showed that media credibility and message credibility have a positive and direct effect on the credibility of social media information among UoT students. Furthermore, Individual expertise mediates the relationship between media credibility and message credibility with the social networks' information credibility. Therefore, it can be concluded the higher the students' understanding of media credibility (medium dependency, interactivity, and transparency) and message credibility (argument strength and information quality), the higher their understanding of information credibility. Also, individuals with high expertise have the ability to accurately evaluate and assign greater value to the role of message content and source credibility in information credibility.
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