IS POSITIVE ALWAYS POSITIVE? THE EFFECTS OF PRECRISIS MEDIA COVERAGE ON RUMOR REFUTATION EFFECTIVENESS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

摘要

While providing an unparalleled platform to enable consumers to share information easily with others, social media also threatens organizational control of information and increases risk when organizations become the focus of harmful rumors. Denials, or statements refuting rumors, are able to reduce consumers' belief in and intention to share rumors. However, the evidence of their effectiveness is not uniformly supportive. Although scholars have highlighted the importance of identifying the moderators for rumor refutation effectiveness, media, as one of the essential infomediaries to shape consumers' perceptions about firms, was largely overlooked in literatures. This study, therefore, explores the extent to which effective rumor refutation is a function ofprecnsis media coverage. Drawing on the literature in expectancy violation and media influences on social perceptions, we assessed the influence of precrisis media coverage on rumor refutation effectiveness in a scenario-based experiment. The findings suggest that the tenor of media coverage moderates the relationship between the quality of refutation arguments and refutation effectiveness. When the media coverage is positive, high-quality refutation arguments will not result in significant lower levels of belief in, and intentions to share, the rumor than low-quality arguments. This study contributes a clearer understanding of rumor refutation effectiveness, as well as furnishing important insights regarding the value of media coverage and reputation.