Date of Award
8-1-2017
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Mass Communication and Media Arts
First Advisor
Veenstra, Aaron
Abstract
The objective of this study is to examine how credibility on Facebook is associated with information-seeking and sharing among new media users in South Korea and the United States. An information-seeker's environment is related to information resources that need to be assessed for usefulness and accuracy. As a vast number of users on Facebook get connected and exchange information, they confront greater uncertainty regarding who and what can be believed. Now is the time to concern and construct new skills and strategies for determining how to evaluate Facebook credibility with respect to Facebook use as news and political information source among new media users with different personal and cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, East Asian New Media Research relies greatly on theories and methods driven from the U.S. Since both Korean and American people have been recognized as heavy new media users as well as providers, it is vital to investigate the relationship between their patterns of Facebook use, credibility, information-seeking, and information-sharing on Facebook, in terms of a cross-cultural perspective. This study seeks to provide a comparative analysis of how Facebook use pertains to credibility and information-exchange among new media users in the US and South Korea, based upon Eveland's Cognitive Mediation Model and integrated credibility factors. The relationships among surveillance motivations for using Facebook, attention to news, elaboration with news organizations and networks, and perceptions of Facebook credibility in terms of a cross-cultural approach were examined employing structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. The rationale of the proposed research models is discussed.
Access
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