Salient beliefs about sharing rumor denials on the Internet

In the era of social media, rumors spread faster and wider than ever before. After a rumor spreads, its effect can be curbed by issuing online refutation messages known as denials. Notwithstanding the potential of denials to reduce Internet users' likelihood to be misinformed, they generally remain less pervasive than rumors. Hence, there is a need to identify how users can be enticed to share denials. Informed by the literature, this paper argues that users' salient beliefs about sharing rumor denials could influence their intention to share such messages. Salient beliefs refer to beliefs about a behavior that are cognitively easy to access at any moment, and serve as primary determinants of performing the behavior. As a part of a larger ongoing project, this paper conducts a survey to identify salient beliefs about sharing rumor denials. The following salient beliefs were identified: Sharing denials help to spread the truth. Friends and the online community would encourage the behavior of sharing rumor denials. Source credibility of denials facilitates sharing of such messages. Significance of the findings and future research directions are highlighted.