The phantom information booth: migrant and sedentary tertiary students' tactics in the face of suspect information on social media

Rashika Bahl, Dana McKay, Shanton Chang, George Buchanan, Marc Cheong

Abstract: PurposeThe problem of misinformation is one that has been well-explored in the literature. While researchers often study tertiary student behaviors, they do not distinguish between student groups – such as those who have lived in a country their whole lives versus those who moved to the country. Further, literature tends to focus broadly on misinformation, and malinformation is an understudied area. The study aims to address these gaps.Design/methodology/approachData was gathered using a survey instrument deployed as part of a larger study. Students were presented with two posts: one containing malinformation and one containing misinformation. They were asked how they would evaluate the posts. There were 193 respondents. Responses were analyzed using general inductive analysis. In completing the analysis, we differentiated between migrant and sedentary student groups.FindingsFindings indicate that there are qualitative differences in how different groups evaluate suspect information and qualitative differences in how students approach misinformation and malinformation. Students are more accepting of malinformation than misinformation. Migrant students are less prone to making trust/distrust decisions and instead more prone to ambivalence. They are also more likely to seek out additional information in the face of misinformation compared to sedentary counterparts.Originality/valueFindings enhance our understanding of differences in migrant and sedentary students’ experiences with suspect information and provide insights on malinformation experiences which is an underexplored area of research.

External IDs:dblp:journals/jd/BahlMCBC25