Fostering public trust in science: The role of social media

Brigitte Huber, Matthew Barnidge, Homero Gil de Zúñiga, James Liu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

136 Scopus citations

Abstract

The growing importance of social media for getting science news has raised questions about whether these online platforms foster or hinder public trust in science. Employing multilevel modeling, this study leverages a 20-country survey to examine the relationship between social media news use and trust in science. Results show a positive relationship between these variables across countries. Moreover, the between-country variation in this relationship is related to two cultural characteristics of a country, individualism/collectivism and power distance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)759-777
Number of pages19
JournalPublic Understanding of Science
Volume28
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Communication
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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