TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of self-disclosure and gender on a climate scientist’s credibility and likability on social media
AU - Kim, Nahyun
AU - Skurka, Chris
AU - Madden, Stephanie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/8
Y1 - 2024/8
N2 - To examine whether different types of disclosure made by climate scientists on social media influence perceived source credibility (i.e. competence, integrity, benevolence) and likability, we conducted a 2 (self-disclosure type: personal vs political) × 3 (proportion of posts including a self-disclosure: 20% vs 50% vs 80%) × 2 (gender identity of scientist: male vs female) between-subjects experiment (N = 734). We found that people liked the scientist more for a personal than political disclosure, rated them as being more competent for a political disclosure, and liked a female scientist more than a male scientist. However, scientist’s gender did not moderate the effect of disclosure type or the effect of participants’ gender. Our results suggest distinct benefits when scientists deliver different types of messages on social media, although disclosure is unlikely to have substantial effects on lay judgments of scientists’ credibility.
AB - To examine whether different types of disclosure made by climate scientists on social media influence perceived source credibility (i.e. competence, integrity, benevolence) and likability, we conducted a 2 (self-disclosure type: personal vs political) × 3 (proportion of posts including a self-disclosure: 20% vs 50% vs 80%) × 2 (gender identity of scientist: male vs female) between-subjects experiment (N = 734). We found that people liked the scientist more for a personal than political disclosure, rated them as being more competent for a political disclosure, and liked a female scientist more than a male scientist. However, scientist’s gender did not moderate the effect of disclosure type or the effect of participants’ gender. Our results suggest distinct benefits when scientists deliver different types of messages on social media, although disclosure is unlikely to have substantial effects on lay judgments of scientists’ credibility.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184447055&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85184447055&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/09636625231225073
DO - 10.1177/09636625231225073
M3 - Article
C2 - 38326976
AN - SCOPUS:85184447055
SN - 0963-6625
VL - 33
SP - 692
EP - 708
JO - Public Understanding of Science
JF - Public Understanding of Science
IS - 6
ER -