Abstract
Cyber-rumors and falsehoods have increasingly become a hindrance to government strategic communication. Especially when there is a national security alert, anti-government rumors can become weapons that thwart government crisis information management. A key element for any government's successful cyber-rumor management is to understand what makes citizens prone to engaging in cyber-rumors. We focus on citizens' cyber-rumoring tendency that arises within the larger context of a nation's governance over the Internet. Specifically, this study examines how citizen's assessment of government Internet surveillance influences their engagement with cyber-rumors during a homeland security threat. Two surveys in South Korea find that citizens' government Internet surveillance concerns increased their cyber-rumor sharing intention, and the effect was particularly significant during the period of homeland security threat. This paper reconsiders the efficacy of government Internet surveillance in mitigating cyber-rumor propagation among general public, and expands the discussions by introducing the logic of 'distrust effect' on cyber-rumoring. Cyber-rumor monitoring through government Internet surveillance can be counterproductive to homeland security efforts unless government aligns its surveillance policy with citizens' informational norms on cyberspaces.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Government Information Quarterly |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - Jan 3 2017 |
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Keywords
- Citizen distrust
- Cyber rumor
- Governance over cyberspace
- Government Internet surveillance
- Homeland and National Security
- Information policy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
- Library and Information Sciences
- Law
Cite this
Cyber-rumor sharing under a homeland security threat in the context of government Internet surveillance : The case of South-North Korea conflict. / Kwon, Kyounghee; Raghav Rao, H.
In: Government Information Quarterly, 03.01.2017.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Cyber-rumor sharing under a homeland security threat in the context of government Internet surveillance
T2 - The case of South-North Korea conflict
AU - Kwon, Kyounghee
AU - Raghav Rao, H.
PY - 2017/1/3
Y1 - 2017/1/3
N2 - Cyber-rumors and falsehoods have increasingly become a hindrance to government strategic communication. Especially when there is a national security alert, anti-government rumors can become weapons that thwart government crisis information management. A key element for any government's successful cyber-rumor management is to understand what makes citizens prone to engaging in cyber-rumors. We focus on citizens' cyber-rumoring tendency that arises within the larger context of a nation's governance over the Internet. Specifically, this study examines how citizen's assessment of government Internet surveillance influences their engagement with cyber-rumors during a homeland security threat. Two surveys in South Korea find that citizens' government Internet surveillance concerns increased their cyber-rumor sharing intention, and the effect was particularly significant during the period of homeland security threat. This paper reconsiders the efficacy of government Internet surveillance in mitigating cyber-rumor propagation among general public, and expands the discussions by introducing the logic of 'distrust effect' on cyber-rumoring. Cyber-rumor monitoring through government Internet surveillance can be counterproductive to homeland security efforts unless government aligns its surveillance policy with citizens' informational norms on cyberspaces.
AB - Cyber-rumors and falsehoods have increasingly become a hindrance to government strategic communication. Especially when there is a national security alert, anti-government rumors can become weapons that thwart government crisis information management. A key element for any government's successful cyber-rumor management is to understand what makes citizens prone to engaging in cyber-rumors. We focus on citizens' cyber-rumoring tendency that arises within the larger context of a nation's governance over the Internet. Specifically, this study examines how citizen's assessment of government Internet surveillance influences their engagement with cyber-rumors during a homeland security threat. Two surveys in South Korea find that citizens' government Internet surveillance concerns increased their cyber-rumor sharing intention, and the effect was particularly significant during the period of homeland security threat. This paper reconsiders the efficacy of government Internet surveillance in mitigating cyber-rumor propagation among general public, and expands the discussions by introducing the logic of 'distrust effect' on cyber-rumoring. Cyber-rumor monitoring through government Internet surveillance can be counterproductive to homeland security efforts unless government aligns its surveillance policy with citizens' informational norms on cyberspaces.
KW - Citizen distrust
KW - Cyber rumor
KW - Governance over cyberspace
KW - Government Internet surveillance
KW - Homeland and National Security
KW - Information policy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018791543&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85018791543&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.giq.2017.04.002
DO - 10.1016/j.giq.2017.04.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85018791543
JO - Government Information Quarterly
JF - Government Information Quarterly
SN - 0740-624X
ER -