Disinformation Spillover: Uncovering the Ripple Effect of Bot-assisted Fake Social Engagement on Public Attention
( Lee, Sanghak | Shin, Donghyuk | Kwon, K. Hazel | Han, Sang Pil | Lee, Seok Kee )MIS Quarterly2024-09
Abstract
Disinformation activities that aim to manipulate public opinion pose serious challenges to managing online platforms. One of the most widely used disinformation techniques is bot-assisted fake social engagement, which is used to falsely and quickly amplify the salience of information at scale. Based on agenda-setting theory, we hypothesize that bot-assisted fake social engagement boosts public attention in the manner intended by the manipulator. Leveraging a proven case of bot-assisted fake social engagement operation in a highly trafficked news portal, this study examines the impact of fake social engagement on the digital public's news consumption, search activities, and political sentiment. For that purpose, we used ground-truth labels of the manipulator's bot accounts, as well as real-time clickstream logs generated by ordinary public users. Results show that bot-assisted fake social engagement operations disproportionately increase the digital public's attention to not only the topical domain of the manipulator's interest (i.e., political news) but also to specific attributes of the topic (i.e., political keywords and sentiment) that align with the manipulator's intention. We discuss managerial and policy implications for increasingly cluttered online platforms.
Contextual Targeting in mHealth Apps: Harnessing Weather Information and Message Framing to Increase Physical Activity
( Kyung, Nakyung | Chan, Jason | Lim, Sanghee | Lee, Byungtae )INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH2024-09
Abstract
This paper addresses how real-time weather information acquired through mobile technology can be leveraged to enhance the efficacy of mobile interventions for spurring users' healthier behaviors. Through a field experiment that each participant experience different weather conditions in two different treatment periods under the gain or loss interventions, we found that the effects of gain or loss interventions across sunny and cloudy weather are not uniformly distributed. Loss intervention induces higher levels of fulfillment of exercise goals than gain intervention in sunny weather, whereas gain interventions are more effective than loss interventions in cloudy weather. We also provided empirical evidence to uncover the underlying mechanisms and rules out alternative explanations. The follow-up experiment reveals that weather-based intervention can be used repeatedly over time without losing its effectiveness. Moreover, our result suggests that the observed effect is more evident for people with a lower exercise level and living in areas of lower income. Our study provides theoretical guidance and practical implications for academics, healthcare businesses, and policymakers on the strategy of using weather based messaging for enhancing physical activity levels.
Public goods in networks with constraints on sharing
( Gerke Stefanie | Gutin, Gregory | Hwang, Sung-Ha | Neary Philip R. )JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY2024-07
Abstract
This paper considers incentives to provide goods that are partially shareable along social links. We introduce a model in which each individual in a social network not only decides how much of a shareable good to provide, but also decides which subset of neighbours to nominate as co- beneficiaries. An outcome of the model specifies an endogenously generated subnetwork and a public goods game occurring over the realised subnetwork. We prove the existence of specialised pure strategy Nash equilibria: those in which some individuals contribute while the remaining individuals free ride. We then consider how the set of efficient specialised equilibria vary as the constraints on sharing are relaxed and we show that, paradoxically, an increase in shareability may decrease efficiency.
Leveraging the Digital Tracing Alert in Virus Fight: The Impact of COVID-19 Cell Broadcast on Population Movement
( Ghose, Anindya | Lee, Heeseung Andrew | Oh, Wonseok | Son, Yoonseock )INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH2024-06
Abstract
Digital tracing alerts have emerged as an effective means to share information with agility in responding to disaster outbreaks. Governments are able to instantaneously coordinate the available information to provide information related to the disaster and promote preventive actions. However, despite the opportunities granted by these innovative technologies in managing disasters, privacy concerns can arise regarding how much of individuals' private information should be collected and disclosed. With these considerations, we examine the extent to which instant digital tracing alerts and the information included in the alerts affect people's actions toward disaster management in the context of South Korea. We leverage 4,029,696 subdistrict and hour level data set, including population movement and digital tracing alert transmission information. Our results show that digital tracing alerts are effective in inducing population movement out of the infected area and decreasing the population density. Specifically, instant messaging induces movement among 2.45% of an infected district's population to other administrative areas in a given hour and decreases population density by 3.68%. Furthermore, the effectiveness of digital tracing alerts hinges on the inclusion of different private information of individuals on case confirmation. We find the heterogeneous effect of digital alerts, with the effects being more pronounced among young and male individuals and in business-centric areas. Further analysis reveals that digital tracing alerts are particularly effective at the early stage of the disaster. In addition, sending more than three messages within a day has a valid counter-effect (i.e., fatigue effects), whereas messages sent when the cumulative number of confirmed cases is high exert a less positive effect than when the verified cases are low (i.e., desensitization effects). Our results provide policy makers and law enforcement with novel insights into whether and how the use of information technology can facilitate disaster management and to what extent they should collect and expose private information to effectively safeguards public health and safety during a crisis.
The Effects of Pressure and Self-Assurance Nudges on Product Purchases and Returns in Online Retailing: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
( Ghose, Anindya | Lee, Heeseung Andrew | Nam, Kihwan | Oh, Wonseok )JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH2024-06
Abstract
Through a randomized field experiment, this study compares the economic effects of two categories of nudges-self-assurance- and pressure-based interventions-on consumers' purchase and return behaviors. In contrast to pressure-oriented nudges, such as quantity scarcity, time scarcity, and social persuasion, self-assurance nudges are intended to facilitate the validation of product choice and style/size characteristics as well as the self-assurance-grounded justification of the purchase. The findings reveal that self-assurance nudges designed to help consumers make better choices have both short-term (high sales) and long-term (few product returns) benefits. Although pressure-driven nudges offer slightly higher short-term benefits (high sales), they eventually engender unfavorable long-term outcomes (high product returns) for consumers and online retailers. Finally, using return-adjusted net sales as performance measures, the authors find that self-assurance-based nudges are as effective in stimulating purchase as those that capitalize on scarcity and social pressure.
