Antecedents and outcomes of news authentication: out-group news, comment congruence and the moderation of social media news credibility on news sharing

Purpose Scholars were interested in how in-group members perceived news about an out-group. The current study aims to explore the interaction effects of out-group news and comment congruence on news authentication and how the authentication triggers news sharing by considering social media news credibility. Design/methodology/approach The study used an experiment with a 2 (real vs fake news) × 2 (supportive vs opposite comments) factorial design to understand news authentication and follow-up behaviors. Findings The results revealed that the interaction between news types and comment congruency has positive effects on institutional and interpersonal intentional authentication. Supportive comments lead to a higher level of institutional and interpersonal intentional authentication when individuals encounter real news rather than fake news. Interpersonal authentication mediated the effects of comment congruence on news sharing. The effects of comment congruence on interpersonal authentication got stronger among individuals who perceived social media news credibility as lower than high by controlling news credibility. Originality/value The study expands the framework of news authentication by examining the effects of message cues on news behavior, considering the dual influence of hostile media and social credibility assessment. The current study makes a great impact on understanding the misinformation phenomenon and news authentication as a pro-news behavior. The study also provides journalists and news agencies with insights into news practices on social media. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-03-2024-0204.