Mapping pathways to social media scepticism: a personality-cognition framework anchored in cognitive media literacy and heuristic-systematic model

Purpose In tandem with the omnipresence of falsehoods on social media, scepticism has emerged as a research topic, mainly in mitigating falsehood-related behaviours. However, the potential trajectories social media users navigate to develop scepticism are under-researched. The current study proposes a conceivable personality-cognitive-driven pathway grounded in media literacy theory (MLT), with the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) as a supplementary framework. Specifically, the hypothesis proposed a direct effect of social media locus of control on social media scepticism and further examined this relationship through the mediation effect of mindful thought processing. Design/methodology/approach Employing a cross-sectional design, the data was collected from 423 Malaysian young adult social media users. SEM-PLS was utilised to test the direct and indirect effects of the constructs. Findings The study found that social media locus of control and mindful thought processing positively predicted social media scepticism. Mindful thought processing plays a positive mediating role between social media locus of control and social media scepticism. Research limitations/implications Media literacy advocates can benefit from the findings to design intervention programmes, investing in personality- and cognitive-related factors to train social media users to develop scepticism to battle the negative ramifications of falsehoods. Originality/value This study yields multiple salient contributions: First, it brings to the fore the conscious and deliberate efforts social media users undertake to develop scepticism; second, it integrates MLT with HSM in a structured framework, allowing its canons to systematically cultivate scepticism toward social media; third, it contributes to literature on social media scepticism, introducing avenues to explore the underlying drives of scepticism.