The effect of biased expectation of news media on persuasion in a government crisis: An application of Expectancy Violation Theory

• Main Authors: KyuJin SHIM, MOON, Bitt Beach
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2015
• Subjects: Crisis Management; Biased Perception of News Media; Expectancy Violation Theory; Business and Corporate Communications; Social Influence and Political Communication
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/4753; https://www.ad.co.kr/lit/paper/show.do?ukey=103941
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The purpose of this study is to investigate how publics perceive news coverage of a government crisis based on their biased perception of news media. More specifically, this study applied Expectancy Violation Theory (EVT) and conducted an experimental study of 321 Korean participants through a 2 (message type: expectation-confirmed vs. expectation-disconfirmed message) X 2 (news media type: anti-government vs. pro-government) between-subject design. The results showed that participants were more likely to perceive an expectation-disconfirmed message as more impartial than an expectation-confirmed message when they perceived news media as favorable to the government. On the contrary, respondents were more apt to evaluate an expectation-confirmed message as fairer than an expectation-disconfirmed message when they perceived news media as unfavorable to the government. Theoretical and practical implications are further discussed.