Original text published on https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00076503241271255
In the age of social media, misinformation poses a growing threat to corporate reputation. This article analyzes how fake news influences reputation judgments and individuals’ behavioral intentions. Through three experimental studies, the authors show that people mainly believe that others are influenced by fake news, which nevertheless ends up altering their own decisions.
In the digital age, information circulates faster than ever… but its reliability is increasingly uncertain. Fake news, long associated with the political sphere, now pose a major threat to companies. In their article Fooling Them, Not Me?, Simone Mariconda, Marta Pizzetti, Michael Etter, and Patrick Haack take an in-depth look at how misinformation influences organizational reputation and, above all, individual behavior.
The authors build on an essential yet still underused distinction: that between first-order reputation judgments (what I think of a company) and second-order judgments (what I think others think of that company). By combining this approach with theories from social psychology and communication particularly the “third-person effect” they demonstrate a key phenomenon: when faced with fake news, individuals systematically believe that others are more influenced than they are themselves.
Through three experimental studies conducted with hundreds of participants, the researchers show that fake news affects second-order judgments more strongly than personal judgments. In other words, even if a person believes they resist misleading information, they are convinced that others believe it, and this belief ultimately influences their own decisions. This mechanism is particularly powerful when the targeted company already enjoys a good reputation: rather than always offering protection, this reputation can become a point of vulnerability, as individuals imagine that others will be even more shocked by the false information.
One of the article’s major contributions lies in its analysis of behavioral consequences. The results reveal that reputation judgments, whether personal or attributed to others, directly affect the intention to buy, to recommend, or to invest in a company. Moreover, the authors show that personal judgments gradually tend to align with what one believes to be the collective opinion. Thus, a piece of fake news can trigger a social dynamic in which the perception of others’ opinions becomes more decisive than the facts.
The study also raises a counterintuitive point: fact-checking warnings do not cancel out the effect of fake news. They may even reinforce the idea that “others” are being manipulated, which amplifies the impact on second-order judgments.
By revealing these invisible mechanisms, the article makes a major contribution to understanding reputation in the age of social media. It shows that the danger of fake news lies not only in individual belief, but in the fear of what others might believe. This is essential reading for understanding why misinformation continues to cause harm, even when we think we are immune to it.
Patrick Haack is Professor of Strategy and Responsible Management at HEC Lausanne. He is also Director of the Department of Strategy, Globalization and Society, as well as of the Research Center for Grand Challenges.
Faculty of Business and Economics
Legitimacy, reputation, crisis management, organizational scandals
