Cultural Dimensions of Fake News Exposure: A Cross-National Analysis among European Union Countries

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the extent to which certain cultural dimensions explain the intensity with which citizens of different countries perceive the presence of fake news in their daily lives. The research is based on the Flash Eurobarometer survey conducted in 2018 about fake news and disinformation online in 25 European countries, and adopts the Hofstede cultural dimensions as a model of cultural analysis. The study uses multilevel regression analysis to test individual and macro-level indicators that explain variations in perceptions of fake news. The findings reveal a clear, direct relationship between uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and fake news exposure, as well as an interaction of these cultural dimensions with age, but not with the other individual and media use related variables. These results have theoretical and practical implications, especially from the point of view of the design of public policies to fight disinformation in the European Union (EU).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2022.2123278

Notes

¹ The complete questionnaire, the data sets and more technical information on the survey can be consulted in ZA6934: Flash Eurobarometer 464 (Fake News and Disinformation Online: https://dbk.gesis.org/dbksearch/SDesc2.asp?DB=E&no=6934).

² See for details about the dimensions and datasets with country scores, https://geerthofstede.com/research-and-vsm/dimension-data-matrix/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ángel Arrese

Ángel Arrese (Ph.D.) is Full Professor of Financial and Business Journalism at the School of Communication (University of Navarra, Spain). His main research interests are media management, journalism, and economic and financial news. He has published on these topics in journals as Journalism, Journalism Studies, Journalism Practice, Media History, Discourse & Society, Language & Communication and Communication and Society, among others. Arrese is author of La identidad de The Economist (1994), Economic and Financial Press (2001), La prensa económica (2002), and (with Alfonso Vara) Fundamentos de Periodismo Económico (2011).