Citation

Matthes, Jorg and Neureiter, Ariadne and Kirchmair, Thomas and Ahmad, Mokhtarrudin and Binder, Alice and Brandstetter, Christina and Chuenterawong, Ploypin and Jang, Jeong Woo (2025) Does social media use make us more environmentally knowledgeable or more eco-anxious? A multi-country investigation. Online Media and Global Communication, 4 (3). pp. 387-409. ISSN 2749-9049

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Abstract

Purpose: Social media has a great mobilizing power and is considered to be an important vehicle to raise the awareness for the climate crisis across the globe. Despite this undisputed relevance, however, we lack studies exploring the relations between social media use, environmental knowledge, and environmental anxiety, particularly using a non-Western, global approach. Design/methodology/approach: We conducted a quota-based general population survey in Germany, Belgium, South Africa, Thailand, Chile, Malaysia, South Korea, and India. Findings: Using Structural Equation Modeling with partial measurement invariance across countries, we found that the relationship between social media use and environmental knowledge was remarkably different across countries. However, in all countries, social media use was a significant positive predictor of environmental anxiety, albeit the size of the effect differed across countries. Furthermore, knowledge was found to be a negative predictor of anxiety. Practical and social implications: By and large, findings suggest that the widespread hopes of social media being a facilitator of learning are ungrounded. Rather, social media seems to make individuals anxious about climate change. Originality/value: The study tests the role of social media beyond Western countries demonstrating the limited role of social media use for making individuals more knowledgeable.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Climate crisis, eco-anxiety, environmental knowledge, social media use
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Faculty of Applied Communication (FAC)
Depositing User:	Nor Afiqah Mohd Adnan
Date Deposited:	07 Nov 2025 01:26
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2025 11:51
URII:	http://shdl.mmu.edu.my/id/eprint/14744

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