Toward the dialectical evaluation of online information: the roles of personality, self-efficacy and attitude

Purpose User behavior in online information evaluation is the result of a multitude of factors related to social, cultural, personal and psychological issues. The present study aimed to examine the effects of three important psychological variables including personality, self-efficacy and attitude on online information evaluation. Design/methodology/approach Four validated measures were administrated in person and online among 355 postgraduate students at Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. For testing the possible relationships among the variables, the reliability, normality and Pearson correlation tests were performed by using SPSS 24.0. Moreover, to test the ten hypotheses of the research, the structural equation modeling was considered using AMOS 26.0. Findings The findings confirmed the first five research hypotheses indicating the direct positive relationships among the four variables except for the impact of self-efficacy on attitude. The mediated effects of the variables were not supported except for the mediating role of attitude in the impact of personality on online evaluation behavior. The variable personality was found to be fundamental among the tested paths because it influenced the information evaluation behavior, both directly and indirectly. Originality/value The study showed the impacts of the three variables, which demonstrates that online information evaluation is greatly affected by psychological factors.