Investigating the effects of a physician’s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news

Dinfin K. MULUPI; Frankie H. C. WONG; Ronald A. YAROS

doi:10.1177/07395329241298966

Investigating the effects of a physician’s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news

Dinfin K. MULUPI, Frankie H. C. WONG, Ronald A. YAROS^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Sociology and Social Policy

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

Abstract

A quasi-experiment (N = 676) manipulated the gender and race of physician sources in news about COVID-19 vaccinations. Results suggest no differences in perceived credibility across genders, but news featuring an African American or Latinx physician predicted higher reader engagement than news featuring a White physician. These findings address the effects of a source’s gender or race in health news and lend support for equal representation of women and racial minorities as expert sources.

Original language	English
Number of pages	22
Journal	Newspaper Research Journal
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/07395329241298966
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 3 Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 NOND of AEJMC.

Keywords

COVID-19
credibility
news engagement
race
sexism
sources

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1177/07395329241298966

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/07395329241298966

Cite this

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title = "Investigating the effects of a physician{\textquoteright}s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news",

abstract = "A quasi-experiment (N = 676) manipulated the gender and race of physician sources in news about COVID-19 vaccinations. Results suggest no differences in perceived credibility across genders, but news featuring an African American or Latinx physician predicted higher reader engagement than news featuring a White physician. These findings address the effects of a source{\textquoteright}s gender or race in health news and lend support for equal representation of women and racial minorities as expert sources.",

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KW - race

KW - sexism

KW - sources

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Investigating the effects of a physician’s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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