Political Partisanship and Belief in Misinformation: Operationalizing Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict Intentions to Quit Social Media

Abstract

This study uses the theory of planned behavior to predict individuals’ intentions to quit social media. Attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control significantly predicted intentions to quit social media, accounting for 68 percent of variance among participants (N = 525) representing the US census data. Political partisanship and belief in misinformation also slightly increased the predictability of the TPB, suggesting that they can be used as moderators or antecedents of subjective norms in the future.