Fake news, social media and marketing: a systematic review

There is growing concern amongst policy makers, managers and academic researchers over the role that social media plays in spreading misinformation, widely described as ‘Fake News’. However, research to date has mainly focussed on the implications of fake news for political communication and debate. There has been less focus on the implications of social media misinformation upon marketing and consumers. Given the key role of social media as a communication platform, there is a gap in our understanding of fake news through a consumer lens. We address this gap by conducting an interdisciplinary systematic review of the relevant literature. Through critical evaluation and synthesis of the literature, we identify five themes that explain the fake news phenomenon: the dissemination process, spreading channel features, outcomes, fabricated legitimacy and attitudes. Finally, we propose a theoretical framework that highlights themes’ relationships and research propositions to guide future research in this area.