Understanding trust in climate change communication: the role of user characteristics and decision time

Abstract

In addressing the global challenge of climate change, effective communication plays a vital role in raising public awareness. Social media has emerged as a key platform for disseminating climate-related information. However, gaining users’ trust in such posts remains challenging. This study used a mediated moderation model to examine the relationships between climate-related social media posts (independent variables), user decision time (mediator), and trust (dependent variable), with a focus on the user characteristics (moderator). Sixty participants completed questionnaires and evaluated the credibility of eight posts that varied in visual type (map-based, photo-based, and text-only) and information credibility (trusted or suspicious). The findings underscore the crucial role of map-based posts, which consistently earned the highest trust. Decision time emerged as a significant mediator, particularly increasing trust when users with high proficiency in maps take a longer time to decide. Among the moderators, trust in climate change was the most influential, increasing trust across multiple post types, while trust in researchers showed more nuanced effects depending on the information credibility. The study offers practical guidelines for media creators, emphasizing the importance of tailoring content to user characteristics. By advancing user-centered approaches, this research contributes to the broader field of climate change communication.