Does social media use make us more environmentally knowledgeable or more eco-anxious? A multi-country investigation

Abstract

Purpose: Social media has a great mobilizing power and is considered to be an important vehicle to raise the awareness for the climate crisis across the globe. Despite this undisputed relevance, however, we lack studies exploring the relations between social media use, environmental knowledge, and environmental anxiety, particularly using a non-Western, global approach. Design/methodology/approach: We conducted a quota-based general population survey in Germany, Belgium, South Africa, Thailand, Chile, Malaysia, South Korea, and India. Findings: Using Structural Equation Modeling with partial measurement invariance across countries, we found that the relationship between social media use and environmental knowledge was remarkably different across countries. However, in all countries, social media use was a significant positive predictor of environmental anxiety, albeit the size of the effect differed across countries. Furthermore, knowledge was found to be a negative predictor of anxiety. Practical and social implications: By and large, findings suggest that the widespread hopes of social media being a facilitator of learning are ungrounded. Rather, social media seems to make individuals anxious about climate change. Originality/value: The study tests the role of social media beyond Western countries demonstrating the limited role of social media use for making individuals more knowledgeable.