THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA INVOLVEMENT RISK PERCEPTION TOWARDS CONTAINING THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN MALAYSIA

SAINI MEGAN CYRIL  ONDOI; HARYATI ABDUL KARIM; STEPHEN LAISON  SONDOH JR.

doi:10.51200/jurnalkinabalu.v31i1.7120

Authors

SAINI MEGAN CYRIL ONDOI Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Malaysia
HARYATI ABDUL KARIM Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Malaysia
STEPHEN LAISON SONDOH JR. Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 88400, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51200/jurnalkinabalu.v31i1.7120

Keywords:

Risk Perception, Cultivation Theory, Impact Of Social Media

Abstract

This paper explores the involvement of social media among Malaysians during the COVID-19 pandemic particularly in terms of risk perception. This paper aims to achieve certain objectives which are investigating the effects of social media on risk perceptions towards COVID-19 and determining the strengths of the relationships between media and people’s perceptions towards COVID-19. Questionnaires were distributed to 605 people in Malaysia which according to the high severity of COVID-19 cases: red zone (EMCO). It is expected that this research will aid in identifying the personal and social risk perception towards COVID-19. The result from this paper is expected to be aligned with the cultivation theory where it states that the time spent on media impacts people's perception in a more significant effect compared to people who spend less time on media. The study suggested social media exposure affect the personal risk level than social risk level of the people who lived in the area that declared as red zone (EMCO).

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