Factors influencing the intention to share fake news on COVID-19: a case study at Pos Malaysia Berhad Pos Laju Courier Service Kota Bharu, Kelantan / Muhammad Rifdi Shah Che Dawud Adli

The world today is inflicted with the new pandemic, COVID-19 originating from Wuhan, China. The pandemic topics became worst as issues of fake news regarding the pandemic circulated on social media. The objective of this study is to identify the most influential uses and gratification factors that influence the intention of Pos Laju Kota Bharu’s staffs to share fake news on COVID-19. This study also intends to find the relationship between gratification factors and sharing of fake news on COVID-19. The sample size of respondents from Pos Laju Kota Bharu, Kelantan selected is 103 from 140 of the population size of Pos Laju Kota Bharu, Kelantan. To achieve the study's objective, simple random sampling was chosen as a sampling technique. The data were collected from the questionnaires provided. This study uses this method because it is a natural way of collecting data from respondents. In this study, there are four independent variables and one dependent variable. The study found that socialising factor highly influenced the intention of fake news sharing of COVID-19 among Pos Laju Kota Bharu Kelantan's staff. In addition to that, the result found that socialising factor has a positive relationship while the others were found not significant with fake news sharing on COVID-19. The uses and gratification factors are suitable in predicting and analysing society's desire regarding their behaviour on social media platforms. As more COVID-19 cases are reported daily, we cannot deny the decrease in physical social interaction within the society. More people turn to social media to combat the drastic environmental change. Thus, it is important to conduct the study related to the intention behind sharing a news during a pandemic.