文摘
Passing on knowledge about news events in interpersonal communication is an important process in news diffusion. However, it is largely unknown which characteristics of news events affect interpersonal news diffusion. This study explored the impact of news factors on the likelihood that a news event becomes a topic for conversations. In four experiments it is shown that the news factors controversy, damage and reach have a positive impact on the likelihood of follow-up communication, whereas proximity had no effect. Furthermore, the paper presents a theoretical model that explains these effects based on news factors-influence on involvement and elaborative information processing. Mediation analyses show that the news factors exerted an indirect effect on the likelihood of passing on knowledge about a news event in interpersonal communication through involvement. For controversy and damage there was an additional sequential indirect effect through involvement and elaboration. Implications of these findings and directions for future research on news factors and interpersonal news diffusion are discussed.