The Impact of Positive/Negative Fake News on Country Brand Equity

Abstract

The stronger capacity of falsehood to diffuse compared with truth motivates research on the effects of fake news on country brand equity, given the distant and intangible nature of this construct. This study integrates valenced framing theory with construal-level theory to investigate how fake news frames influence perceptions of credibility, cognitive image, and ultimately country brand equity. Using a quantitative design, an online survey and the PROCESS macro (v3.5) in SPSS 27 software with the bootstrap sampling method were employed with respondents from Russia (North-West region) and Hungary. Nineteen negative and nineteen positive fake news stories about China were selected from the fact-checking database of Snopes.com to measure framing effects. The findings reveal that fake news frames exert an indirect effect on country brand equity through sequential mediation by news credibility and cognitive image. Negative frames significantly reduce all dimensions of country brand equity, while positive frames do not substantially alter perceptions. Moreover, valenced fake news was found to be more persuasive when proximal rather than distant, and negative frames with concrete information increased believability. These results demonstrate that the interplay between message valence, construal level, and perceived credibility critically shapes the impact of fake news on country brand equity. The study concludes with implications for understanding media influence on national image and directions for future research.