What Explains the Belief in Conspiracy Theories? Composite Concepts as a New Approach to Studying Conspiracy Theories

Belief in conspiracy theories (BCT) negatively impacts various aspects of personal and public life, making it a significant subject of research. Previous studies, spanning multiple disciplines, have been predominantly empirical, resulting in considerable fragmentation in both analyses and theoretical foundations. Our paper seeks to systematize research on BCT by introducing a socio-epistemic model (SoEM) and empirically developing this theoretical framework using composite concepts. We introduce three composite concepts: macro-social adhesion, pseudoscientific spirituality, and media consumption orientation, each formed by combining two standard concepts. This approach enhances the analysis of interactions between concepts and nonlinear relationships. Using cross-sectional data from the Czech Republic (N = 3,880), we develop an extended socio-epistemic model (ESoEM) and demonstrate that BCT is significantly explained by a composite concept of institutional trust and anomie, which we term macro-social adhesion.