Countering Corporate Misinformation: A Meta-Analysis of Organizational Interventions

The rapid spread of misinformation on social media poses a significant threat to organizations, as false claims can quickly erode consumer trust and damage corporate reputations. This meta-analysis synthesizes the emerging body of experimental research on organizational interventions to counter the impact of misinformation. Across 13 studies (N = 5,650), organizational responses were found to have a small to medium-sized negative effect on belief in misinformation (d = -0.24), a significant medium-sized positive effect on belief in the organization’s corrective communication (d = 0.44), and a small positive effect on pro-organization attitudes and intentions (d = 0.19). While the number of studies was insufficient for reliable comparisons between organizational response types, forest plots suggested that prebunking may be particularly effective across outcomes. Elaborative rebuttals were beneficial for increasing belief in organizational counter-narratives but showed inconsistent effects on misinformation belief and pro-organizational attitudes. Notably, all effects exhibited high heterogeneity, indicating that intervention effectiveness likely depends on contextual factors and moderators. Organizations face a dilemma between proactive approaches that may increase attention to misinformation among consumers previously unexposed to it and reactive strategies that may come too late to prevent damage. The results align with broader misinformation research suggesting belief perseverance presents a significant challenge. Current organizational interventions are preferable to inaction but seem insufficient for fully addressing the growing threat of false claims that can damage corporate reputation in today’s complex social media environment.