Abstract

People visit virtual communities to find trusted information (i.e. verifiable, accurate and reliable information) during disasters. Virtual communities are open spaces where people interact and share information. However, virtual communities often suffer from information pollution (including too much information and false or contradictory information) which decreases peoples' ability to find trusted information. Oddly, some virtual communities will develop useful practices for combatting information pollution during one disaster but subsequently fail to effectively employ the same practices or adapt them in subsequent disasters. We conducted a longitudinal, exploratory cross-case study to better understand how and why this occurs. Using the lenses of organizational mindfulness/mindlessness, we find three factors: (i) organizational forgetting, (ii) blaming, and (iii) social fracturing that may cause virtual communities to act mindlessly and prevent them from containing information pollution during a disaster. Practically, virtual communities may avoid mindlessness by (i) codifying past successful practices and adapting them, (ii) monitoring the rhetoric of blame and building trust in authorities, and (iii) avoiding inconsequential debates and promoting shared values.

Department(s)

Business and Information Technology

Publication Status

Open Access

Keywords and Phrases

disaster; mindfulness; mindlessness; qualitative case study; Virtual communities

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1466-4437; 0268-3962

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 SAGE Publications, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2025

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