Can’t put down the phone means more trust in mobile content? Exploring multiple-level predictors contributed to the credibility of smartphone information

Mobile technology has the potential to disrupt how people access and perceive the news content in profound ways. As media content goes mobile, smartphone users are growingly relying on the mobile device for daily information needs, who often could hardly put down the phone. Will more smartphone use result in more trust in mobile information? To answer this question, this study proposes a hierarchical model to explore information processing on the smartphone, in which need for cognition is the independent variable and perceived credibility of smartphone information the dependent variable, with smartphone power use and information verification as the mediators, while controlling for such demographic characteristics as age, gender, education and area of residence. Our findings suggested a significant indirect path from the need for cognition to smartphone use and smartphone information credibility. Age, gender and education were found to be significantly correlated with the perceived credibility of smartphone information. The findings shed light on how people process information on a smartphone, especially the personality traits that are linked with the credibility of mobile information.