The impact of government use of social media and social media contradictions on trust in government and citizens' attitudes in times of crisis

This study explores three issues with reference to times of crisis: the impact of government use of social media, and of social media contradictions, on trust in government, and on citizens' attitudes toward government use of social media. The crisis that provided the context of this study was the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the study explored the impact of trust in government and social media contradictions on citizens' attitudes toward pandemic prevention measures and vaccination. Data were collected from 379 respondents who were Facebook users in Jordan. PLS-SEM was utilised to validate the research model and analyse data. The results reveal a positive impact on trust in government of a number of dimensions of government use of social media, including transparency, participation, and collaboration. They also confirm that social media contradictions negatively impact trust in government and citizens' attitudes towards vaccination.