Paper Type

Complete

Paper Number

PACIS2026-1930

Description

This study explains moral judgment in digitally mediated news contexts through the lens of reality salience. Reality salience refers to the degree to which individuals perceive an event as concrete social reality rather than an abstract narrative. Extending construal level theory, the study conceptualizes reality salience as a psychological-distance cue that shifts attribution toward situational explanations. A 2×2 between-subjects online experiment showed that higher reality salience reduced psychological distance, increased contextual attribution, and decreased dispositional attribution. Moral evaluations became less extreme: positive actors were evaluated less idealistically and negative actors less harshly. The findings contribute to IS research by explaining how digitally mediated information shapes attribution and moral judgment.

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Jul 5th, 12:00 AM

Reality Salience as Psychological Distance: How Confronting Reality Recalibrates Attribution and Moral Judgment in Digital Contexts

This study explains moral judgment in digitally mediated news contexts through the lens of reality salience. Reality salience refers to the degree to which individuals perceive an event as concrete social reality rather than an abstract narrative. Extending construal level theory, the study conceptualizes reality salience as a psychological-distance cue that shifts attribution toward situational explanations. A 2×2 between-subjects online experiment showed that higher reality salience reduced psychological distance, increased contextual attribution, and decreased dispositional attribution. Moral evaluations became less extreme: positive actors were evaluated less idealistically and negative actors less harshly. The findings contribute to IS research by explaining how digitally mediated information shapes attribution and moral judgment.