IPR Releases New Report on Combatting Election Disinformation in the Workplace

New York, NY — The Institute for Public Relations Behavioral Insights Research Center has released a new study, “How Communicators can Help Manage Election Disinformation in the Workplace,” featuring research from leading scholars in multiple fields to breakdown the science behind disinformation.

This study explores the science behind why people share disinformation and how disinformation impacts society and business. This report includes key models, biases, and theories to help communicators better understand the cognitive factors related to the believing and sharing of disinformation. This guide offers research-based suggestions for how employers can prebunk and inoculate their employees and stakeholders against election disinformation, best practices for screening content for disinformation, and 10 research-based tips for how organizations should manage disinformation.

“Disinformation is rampant in elections globally and research finds that 80% of employees want their organizations to help ensure a free and fair election without partisanship,” said IPR President and CEO and co-author of this report, Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., APR. “Organizations also benefit from helping increase digital, media, and information literacy in their employees.”

The guide offers 10 ways organizations can help combat disinformation (full list here). Here are some of them:

– Inoculate employees against disinformation: Communicators should understand election-related topics that are used to discredit and cast doubt on the election process. One way to inoculate people against disinformation is “prebunking,” a proactive strategy that exposes people to logical fallacies or false information before they encounter it (Cook et al., 2017; Institute for Public Relations, 2020). This brief provides a research-driven checklist on how to prebunk.

– Serve as a trusted resource about elections and election processes: According to the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer, 79% of respondents trusted their employer as a source of information overall. Companies can provide their employees with nonpartisan voting information (e.g., polling locations, how elections work) or resources where they can go for more information to help them build confidence and participate in the election process. Nonpartisan, nonprofit sources for election information can be found within the brief.

– Equip employees with tools for identifying disinformation: There are several organizations and online tools to help identify or detect disinformation. Here are just a few examples from the IPR Disinformation Resource Library, which contains over 30 different resources. 
      – News Literacy Project
      – Bad News
      – Association for Psychological Sciences

– Avoid partisan politics: Endorsing a partisan viewpoint can lead to “reduced levels of psychological safety among workers who identify with a different political party, which in turn can adversely affect engagement, innovation, productivity, and retention” (American Psychological Association, 2022, ¶ 21). Keeping company communication about upcoming elections neutral will help employees with differing political viewpoints feel psychologically safe.

“Equipping leaders and employees with the knowledge and tools to identify disinformation will help them think critically about the information they receive during election season and beyond,” said IPR Director of Research and co-author of this report, Olivia K. Fajardo, M.A. “This is crucial for the success of organizations overall.”

To view the full report, click here.