We explore whether training protocols can enhance the ability of social media users to detect fake news, by conducting an online experiment (N = 417) to analyse the effect of such a training protocol, while considering the role of scepticism, age, and level of education. Our findings show a significant relationship between the training protocol and the ability of social media users to detect fake news, suggesting that the protocol can play a positive role in training social media users to recognize fake news. Moreover, we find a direct positive relationship between age and level of education on the one hand and ability to detect fake news on the other, which has implications for future research. We demonstrate the potential of training protocols in countering the effects of fake news, as a scalable solution that empowers users and addresses concerns about the time-consuming nature of fact-checking.

Purpose: This study uses a critically acclaimed digital game as an instructional tool to explore the role of emotional design elements on psychological flow and perceived learning.Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ transportation theory to generate a set of antecedents of psychological flow and the theory of flow to connect the gaming experience to positive learning outcomes. The authors investigate the subjective learning experience of players with the use of a psychometric survey, and the authors employ structural equation modelling (SEM) to unearth the direct as well as the indirect effects amongst narrative, aesthetics, flow and learning outcomes.Findings: The findings of this study demonstrate that narrative and aesthetics in serious games positively influence the perceived learning by facilitating a state of psychological flow.Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to better understanding and theorizing the role of narrative and aesthetics on learning outcomes in the context of serious games.Practical implications: The findings of this study bear valuable implications for the design of serious games as they highlight the importance of elements often disregarded as not directly related to the learning process and are typically absent from the design of serious games.Originality/value: Prior studies have identified aesthetics and narratives as design elements that contribute to the perceived enjoyment of a game; this study empirically investigates the role of narratives and aesthetics in enhancing perceived learning through psychological flow.

The use of digital technologies for extracting information from various data sources can help organisations to reduce uncertainty and improve decision‐making. The increasing availability in volume, velocity, and variety of data, however, can give rise to significant risks and challenges in ensuring a high level of information quality (IQ). Pre‐digital organisations can be particularly susceptive to such challenges due to their limited experience with digital technologies and IQ governance. We adopt a theory‐infused interventionist research approach to assist a pre‐digital multinational military organisation in navigating its digital transformation (DT) by focusing on IQ. We design and implement an IQ strategy (IQS) by drawing upon organisational information processing theory and examining how the level of IQ can affect the balance between information processing requirements and capacity. We demonstrate that an IQS that incorporates both technological, as well as IQ governance solutions, can support organisations in setting the scope of their DT, decreasing employees' resistance to change, and increasing their satisfaction, while concurrently improving organisational efficiency. Our work stresses the importance of IQ in the digital era and delineates how pre‐digital organisations can navigate DT by strategically addressing IQ.