Table 2.
Questionnaire items.
| Construct | Item | Item description | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attitude | AC1 | Online news comments are helpful in establishing my opinion on the content of the news article. | Jung and Lee (2009) |
| AC2 | Online news comments are helpful for getting new information. | ||
| AC3 | Online news comments are helpful in determining if my opinion is correct. | ||
| AC4 | Online news comments provide evidence for setting my attitude toward a particular issue. | ||
| Morality | M1 | Most of my decisions are taking into account others. | Penner et al. (1995) |
| M2 | I choose actions that can help others as much as I can. | ||
| Empathy | E1 | I often feel anxious about someone who is less fortunate than me. | Penner et al. (1995) |
| E2 | I sometimes try to understand them better, imagining from the point of view of my friends. | ||
| Perceived peer’ behavior on malicious commenting | PI1 | I believe most people write malicious comments from time to time. | Khansa et al. (2017) |
| PI2 | I think people around me write malicious comments. | ||
| Issue Involvement | II1 | The issue covered in the news article is important to me. | Yang (2008) |
| II2 | The issue addressed in the news article is of personal interest. | ||
| Perceived maliciousness | PMC1 | The comment is considered a malicious comment. | |
| PMC2 | The comment contains abusive language and slander about Choi Dong-soo. |