Abstract
This study examined how deviance of news stories and context influence audience selection of the stories. In addition, a moderating effect of personal involvement on the deviance effect was investigated. An online experiment—4 (four levels of story deviance) x 2 (low and high contextual deviance) mixed-factor design—involved 111 participants, who browsed Web stories. Their behaviors were recorded by a Web-tracking program. Story deviance was a strong predictor of story selection. In addition, personal involvement interfered with the influence of story deviance.