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Factors affecting individual online rumor sharing behavior in the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract
With the outbreak of COVID-19, online sharing of rumors about the disease is of growing concern worldwide. Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O-R) framework, this study aims to explore the impacts of peer condition and peer communication on fear of COVID-19, and the impact of fear of COVID-19 on online rumor sharing behavior, by considering the contingency effect of health self-efficacy. Data from 1167 respondents to an online survey in China were adopted to test our research model. The results indicate that peer communication and peer condition induce fear of COVID-19, and fear of COVID-19 results in online rumor sharing. Fear of COVID-19 mediates the effects of peer communication and peer condition on online rumor sharing. Health self-efficacy alleviates the positive effect of peer communication on fear of COVID-19, and the positive effect of fear of COVID-19 on online rumor sharing. This study advances the literature on online rumor sharing and S–O-R, and provides practical implications to social media users and governments.
... In terms of motivations, Zhao et al. (2016) examined social media during social crises, while Kwon and Rao (2017) explored government internet surveillance contexts. Luo et al. (2021) examined the correlation between peer status, peer communication, fear, personal rumor sharing, and the potential moderating impact of health self-efficacy. Furthermore, existing research on rumor-refutation primarily delves into the factors influencing individual rumor denial and the efficacy of debunking rumors. ...
... In public health emergencies, human behavior can change due to environmental factors. Based on the SOR theoretical framework, Pal et al. (2020) studied the effect of message attributes on rumor refutation; Luo et al. (2021) explain how peer communication and peer status lead to fear of COVID-19 and thus promote rumor-sharing behavior; Liu et al. (2023) studied the impact of online and offline epidemicrelated information and fear on personal rumor sharing and rumor refutation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study uses SOR theoretical framework as a visual framework to investigate college students' online rumor-refuting behavior. ...
... Additionally, individuals will also turn to offline means by seeking information from people around them about the epidemic. Peer communication has been found to influence college students' attitude and behavior toward the epidemic (Luo et al., 2021). Liu et al. (2023) also noted that online and offline communication among people during the epidemic impacted their fear of the virus and their behavior. ...
This study integrates SOR (Stimuli-Organism-Response) theoretical framework and rational behavior theory within a theoretical framework, incorporating group norms as a moderating factor to investigate the psychological mechanisms influencing Chinese college students' online rumor-refutation behavior amidst public health crises. Using the structural equation modeling research method, data was collected via questionnaires from 1,254 participants in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings indicate that both online and offline information seeking are positively correlated with college students' attitudes and subjective norms. Moreover, the attitudes and subjective norms of college students are positively correlated with the online rumor refuting behavior. Furthermore, group norms serve to strengthen the connection between college students' attitudes and their engagement in online refuting rumors. These results illuminate the psychological underpinnings driving college students' online rumor-refuting actions, offering practical and policy implications for effectively managing rumor behaviors.
... As the survey responses are based on individuals' self-reported data in a single questionnaire, we first applied Harman's single-factor approach to detect any common method bias [50]. The result indicates that the first and largest factor explains about 39.70% of the covariance among our main measures, falling below the critical 50% threshold. ...
... Meanwhile, to address potential multicollinearity issues arising from some large correlations, we conducted a variance inflation factor (VIF) test. The results indicated that the highest observed VIF value was below 2, suggesting no significant multicollinearity concerns [50,54]. ...
... In addition, HTA negatively affected RSB (−0.27, p < 0.01) and ESB (−0.30, p < 0.01), supporting H2a and H2b. The mediation effect of WE was tested using the process outlined by Luo et al. [50]. The results are presented in Table 5. ...
Algorithmic technological progress presents both opportunities and challenges for organizational management. The success of online labor platforms hinges on algorithmic control, making it imperative to explore how this control affects gig workers’ prosocial service behaviors. Drawing from affective event theory, our study delves into the factors influencing gig workers’ prosocial service behaviors in the online labor platform setting. We utilize the challenge–hindrance appraisal framework to highlight the pivotal role of algorithmic control. To rigorously test our hypotheses, we gathered empirical data from an online questionnaire survey of 660 gig workers. Our results indicate that challenge appraisals and hindrance appraisals in regard to platform algorithm control have a nuanced dual impact on gig workers’ prosocial service behaviors. This relationship is clarified by the mediating function of work engagement. A challenge appraisal of platform algorithmic control can positively influence gig workers’ prosocial service behaviors. However, hindrance appraisal of platform algorithmic control can negatively influence gig workers’ prosocial service behaviors. Interestingly, workplace interpersonal capitalization boosts the effect of challenge appraisal on employees’ prosocial service behaviors. However, it does not mitigate the adverse effects of hindrance appraisal on such behaviors. This study has multiple theoretical implications, and it also provides valuable practical insights into organizational management.
... After the aircraft flight accident, related information spread on social media attracted the attention of many users and may have prompted them to share and discuss with their peers. Peer communication is also considered an important factor in the spread/induction of negative psychological effects in disaster events (Luo et al., 2021). So, what role does peer communication play between social media usage and users' vicarious traumatization? ...
... Peer communication is vital in public crises as research has found that people tend to believe information received from peers during crisis events (Lin et al., 2016;Youn & Shin, 2019). Additionally, peer communication during crisis events significantly influences individuals' emotions, cognition, and behaviour related to the crisis event (Luo et al., 2021;Youn & Shin, 2019). The measurement items for peer communication were adapted from the scale used in the study by Luo et al. (2021). ...
... Additionally, peer communication during crisis events significantly influences individuals' emotions, cognition, and behaviour related to the crisis event (Luo et al., 2021;Youn & Shin, 2019). The measurement items for peer communication were adapted from the scale used in the study by Luo et al. (2021). We referred to the way the scale of Luo et al.'s (2021) paper was presented about the disaster, adapted it with the name of this event, and did a pre-survey to ensure that the modified scale met the established criteria for reliability and validity (Hair et al., 2021). ...
Background: Previous research has indicated that continuous exposure to disaster-related information through social media can lead to vicarious trauma. However, scholars have recognized the need for further in-depth research into the underlying mechanisms influencing this relationship.
Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact mechanism of social media usage on vicarious traumatization in users and analyze the roles of recommendation systems and peer communication.
Methods: This study was conducted with college students in China, focusing on the context of the MU5735 aircraft flight accident in China in which 123 passengers and 9 crew members died. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. The partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the data and model.
Results: This study obtained valid responses from 1317 participants. The study findings revealed a significant positive correlation between social media usage(β = 0.180，P < .001), recommendation systems usage (β = 0.172, P < .001), peer communication (β = 0.303, P < .001), and the development of vicarious traumatization. Recommendation systems usage (specific indirect effect = 0.063, P < .001) and peer communication (specific indirect effect = 0.138, P < .001) mediated the relationship between social media use and vicarious trauma. Additionally, the impact of peer communication on vicarious trauma was found to be higher compared to the effects of continuous social media use and recommendation system use.
Conclusion: The study found that the use of social media to obtain information about accidents, the frequent pushing of accident information by recommender systems, and the frequent discussion of accidents among peers during unexpected accidents contribute to vicarious traumatization. The study suggests that users’ reduced retrieval of accident information via social media, as well as reduced peer-to-peer discussions about accidents, and social media platforms’ adjustment of recommender system algorithm rules to reduce accident information pushes, may help reduce the likelihood of users experiencing vicarious traumatization.
... Furthermore, due to the higher quantity [2] and faster dissemination rate [1,12] of unverified rumors, combined with the increased intent and purposefulness of knowingly spreading rumors, and the enhanced dissemination capabilities of social media platforms [13], the harms caused by the knowingly spreading unverified rumors exhibit a cumulative, explosive, and exponential growth pattern. This not only has negative implications at the individual level, such as misleading the public and jeopardizing health, but also poses numerous challenges across various societal and political dimensions [14][15][16]. ...
... While exploring the motivations behind knowingly spreading rumors is crucial, most existing literature primarily examines the reasons for behaviors like rumor spreading [17][18][19][20], rumor sharing [12,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], and rumor forwarding [29,30]. It is important to note that many of these studies have investigated the motivations for spreading rumors by measuring motivations for spreading information (meaning participants were not explicitly informed that the information they were spreading was a rumor) [12,19,22,23,[25][26][27][28][29][30]. ...
... While exploring the motivations behind knowingly spreading rumors is crucial, most existing literature primarily examines the reasons for behaviors like rumor spreading [17][18][19][20], rumor sharing [12,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], and rumor forwarding [29,30]. It is important to note that many of these studies have investigated the motivations for spreading rumors by measuring motivations for spreading information (meaning participants were not explicitly informed that the information they were spreading was a rumor) [12,19,22,23,[25][26][27][28][29][30]. Therefore, there has been insufficient attention given to the behavior of knowingly spreading rumors in existing research. ...
【Full text is available on request】“Knowingly spreading rumors” has become an increasingly prevalent and seriously damaging phenomenon, yet existing research failed to provide enough theoretical explanations and empirical investigations of this issue. To bridge this research gap, this study utilizes the Q-methodology, which combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, to comprehensively explore the underlying core motivations and individual differences among social media users who knowingly spread rumors. By collecting, screening, and validating statements that encompass various reasons for knowingly spreading rumors on social media, we constructed a Q-set consisting of 44 statements. Subsequently, we invited 275 P-samples (in Q-methodology research, “P-samples” refer to the participants) to perform Q-sorting. Through factor analysis, we identified four types of motivations for knowingly spreading rumors on social media: Personal Involvement Type, Social Status Seeking Type, Entertainment Value Enhancement Type, and Uncertainty Reduction Type. Furthermore, our exploration delved into the unique relationships between these motivation types and demographic variables. The findings of this study not only broaden the boundaries of research within the realm of rumor spreading but also inspire further scholarly investigations into this under-examined behavior. This study also offers practical guidance for social media platforms, debunking organizations, and educational institutions, empowering them to develop effective strategies for preventing and intervening in the knowingly spread of rumors.
... For example, Sun et al. found that anxiety and perceptions of the serious consequences of spreading rumors could predict willingness to re-spread rumors [7]. Luo et al. thought that fear is an important factor affecting rumor spreading [8]. Hu et al. and Wang et al. believed that individuals with higher risk perception and negative emotions are more likely to spread rumors [9,10]. ...
... High perceived infectability implies a higher level of concern about a disease, as well as more anxiety and fear in the context of an epidemic [20,21]. Anxiety and fear are important pre-influencing factors of rumor spreading [7,8,22]. In addition, a disease threat affects the conformity of individuals. ...
... Finally, Mplus 8.3 was used to test the hypothetical model, and the bootstrap method, which can estimate both direct and indirect effects, was further used to conduct mediating effect analysis. In addition, referring to previous studies [8,29,33], the current study included gender, age, education level, occupation, time spent online, and location during the epidemic as control variables in the analysis. ...
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many studies have explored the influencing factors of rumor spreading, such as anxiety, risk perception and information source credibility, but few studies have focused on the impact of individual differences. Based on the theory of behavioral immune systems, we investigated the impact of perceived infectability on rumor spreading and the mediating role of rumor trust in the context of COVID-19. Two studies were investigated using the scale and recall–report task of rumor spreading. The results show that perceived infectability was a significant positive predictor of rumor spreading. However, the impact of perceived infectability on rumor spreading was not direct, and it mainly indirectly affected rumor spreading through the mediating role of rumor trust. Overall, the findings suggest that individuals with high perceived infectability are more likely to believe rumors and then spread rumors during the epidemic. This study advances the literature on rumor spreading and behavioral immune systems and provides practical implications to anti-rumor campaigns.
... In coping with the pandemic, extensive public health measures have increased the circulation and dissemination of timely and credible COVID-19 information . Nevertheless, research suggests that misinformation about COVID-19, which may compromise one's health, has also been rampant since the outbreak of the infection (Luo et al., 2021;Roozenbeek et al., 2020). ...
... The present study aimed to identify the factors influencing the likelihood of sharing J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f misinformation on social media and to explain their underlying mechanisms in the context of COVID-19. Among the factors that affect misinformation reception and transmission, including source, message, channel, and receiver factors (Lee & Shin, 2021;Luo et al., 2021), this study focused on message features of misinformation. The goal of the study is two-fold. ...
... However, as discussed before, novel information evoked negative emotions and surprise while decreasing positive emotions in the context of COVID-19. Also notably, we found a negative association between negative emotions and sharing intention, in contrast to some past findings on the role of negative emotions, such as fear, in evoking online rumor spread (e.g., Luo et al., 2021). Therefore, our findings highlight the need for further investigations regarding the role of different emotional valences in misinformation sharing on social media. ...
Given the amount of misinformation being circulated on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential threat to public health, it is imperative to investigate ways to hinder its transmission. To this end, this study aimed to identify message features that may contribute to misinformation sharing on social media. Based on the theory of social sharing of emotion (Rimé, 1995a) and the extant research on message credibility, this study examined if emotions and message credibility serve as mechanisms through which novelty and efficacy of misinformation influence sharing intention. An online experiment concerning COVID-19 misinformation was conducted by employing a 2 (novelty conditions: high vs. low) × 2 (efficacy conditions: high vs. low) between-subjects design using a national quota sample in South Korea (N = 1,012). The findings suggested that, contrary to the expectation, the overall effects of novelty on sharing intention were negative. The specific mechanisms played significant and unique roles in different directions: novelty increased sharing intention by evoking surprise, while also exerting a negative influence on sharing intention through an increase in negative emotions and a decrease in positive emotions and message credibility. However, consistent with the expectation, efficacy exhibited positive total effects on sharing intention, which was explained by higher levels of (self- and response-) efficacy of protective action increasing positive emotions and message credibility but decreasing negative emotions. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.
... Fear and the unknown play pivotal role in shaping how individuals perceive and respond to various risks. For example, fear of COVID-19 results in anxiety and online rumour sharing (Luo et al. 2021, Liang et al. 2022, and uncertainties about vaccines led to incorrect perceptions, contributing to the unsuccessful HPV vaccination campaign in Romania (Pop 2016). ...
... Li et al. 2020, DiFonzo et al. 2012, Luo et al. 2021). Na et al. (2018 observed that people are more inclined to believe a rumour when their emotional state aligns with the emotion induced by the rumour. ...
... Third, the S-O-R model implied that individual differences may affect the strength of how individuals respond to external stimuli via internal states (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974), suggesting the need to investigate the moderating role of individual characteristics such as cognitions. Previous studies derived from the S-O-R model have taken into account the moderating effects of individual cognitions such as health consciousness (Elsotouhy et al., 2022), health self-efficacy (Luo et al., 2021), and critical thinking . The inclusion of individual cognitions as moderators in the S-O-R model can help gain a comprehensive understanding of how communicative factors shape cancer survivors' meaning in life. ...
... Health self-efficacy refers to individuals' beliefs in their capabilities to manage their own health (Lee et al., 2008). Cancer survivors' health self-efficacy can influence the way in which they manage negative cognitive states, such as perceived social isolation (Bandura, 1997;Luo et al., 2021). Specifically, the current study proposes that health self-efficacy could weaken the negative impacts of perceived social isolation. ...
... In addition to intrinsic aspects of rumors, such as thematic content, presentation style, and source origin, various scholars have also investigated the precursors of rumor spread through the lens of public characteristics. For instance, Luo et al. [20] examined the factors influencing rumor propagation, focusing on peer dynamics and self-perceived health efficacy. Their research, grounded in online survey data, uncovered that peer interactions and the perceived condition of peers heightened COVID-19 related fears, subsequently fueling the dissemination of online rumors. ...
... Firstly, this study pioneers the approach of considering rumor survival time as the dependent variable. This is a notable deviation from prior mainstream research which predominantly focused on the number or speed of rumor propagation [17,19] or the sharing behavior of rumors [18,20]. By concentrating on the factors influencing rumor survival time, this research offers new insights into the dissemination and persistence patterns of rumors of different types and natures, thereby enriching the academic discourse on rumor studies. ...
Background
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic towards the end of 2019 triggered a relentless spread of online misinformation, which significantly impacted societal stability, public perception, and the effectiveness of measures to prevent and control the epidemic. Understanding the complex dynamics and characteristics that determine the duration of rumors is crucial for their effective management. In response to this urgent requirement, our study takes survival analysis method to analyze COVID-19 rumors comprehensively and rigorously. Our primary aim is to clarify the distribution patterns and key determinants of their persistence. Through this exploration, we aim to contribute to the development of robust rumor management strategies, thereby reducing the adverse effects of misinformation during the ongoing pandemic.
Methods
The dataset utilized in this research was sourced from Tencent's “Jiao Zhen” Verification Platform's “Real-Time Debunking of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia” system. We gathered a total of 754 instances of rumors from January 18, 2020, to January 17, 2023. The duration of each rumor was ascertained using the Baidu search engine. To analyze these rumors, survival analysis techniques were applied. The study focused on examining various factors that might influence the rumors' longevity, including the theme of the content, emotional appeal, the credibility of the source, and the mode of presentation.
Results
Our study's results indicate that a rumor's lifecycle post-emergence typically progresses through three distinct phases: an initial rapid decline phase (0–25 days), followed by a stable phase (25–1000 days), and ultimately, an extinction phase (beyond 1000 days). It is observed that half of the rumors fade within the first 25 days, with an average duration of approximately 260.15 days. When compared to the baseline category of prevention and treatment rumors, the risk of dissipation is markedly higher in other categories: policy measures rumors are 3.58 times more likely to perish, virus information rumors have a 0.52 times higher risk, epidemic situation rumors are 4.86 times more likely to die out, and social current affairs rumors face a 2.02 times increased risk. Additionally, in comparison to wish rumors, bogie rumors and aggression rumors have 0.26 and 0.27 times higher risks of dying, respectively. In terms of presentation, graphical and video rumors share similar dissolution risks, whereas textual rumors tend to have a longer survival time. Interestingly, the credibility of the rumor's source does not significantly impact its longevity.
Conclusion
The survival time of rumors is strongly linked to their content theme and emotional appeal, whereas the credibility of the source and the format of presentation have a more auxiliary influence. This study recommends that government agencies should adopt specific strategies to counter rumors. Experts and scholars are encouraged to take an active role in spreading health knowledge. It's important for the public to proactively seek trustworthy sources for accurate information. Media platforms are advised to maintain journalistic integrity, verify the accuracy of information, and guide the public towards improved media literacy. These actions, collectively, can foster a collaborative alliance between the government and the media, effectively combating misinformation.
... In recent years, there has been a growing body of research aimed at understanding and addressing this issue, including the impact of rumors on individuals and society. Several studies have shown that words can have negative consequences, such as spreading fear, inciting violence, and damaging reputations [27]. According to Pröllochs et al. [28], the spread of rumors could lead to panic. ...
... DiFonzo et al. [41] investigated the influence of emotions on the spread of online rumors, incorporating explanations from prospect theory, and analyzed the role of emotional factors in rumor propagation. Luo et al. [27] constructed a model for regulating online rumors based on prospect theory and proposed a rumor control strategy to reduce the risk of rumor dissemination. Ye et al. [42] presented a prospect theorybased model for spreading online rumors, considering public panic factors, and revealed revealing the interaction between rumor propagation and emotional factors. ...
The increased volume of rumors and attention on related topics during the COVID-19 pandemic have had a significant negative social impact. To combat rumors, it is crucial to study the actors involved in their spread. In this study, we first introduce prospect theory and construct an evolutionary game model between network operators and government regulators. We investigate collusion between network operators and Internet rumormongers as well as the regulatory behavior of government agencies. Second, we use prospect value to replace traditional expected utility to construct a profit prospect matrix and apply the dynamic replicator equation to analyze the equilibrium stability of the model. The stability conditions of the game between the two parties are closely related to the government’s regulatory costs, and the strength of government punishment after collusion is detected. Finally, we propose relevant countermeasures against collusion problems during the network rumor control period.
... Information transmission by peer communication is an essential factor influencing audience attitudes and behaviors [11]. Information transmission among social network users directly affects the closeness between users. ...
... During Covid-19, people tend to believe that the information obtained from peer communication influences individuals' perceptions and behaviors about diseases [11]. The Internet is a complex and well-defined environment with rapid information updates, a wide range of information, people achieving information interaction online, and a clear division of labor. ...
During the Covid-19 pandemic, real and false information mingled. This resulted in audiences being unable to identify correct information and take effective action on it on time. Internet rumors can disturb people's emotions while damaging the government's credibility and reducing social trust. Internet rumors have fast-spreading characteristics, low cost of rumor creation, and strong concealment. It also has distinct structural and content characteristics. Information demand increases during a pandemic, and the public wants more information to safeguard life and prevent disease and has different levels of discernment about information. Rumor mongers create social chaos to achieve economic comeback and pathological psychological factors. The multi-channel development of new media facilitates the circulation of rumors. The legal system's imperfection gives spreaders opportunities to take advantage. These reasons increase the difficulty of regulation. This paper analyzes rumors' linguistic characteristics, causes, and effects. The authors focus on improving users' awareness of the law and responsibility, social media platforms to strengthen supervision, and actively advocating for users' correct use of information and participation in online supervision. Authoritative organizations improve laws to punish rumor makers and provide timely and practical information in three areas of recommendations to govern the spread of rumors and build a healthy online information environment.
... Bronfman et al. (2021) noted that attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioral control, and knowledge levels regarding COVID-19, are critical predictors of an individual's preventive behavior. Dai et al. (2020) discovered that constructive risk communication and comprehensive pandemic information had stronger effects on preventive behavior than did rumor refutation and fake news (Li, Cui, Kaminga, Cheng, & Xu, 2022;Luo, Wang, Guo, & Luo, 2021;Wang, Chao, Yu, & Zhang, 2022). Liu (2020) validated mediating pathways regarding different types of digital media consumption to preventive behaviors and showed that COVID-19-related information across digital media directly influenced preventive behaviors. ...
... This framework has been extensively used to explore human behavior, especially online consumers' shopping behaviors . More recently, the S-O-R model has been successfully applied to examine individual's behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Luo et al., 2021;Pandita, Mishra, & Choi, 2021;Song et al., 2021;Soroya, Farooq, Mahmood, Isoaho, & Zara, 2021;Yang, Gu, et al., 2021;Yang, Gu, et al., 2021;Zhang, Zhang, Xiao, & Zheng, 2021;Zheng et al., 2020;Zhu, Yan, & Song, 2022) see related constructs in Table 1. ...
COVID-19 has caused considerable stress to individuals and communities. Daily press briefings on public health during the COVID-19 pandemic have increased individuals' feelings of social pressure. Abrupt changes to a person's immediate environment, such as the changes caused by COVID-19, can substantially affect their mental health and cognitive adjustment. On the basis of the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, we examined the effects of digital and physical stimuli related to COVID-19 in Taiwan on individuals' psychological states and preventive behavior, including social distancing and personal hygiene. The data obtained from 498 valid survey questionnaires indicated that digital and physical factors including informativeness, social pressure, and severity exerted direct effects on cognitive assimilation and anxiety, which in turn affected individuals' preventive behavior. Moreover, cognitive assimilation and anxiety had significant mediating effects on the relationships of informativeness, social pressure, and severity with individuals' preventive behavior. The results of this study indicate how digital and physical stimulus factors affect cognitive assimilation and anxiety, which influence preventive behavior during a pandemic.
... A great deal of attention has been paid to explaining people's misinformation sharing on social media in recent years. Prior studies have discussed a series of predictors, such as information believability [19], online trust [14], information literacy [13], and self-efficacy [20]. Researchers in these studies were inclined to conclude that individuals share misinformation because they lack enough rational thinking, and they attached less importance to the role of impulsive factors such as individuals' affective states. ...
... For instance, guided by the S-O-R model, Laato et al. [22] regarded online information as environmental stimuli and examined how such stimuli resulted in self-isolation intention and unusual purchasing. Luo et al. [20] adopted the paradigm of S-O-R to investigate how stimuli from peer influence affected individuals' rumor sharing. Song et al. [28] built their work on the S-O-R model to illustrate how external stimuli, i.e., information overload and the threat of COVID-19, led to online information avoidance. ...
(1) Background: Misinformation is prevalent on social media in the age of COVID-19, exacerbating the threat of the pandemic. Uncovering the processes underlying people’s misinformation sharing using social media assists people to cope with misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study extends the stimulus-organism-response framework to examine how individuals’ social media dependency relates to their misinformation sharing behavior, with a focus on the underlying processes. (2) Methods: A total of 393 valid questionnaires were collected using a survey method to test the proposed research model. (3) Results: The results demonstrate that informational dependency and social dependency engender both positive and negative cognitive states, namely perceived information timeliness, perceived socialization and social overload, which then invoke positive as well as negative affect. What is more, the results show that both positive affect and negative affect can engender misinformation sharing. (4) Conclusions: Theoretically, this study uncovers the processes that lead to misinformation sharing on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Practically, this study provides actionable guidelines on how to manage social media usage and social media content to cope with misinformation sharing during the pandemic.
... An infodemic not only negatively affects widely adopted health protection behaviors such as NPIs [10][11][12][13] but also jeopardizes public behavioral patterns and health [13][14][15]. In the context of the interaction between public behavior and viral transmission, the infodemic became one of the key influencing factors in containing the spread of COVID-19 [16][17][18]. ...
Major global public health emergencies face unprecedented challenges, such as an infodemic and scientific disputes, and governments especially need to implement fast and effective crisis communication. Firstly, this paper takes the Elaboration Likelihood Model as a framework and constructs a crisis communication persuasion effect evaluation method with emotion analysis. Secondly, this paper takes the crisis communication at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in China as an example and examines the persuasive effects of the peripheral route, represented by medical experts, and the central route, represented by mainstream media. This study finds that the peripheral route of persuasive communication can quickly establish communication trust and quickly change the public’s peripheral attitude, but the persuasive effect is unstable. The central route of persuasive communication demonstrates a significantly positive, stable, and anti-interference persuasive effect. Dual-subject persuasion is an important strategy for controlling an outbreak by rapidly establishing communication trust, combating an infodemic, boosting public confidence, and popularizing medical knowledge. This study evaluates the persuasive effects of crisis communication in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, hoping to provide valuable practical references for crisis communication during the outbreak in future global public health emergencies.
... Response refers to behavior in reaction to a certain stimulus [24,39]. The organism, consisting of cognitive and affective states [39], is often considered the mediator between stimulus and response [40,41]. Cognitive states involve the acquisition, processing, retention, and retrieval of information, while affective states include pleasure, arousal, dominance [24], and other emotion typologies relevant to specific contexts [39]. ...
Background
Long COVID has widened the health gap across society and highlighted the vulnerabilities and risks faced by health care systems. For instance, the global trend of medical workers resigning has become a prominent topic on social media. In response to this severe social problem in global public health within the digital society, it is urgent to investigate how the professional identity of medical students, who are digital natives and the future workforce of medical practitioners, is affected by the media environment.
Objective
This study aims to examine how media exposure relates to medical students’ perceptions of informational and emotional support, and how these perceptions further influence the development of their professional identity.
Methods
Building on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, this study develops a theoretical model to illustrate how media exposure affects medical students’ professional identity through the mediation of social support. Specifically, media exposure was assessed through online news media and social media exposure; social support was evaluated in terms of informational and emotional support; and professional identity was measured through medical students’ sense of belonging and professional commitment. A survey was conducted at a medical school in China, yielding 1087 valid responses that were analyzed using SmartPLS 4.0.
Results
Consistent with our expectations, online news media exposure was positively associated with both informational support (β=.163; P<.001) and emotional support (β=.084; P=.007). Similarly, social media exposure showed positive associations with informational support (β=.122; P<.001) and emotional support (β=.235; P<.001). Thereafter, informational support (β=.228; P<.001) and emotional support (β=.344; P<.001) were positively associated with students’ sense of belonging. Meanwhile, both informational support (β=.245; P<.001) and emotional support (β=.412; P<.001) positively impacted medical students’ professional commitment. In addition, a mediation test was conducted. The results confirmed that informational support and emotional support partially mediated the effect of online news media, while fully mediating the effect of social media on medical students’ sense of belonging and professional commitment.
Conclusions
This study finds that exposure to online news media and social media can enhance medical students’ sense of belonging and professional commitment through the formation of informational and emotional support. It expands the discussion on the role of media in providing social support and facilitating the development of medical students’ professional identity. This is a valuable contribution to addressing complex public health crises through effective media governance in the network era.
... Academics have taken on the task of examining the sharing of rumors [2,3,14], detecting rumors [8,9], refuting rumors [7,14], and studying how they are disseminated in order to mitigate their negative effects.Recent investigations by certain governments have led to the introduction of new laws regarding the dissemination of rumors.Tech firms like WeChat and WhatsApp have implemented security features to combat the dissemination of misinformation and have initiated anti-rumor campaigns.Prior studies have shown that the majority of individuals on social media will have no more success than random guessing when it comes to determining the accuracy of information [13,16].Pennycook et al. [16] found that 16.4% of people can rate accurately false information with no tag control, and 53.0% ...
The surging infodemic of COVID-19-related rumors constitutes a tremendous societal challenge during the pandemic.Prior work has focused primarily on the psychological aspects of rumors, such as beliefs and behaviors evoked by rumors and the continued influence effect of rumors.Studying the brain activity of individuals who detect rumors is a straightforward method to comprehend how rumors are processed.However, Studies have consequently been scarce using such a method.In this study, we performed a trial to gather data on behavior and EEG activity while identifying rumors.Participants completed a task assessing credibility, where they read and evaluated the credibility of 80 randomly presented rumors.Only 22% of participants were able to identify false rumors more accurately than random chance in our study.The ERPs findings indicate that truth decisions elicit increased negative ERPs (N400) compared to false decisions, while false decisions result in larger positive ERPs (P2, P3, and LPP) than truth decisions.Furthermore, our research discovered gender disparities in information processing linked to brain function, potentially resulting from varying strategies utilized.Men showed greater positive P2 and improved N400 compared to women.Females exhibited greater P3 and LPP amplitudes than males when detecting the rumors.This study adds to existing research by being one of the initial efforts to explore the changing patterns of brain activity while processing rumors during the COVID-19 outbreak, and uncovering gender disparities in decision-making regarding rumors.
... With the spread of coronavirus, rumors "can trigger negative attitudes and impacts of the disease, and the fear of COVID-19 emerges. Fear reflects a situation judged as dangerous, and fear of the virus is detrimental to thinking carefully about rumors and leads to irrational decisions based on incomplete or incorrect information" (Luo, Wang, Guo and Luoa 2021). The Masqueraders in disguise are startled by the presence of the Red Death, which is why the murmurs elicit fear and distress. ...
This study examines the archetypal stages of human responses to fear and anxiety during pandemics and epidemics in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death,” Amir Tag Elsir’s Ebola 76, and COVID-19. Pandemics and epidemics elicit a range of psychosocial response mechanisms in individuals due to innate and unmanageable feelings of fear and uncertainty. In the face of chaotic circumstances, the human collective psyche exhibits contagious horrors that are both random and overwhelming. However, these reactions follow historically patterned prototypical stages that significantly disrupt human ontological existence's apparent peace, harmony, and rhythm. The manifestation of this division became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly during periods of confinement, when the fear of the virus gradually infiltrated even the smallest aspects of social life. Notably, the selected narratives accurately depict the various stages of human responses to pandemics. The stages are represented in Poe’s story as disapprobation, surprise, horror, and disgust, and in Elsir’s novel as shock, denial, acceptance, and hope. These phases unveil a comprehensive and emotional engagement with the human experience of pandemics and epidemics, offering a descriptive and anticipatory portrayal of the imminent social, psychological, and cultural calamities when the COVID-19 pandemic began to unpredictably ravage the world.
... It is also critical in combating misinformation and rumours about the virus, which can create panic and confusion among people. Misinformation can cause people to ignore public health guidelines, leading to an increase in infections and fatalities (52)(53)(54)(55). Therefore, the visibility of information from trusted sources is crucial in providing accurate information and preventing the spread of misinformation (56). ...
Introduction
Effective supply chain management (SCM) of point-of-care (POC) tests for diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) requires active participation from diverse stakeholders, government entities, and regulatory bodies. The responsibility for overseeing various aspects of POC tests, including procurement, quality assurance, storage, inventory management, distribution, and human resource capacity, lies with national, provincial, and local levels of government. This study aimed to collaboratively develop an innovative approach to enhance SCM for SARS-CoV-2 POC diagnostic services in resource-limited settings, using the Mopani District in Limpopo province, South Africa, as a case study.
Methods
Key stakeholders were invited to participate in an online workshop using purposive sampling. The study employed the nominal group technique (NGT) for data collection, which consisted of two phases. Phase 1 focused on identifying barriers in the supply chain of COVID-19 rapid tests, while phase 2 aimed to devise strategies to overcome the priority barriers identified in phase 1. Participants used a Likert scale of 1–5 to rank barriers and strategies, and an overall ranking score was calculated for each. The participants were provided with the results of the ranking exercise for their feedback.
Results
Eleven key stakeholders from national (n = 1), provincial (n = 4), and local government (n = 2) levels, research entities (n = 3), and non-governmental organizations (n = 1) took part in the study. Participants identified significant barriers in the supply chain, such as the availability of testing kits, unknown demand, information on SCM during a pandemic, methods of controlling stock, and procurement processes. Strategies suggested by key stakeholders included monitoring stock levels and optimizing stock visibility systems to improve test availability, enhancing information visibility and consistent data updates to address unknown demand and improve SCM during a pandemic, employing data capturing and digitization for effective stock control, and implementing demand planning and standardized procurement processes at the national level to enhance stock procurement.
Discussion
The successful collaboration with key stakeholders, facilitated by the NGT, resulted in the co-creation of a novel approach to enhance SCM for COVID-19 diagnostic services in resource-limited settings. This study holds the potential to support the provision of COVID-19 diagnostic services in such settings. A recommended follow-up study would assess the feasibility of implementing this approach.
... For instance, unusual purchasing behavior concerning salt is driven by the fear stemming from the rumor related to the Fukushima nuclear accident. Numerous rumors have emerged since the outbreak of COVID-19, leading to a range of negative impacts worldwide such as panic buying and ineffective purchases [2]. This not only upset the pharmaceutical market but also generated numerous unnecessary obstacles and difficulties for epidemic prevention efforts. ...
Nowadays, rumors spread more rapidly than before, leading to more panic and instability in society. Therefore, it is essential to seek out propagation law in order to prevent rumors from spreading further and avoid unnecessary harm. There is a connection between rumor models and symmetry. The consistency of a system or model is referred to as the level of symmetry under certain transformations. For this purpose, we propose a fractional-order Ignorant–Latent–Spreader–Remover (ILSR) rumor propagation model that incorporates media reports and a nonlinear inhibition mechanism. Firstly, the boundedness and non-negativeness of the solutions are derived under fractional differential equations. Secondly, the threshold is used to evaluate and illustrate the stability both locally and globally. Finally, by utilizing Pontryagin’s maximum principle, we obtain the necessary conditions for the optimal control in the fractional-order rumor propagation model, and we also obtain the associated optimal solutions. Furthermore, the numerical results indicate that media reports can decrease the spread of rumors in different dynamic regions, but they cannot completely prevent rumor dissemination. The results are also exhibited and corroborated by replicating the model with specific hypothetical parameter values. It can be inferred that fractional order yields more favorable outcomes when rumor permanence in the population is higher. The presented method facilitates the acquisition of profound insights into the dissemination dynamics and subsequent consequences of rumors within a societal network.
... The hypotheses prove that social media are vital for creating and sharing information during the crisis which is in line with previous research (Femenia-Serra et al., 2021;Luo et al., 2021;Riaz et al., 2020). This is in line with the social marketing purpose of changing the behavior of society. ...
Social media platforms have become a tool for spreading information in society, it enables the government to use this media for giving information to the public, especially in pandemic situations. Social media has revolutionized the way of reaching out to consumers and communicating with them. Branding in social media strategy is commonly used in advertising and product marketing but has not been widely used in the health communication field. In this study, we shine a light on the new way health communications marketing is reaching audiences with health messages. The information adoption process in social media might be a strategy for spreading trusted information on the internet, so this study aims to examine the precursor of this case. Using Structural Equation Model (SEM) we identify the relationship between variables influencing certain behaviors related to health content in social media. This study used snowballing technique for collecting data through online questionnaires with a sample of 297 respondents who were in accordance with the criteria of the population. We offer insight for future research on these topics by discussing the public marketing role in social media interaction. Our outcome of the study to serve as a platform to positively impact future research on information in social media regarding health is being delivered to society. Furthermore, the study may develop a socialization program to educate society, campaign for a healthy lifestyle, and health information media using social media. Abstrak. Platform media sosial telah menjadi salah satu alat penyebaran informasi di masyarakat, sehingga pemerintah dapat memanfaatkan media tersebut untuk memberikan informasi kepada masyarakat, terutama dalam situasi pandemi. Media sosial telah merevolusi cara menjangkau konsumen dan berkomunikasi dengan mereka. Branding dalam strategi media sosial biasa digunakan dalam periklanan dan pemasaran produk namun belum banyak digunakan dalam bidang komunikasi kesehatan. Dalam studi ini, kami menyoroti cara baru pemasaran komunikasi kesehatan dalam menjangkau khalayak dengan pesan kesehatan. Proses adopsi informasi di media sosial dapat menjadi strategi penyebaran informasi terpercaya di internet, sehingga kami meneliti prekursor pada kasus ini. Dengan menggunakan Structural Equation Model (SEM) kami mengidentifikasi hubungan antara variabel yang mempengaruhi perilaku tertentu terkait konten kesehatan di media sosial. Penelitian ini menggunakan teknik pengumpulan data snowballing melalui kuesioner online dengan sampel 297 responden yang sesuai dengan kriteria populasi. Kami menawarkan wawasan untuk penelitian masa depan mengenai topik ini dengan mendiskusikan peran pemasaran publik dalam interaksi media sosial. Hasil penelitian kami berfungsi sebagai platform untuk mengedepankan penelitian di masa depan mengenai informasi di media sosial mengenai kesehatan yang disampaikan kepada masyarakat. Selanjutnya penelitian ini dapat mengembangkan program sosialisasi untuk mengedukasi masyarakat, mengkampanyekan pola hidup sehat, dan media informasi kesehatan melalui media sosial.
... Moreover, factors in the inner states (i.e., individuals' affects and cognitions) are considered to interact reciprocally (Vieira, 2013). The S-O-R model has been extensively employed in studying health-related emotions, cognitions, and behaviors, including health anxiety (Yang et al., 2021), pandemic fear (Luo et al., 2021), and information seeking and avoidance during health crises (Soroya et al., 2021). The existing evidence indicates that the S-O-R model is a suitable overarching framework for understanding the formation of an individual's psychological and behavioral responses when processing information. ...
Cancer information in the media often contains ambiguous, conflicting, or contestable knowledge, which may lead to the cultivation of cancer fatalism. Many believe cancer fatalism poses a significant barrier to cancer prevention and detection behaviors in the population. This meta-analysis synthesized empirical results from 100 studies regarding the associations between cancer fatalism and four categories of communicative and behavioral correlates: (a) media exposure, (b) cancer beliefs, (c) cancer prevention and detection engagement, and (d) cancer information management. Our findings show that cancer fatalism is positively linked to TV exposure and negatively linked to radio or Internet exposure. Cancer fatalism is also positively associated with information avoidance and negatively associated with cancer detection behaviors. This study demonstrates the nature and magnitude of the relationships between cancer fatalism and its antecedents or outcomes and offers useful insights for future investigation and theoretical development in understanding the role of cancer fatalism in communication.
... For this reason S-O-R was chosen, as it uncovers the intrinsic process of consumers' responses, and is more open to the inclusion of any type of stimuli (P. Luo et al. 2021). In fact, stimuli can include both object stimuli or social psychological ones (Su & Swanson, 2017). ...
... Note that the Like and Fear emotions are the primary two emotions for both word and sentence levels, which show similar distributions. That Fear associated with fake news is not only attested by a recent analysis of COVID-19 fake news [59], [72], but also by well-respected studies on rumor and disinformation [81], [82]. The inclusion of Like is somewhat surprising. ...
The proliferation of COVID-19 fake news on social media poses a severe threat to the health information ecosystem. We show that affective computing can make significant contributions to combat this infodemic. Given that fake news is often presented with emotional appeals, we propose a new perspective on the role of emotion in the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of the dissemination of information. We study emotions in conjunction with fake news, and explore different aspects of their interaction. To process both emotion and ‘falsehood’ based on the same set of data, we auto-tag emotions on existing COVID-19 fake news datasets following an established emotion taxonomy. More specifically, based on the distribution of seven basic emotions (e.g.
Happiness, Like, Fear, Sadness, Surprise, Disgust, Anger
), we find across domains and styles that COVID-19 fake news is dominated by emotions of
Fear
(e.g., of coronavirus), and
Disgust
(e.g., of social conflicts). In addition, the framing of fake news in terms of gain-versus-loss reveals a close correlation between emotions, perceptions, and collective human reactions. Our analysis confirms the significant role of emotion
Fear
in the spreading of the fake news, especially when contextualized in the loss frame. Our study points to a future direction of incorporating emotion footprints in models of automatic fake news detection, and establishes an affective computing approach to information quality in general and fake news detection in particular.
... During the COVID-19 pandemic, breeding rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories quietly spread and triggered waves of infodemic (Islam et al., 2020), which further extended the harm of rumors to society (Abdoli, 2020). Prior studies on the spread of rumors have tended to analyze the process and identify situational factors (Banerjee & Meena, 2021;Luo et al., 2021). However, not everyone likes to share information from unclear sources (Yang & Horning, 2020), and studies on individual differences in rumor-sharing behavior still lack sufficient attention only with some fragmented research (Baptista & Gradim, 2020). ...
Given the prevalence of rumors in today's society, the adverse impact they have on individuals' well-being has become increasingly evident, particularly with the exacerbation caused by the widespread COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial that we address this issue urgently and effectively. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, incidents of rumor spreading on social media have posed significant threats that urgently require our response. Although the process and contextual factors of rumor transmission online are well established, little is known about individual differences in rumor sharing, especially why specific individuals are more likely to share rumors online. This online study (N = 327) examined the relationship between the Dark Triad and rumor-sharing intention and explored how this individual difference led to higher rumor-sharing intention through the decline of the Third-person Effect. Correlational analysis showed that Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy were positively correlated with rumor-sharing intentions. When we adjusted for shared variance and demographic variables between dark triad traits, Machiavellianism was the only positive predictor, and the Third-person Effect mediated this effect. These findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research.
... The relief packages were only available to politicians and their families. The amount of money expended in the project existed only with the political captains but information has it that they received huge assistance from home and abroad for the make-belief people's oriented programme (Luo et al., 2021;Guo et al., 2023;Liang et al., 2022;Manzaba & Rodríguez, 2021). ...
COVID-19 is a novel virus never before seen on the surface of the earth. It took the world and her scientists by surprise. It was initially indefinable, unclassifiable, untreatable, and uncontrollable. The situation resulted in a lot of suspicions and rumours about its nature, spread, cure, control etc. This work intends to study the suspicions and rumours that attended that situation and their impacts on the people of Enugu state, Nigeria. The work was guided by the social responsibility theory. The studied sample comprised of two hundred and fifty five (255) randomly selected respondents from the Local Government Areas whose opinions were elicited through questionnaires and interviews. The result revealed a lot of suspicions and rumours about the virus and its management. It manifested the fact that intensive and prolonged advertisements and public relations were needed in such a situation but the efforts in that regard were abysmally poor.
... For instance, when a person has accessed to rumours about COVID-19; due to fear, he/she may not cautiously read and evaluate the rumours and makes irrational choices derived from the partial or wrong information. Due to fear, a person is more inclined to believe and share media content of rumor (Luo, Wang, Guo, & Luo, 2021) and thus, could reduce the tendency of self-regulation of media content. Thus, we hypothesise that: ...
... However, while the concept of subjective norms mostly reflects individuals' perceptions of others' expectations or normative behaviors in specific domains (e.g., information seeking and sharing; H. K. Kim & Lai, 2020), it does not reflect a broader perception of the social environment in which one is situated, particularly when it comes to media use. As the research has shown, online rumor sharing results from affective responses triggered by the social context in which risk messages are communicated (Luo et al., 2021). In other words, perceived social networks on SM are a critical factor that may influence how SM users experience cognitive and affective responses and engage in communicative responses in the face of infectious disease outbreaks. ...
This study examines how social media (SM) use is related to human responses to emerging infectious disease risks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic via an online survey conducted in the United States and Taiwan. Results showed that SM use was related to different types of communicative responses (information seeking, interpersonal discussion, and rumor correction) directly and indirectly through cognitive and affective responses (risk perception, responsibility attribution, and negative and positive emotions). The indirect relationships between SM use and communicative responses through these cognitive and affective responses were moderated by perceived SM network structures. In particular, the mediating influence of negative emotions on communicative responses was associated with perceived SM network homogeneity, while that of positive emotions was related to perceived SM network centrality. Furthermore, responsibility attribution drove Taiwanese SM users' communicative responses, whereas the interrelated influence of positive emotions and perceived SM network centrality shaped American SM users' communicative responses.
... It is measured by the number of tweets published each day about telemedicine. In this sense, Luo et al. (2021) show that the increase in communications, especially on online social networks such as Twitter, can be a way of responding to the stimulus of COVID-19. The pandemic and lockdowns produce emotions in individuals that can be released through these types of interactions. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has consolidated some trends that already existed in our society. Perhaps one of the most visible is the transformation of society towards greater digitisation. Digitalisation has gained weight in all aspects of our lives, and from the point of view of the health system we find an example in the slow historical adoption of telemedicine, which contrasts sharply with the massive conversion to this technology as a tool for social distancing. In this sense, the homebound population is the one most affected by the pandemic and the one that could benefit the most from the use of telemedicine. Using a netnography approach and based on the stimulus-organism-response paradigm, this study proposes to analyse the evolution of perception about telemedicine using the opinions expressed on Twitter. The primary technical tasks of the study incorporate the analysis of topics and the review of emotions and positive image perception using natural language processing. Specifically, tweets about telemedicine generated by the Spanish community are analysed in this work. The findings show that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected emotions and topics of interest related to telemedicine. This has changed the image that it had and the behaviour of the Twitter community in Spain. In conclusion, the study results suggest that changes in health systems affect people's emotions and behaviours.
... Zhao et al. [42] provides a variety of ways to combat rumors. Luo et al. [43] confirmed that fear is the main inducing factor for the spread of rumors among users in the COVID-19 period. ...
Motivated by the realistic demand of controlling the Internet public opinion risk caused by the local outbreak of COVID-19, this paper creatively proposes a COVID-19 local outbreak Internet public opinion risk grading research framework. The SMAA-FAHPSort II method combining Analytic Hierarchy Process Sort II (AHPSort II) method with Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (SMAA-2) method is introduced into this framework, to evaluate the Internet public opinion risk level of social media during the local outbreak of COVID-19. In addition, this framework is applied to a case of Internet public opinion risk evaluation on Microblog platform of China. According to the number of new cases per day in mainland China, this paper divides the period from May 7, 2020 to September 3, 2021 into seven stages. A total of more than 10,000 Microblog hot topics were collected, after screening and preprocessing, 5422 related topics are remained to help complete the Internet public opinion risk evaluation. The case study analysis results show that the number of days classified as moderate risk and above has reached more than 280. This proves that the local outbreak of COVID-19 will indeed increase the risk of Internet public opinion, and correlation analysis confirms that the level of public opinion risk is positively correlated with the severity of the epidemic in the real world. Furthermore, the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method are verified by comparative analysis and sensitivity analysis. Finally, some effective public opinion management suggestions have been put forward. This paper can provide reference for the government to formulate or improve relevant strategies, and also has great significance for reducing the risk of Internet public opinion in social media.
... Most studies on rumors during COVID-19 focused on the precedents (Luo et al., 2021;Pennycook et al., 2020) and the negative consequences of rumor generating and spreading (Tasnim et al., 2020;Pian et al., 2021). In addition, extant literature generally treats rumors about the COVID-19 as a whole without categorizing rumors into different types. ...
Although we are surrounded by various kinds of rumors during the coronavirus disease pandemic, little is known about their primary content, what effect they might have on our emotions, and the potential factors that may buffer their effect. Combining qualitative (study 1 extracted 1907 rumors from top rumor-refuting websites using the Python Web Crawler and conducted content analysis) and quantitative (study 2 conducted an online survey adopting a three-wave design, N = 444) research methods, the current study revealed that government-related rumors accounted for the largest proportion of rumors during the outbreak stage of the pandemic and were positively associated with the public's negative emotions. We also found that trust in government negatively moderated the relationship between government-related rumors and negative emotions. Specifically, when people had low trust in government, exposure to government-related rumors was positively associated with negative emotions. However, when people had high trust in government, the association was non-significant. For positive emotions, we found no significant effects of government-related rumors. The findings highlight the importance of rumor control during public emergencies and cultivating public trust in government in the long run.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03508-x.
The rapid propagation of information in the digital epoch has brought a surge of rumors, creating a significant societal challenge. While prior research has primarily focused on the psychological aspects of rumors—such as the beliefs, behaviors, and persistence they evoke—there has been limited exploration of how rumors are processed in the brain. In this study, we experimented to examine both behavioral responses and EEG data during rumor detection. Participants evaluated the credibility of 80 randomly presented rumors, and only 22% were able to identify false rumors more accurately than by random chance. Our ERP findings reveal that truth judgments elicit stronger negative ERP responses (N400) compared to false judgments, while false judgments are associated with larger positive ERP responses (P2, P3, and LPP). Additionally, we identified gender differences in brain activity related to rumor detection, suggesting distinct cognitive strategies. Men demonstrated greater P2 and enhanced N400 responses, while women exhibited larger P3 and LPP amplitudes. This study is among the first to investigate the neural patterns underlying rumors recognition and to highlight gender disparities in decision-making related to rumors.
Modern social networks are especially beneficial for spreading rumors since they perform as multichannel communication platforms. The spread of false information has a detrimental impact on people, communities, and businesses. Media reports significantly affect rumor propagation by providing inhibiting factors. In this paper, we propose a new ISCRM fractional-order model to analyze the law of rumor propagation and provide appropriate control strategies. First, under fractional differential equations, the boundedness and non-negativeness of the solutions are obtained. Second, the local and global asymptotic stability of the rumor-free equilibrium and rumor-permanence equilibrium are proved. Third, employing Pontryagin's maximum principle, the conditions necessary for fractional optimum control are derived for the rumor model, and the optimal solutions are analyzed. Finally, several numerical simulations are presented to verify the accuracy of the theoretical results. For instance, while media reports can mitigate the propagation of rumors across various dynamic regions, they are unable to completely restrain rumor spread.
The long cycle and cross-region evolution of the public health emergency have caused sharp turbulence in the society. Especially, the multi-stage and multi-channel information spreading triggered by the public health emergency has further aggravated the social panic, and even caused a chain reaction to cause greater chaos. In this paper, we extend the information spreading to simplicial complexes, and analyze the effect of the spatiotemporal evolution of public health emergency on individuals’ behaviors at each stage by taking 2-simplex as an example, firstly. Then the multi-stage information spreading dynamics model is constructed and the basic reproduction number is estimated. What’s more, empirical analysis and simulation are carried out to verify the effectiveness and analyze the dynamics of the model. The results show that the strength effect of 2-simplex interactions would expand information’s maximum impact, and enlarge the spreading scale. Besides, the information’s impact and spreading scale at the first stage are positively correlated with epidemic’s initial impact. The information could spread rapidly or even rebound and produce new peaks when the public health emergency getting worsen. Especially, the rebound speed, peak and scale are negatively correlated with the initial impact of the public health emergency with epidemic local worsening. Moreover, the greater and the earlier of local and spatial deterioration, the greater the effect and the wider the information spreading scale. Furthermore, with the public health emergency in different regions getting worse or better in succession, the information’s maximum impact and the spreading scale would be also enlarged. The results are useful to understand better the effect of public health emergency’s spatiotemporal evolution on information spreading and suggest a promising way to weaken the negative effect of relevant information.
In the midst of the pervasive disruption caused by the proliferation of rumors, it is unclear how individuals react to such information. Guided by the SOR theory (Stimuli-Organism-Response), our study investigates the association between different information sources (stimuli), emotions experienced by individuals (organism), and resulting rumor behaviors such as sharing and refuting (response). Furthermore, we examine the moderating role of individual critical thinking in this process. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a study scenario, we collected questionnaire data from 4588 respondents. Our results reveal a large positive association between pandemic-related information and feelings of fear. Additionally, a medium negative correlation between fear and rumor sharing was observed while a moderate positive correlation between fear and rumor refuting was identified. Moreover, we found that individual critical thinking abilities can effectively moderate the relationship between fear and online COVID-19-related information and strengthen the link between fear and rumor sharing while weakening the link between fear and rumor refuting. Additionally, our study indicates that an individual's fear plays a mediating role in the relationship between information sources and rumor behavior. Our findings shed light on the information processing mechanisms underlying rumor behaviors and yield practical and policy implications for managing them.
With the prevalence and increasing impact of misinformation on social media, numerous studies have explored the characteristics of misinformation. However, we lack a holistic understanding of what factors contribute to the viral spread of misinformation on social media and what strategies have been proposed to combat the phenomenon. Given the importance of these questions to misinformation research, this study aims to (a) provide a systematic and structured overview of the factors that influence the spread of misinformation by analyzing the four vital elements of information communication, namely, source, message, context, and receiver and (b) summarize the current state of research on strategies against the spread of misinformation on social media from various perspectives and discuss their advantages, disadvantages, and effectiveness. Following the process of a systematic literature review, this study identifies and analyzes 423 relevant articles. Finally, we highlight research gaps in the existing literature and recommend directions for future research.
The prevalence of misinformation on social media during COVID-19 causes the emergence of infodemic. Despite the recognition that excessive social media use results in the dissemination of misinformation, a theoretical understanding of the relationship between social media overload and health misinformation dissemination is lacking. To fill the research gap, this study builds an integrated model to examine how social media overload affects individuals’ health misinformation dissemination by investigating the underlying mechanisms. A survey method was employed to collect the data and test the hypotheses. The results revealed that information overload and social media overload affect individuals’ health anxiety and exhaustion, which in turn, exert effects on their health misinformation dissemination. In theoretical terms, this study uncovers the mechanisms underlying the relationship between social media overload and health misinformation dissemination. In practical terms, this study provides insights on the management of social media usage.
Individuals’ psychological processes during emergencies are critical to the understanding of social media user reactions. However, previous studies have paid little attention to the influence of psychological processes on information dissemination behaviours. To provide authorities with a better understanding of dissemination behaviours from the perspective of psychological language use, we used the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) and dual-process models to analyze the effect of words expressing severity and susceptibility on the dissemination behaviours of Weibo users during the avian influenza epidemic. We also explored the mediating effects of emotional responses on the relationship between cognitive responses and dissemination behaviours. The results show that words expressing severity and susceptibility significantly affected the cognitive and emotional responses of users. Weibo user perception and cognition, positive and negative emotions significantly and positively affected their dissemination behaviours. Positive and negative emotions played a partial mediating role in perception responses, cognitive responses, and dissemination behaviours. These findings may assist governments or emergency management departments to effectively control and guide public opinion.
Not only did COVID-19 give rise to a global pandemic, but also it resulted in an infodemic. The consequences of this infodemic can erode public trust and outlive the pandemic. The evolving and fragmented media landscape, particularly the extensive use of social media, is a crucial driver of the spread of misinformation. We collected four million Weibo posts on the Chinese social media from 12/2019 to 4/2020, examining misinformation identified by a fact-checking platform. Our results show that the evolution of misinformation follows an issue-attention cycle, pertaining to topics such as city lockdown, cures, and school-reopening. Sensational-reassuring misinformation characterizes the whole issue-attention cycle, with misinformation on cures and prevention flooding social media. We also study the evolution of sentiment and observe that positive sentiment dominated during COVID-19, which may be due to the unique characteristic of "positive energy" on Chinese social media. Lastly, we study the media landscape during Covid via a case study on a controversial unproven cure, which testifies the importance of scientific communication in a plague. Our findings shed light on misinformation's distinct characteristics and its cultural, social, and political implications during the COVID-19. The study offers insights into combating misinformation in China and across the world.
During COVID-19, social media has played an important role for public health agencies and government stakeholders (i.e. actors) to disseminate information regarding situations, risks, and personal protective action inhibiting disease spread. However, there have been notable insufficient, incongruent, and inconsistent communications regarding the pandemic and its risks, which was especially salient at the early stages of the outbreak. Sufficiency, congruence and consistency in health risk communication have important implications for effective health safety instruction as well as critical content interpretability and recall. It also impacts individual- and community-level responses to information. This research employs text mining techniques and dynamic network analysis to investigate the actors’ risk and crisis communication on Twitter regarding message types, communication sufficiency, timeliness, congruence, consistency and coordination. We studied 13,598 pandemic-relevant tweets posted over January to April from 67 federal and state-level agencies and stakeholders in the U.S. The study annotates 16 categories of message types, analyzes their appearances and evolutions. The research then identifies inconsistencies and incongruencies on four critical topics and examines spatial disparities, timeliness, and sufficiency across actors and message types in communicating COVID-19. The network analysis also reveals increased communication coordination over time. The findings provide unprecedented insight of Twitter COVID-19 information dissemination which may help to inform public health agencies and governmental stakeholders future risk and crisis communication strategies related to global hazards in digital environments.
The explosion of disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic has overloaded fact-checkers and media worldwide. To help tackle this, we developed computational methods to support COVID-19 disinformation debunking and social impacts research. This paper presents: 1) the currently largest available manually annotated COVID-19 disinformation category dataset; and 2) a classification-aware neural topic model (CANTM) that combines classification and topic modelling under a variational autoencoder framework. We demonstrate that CANTM efficiently improves classification performance with low resources, and is scalable. In addition, the classification-aware topics help researchers and end-users to better understand the classification results.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19), the disease has rapidly spread to the world, and the cumulative number of cases is now more than 2.3 million. We aim to study the spread mechanism of rumors on social network platform during the spread of COVID-19 and consider education as a control measure of the spread of rumors. Firstly, a novel epidemic-like model is established to characterize the spread of rumor, which depends on the nonautonomous partial differential equation. Furthermore, the registration time of network users is abstracted as ‘age,’ and the spreading principle of rumors is described from two dimensions of age and time. Specifically, the susceptible users are divided into higher-educators class and lower-educators class, in which the higher-educators class will be immune to rumors with a higher probability and the lower-educators class is more likely to accept and spread the rumors. Secondly, the existence and uniqueness of the solution is discussed and the stability of steady-state solution of the model is obtained. Additionally, an interesting conclusion is that the education level of the crowd is an essential factor affecting the final scale of the spread of rumors. Finally, some control strategies are presented to effectively restrain the rumor propagation, and numerical simulations are carried out to verify the main theoretical results.
Introduction:
Healthcare professionals (HPs) have been confronted by unprecedented traumatic experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in countries that had not experienced similar epidemic outbreaks in recent years.
Aim:
To analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of HPs.
Method:
We comprehensively reviewed the studies published in MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science and Google Scholar between December 2019 and May 2020.
Results:
Most studies report a high prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among HPs that can be associated with: a) COVID-19 exposure; b) epidemiological issues; c) material resources; d) human resources; and e) personal factors. The role of certain variables, before, during and after the pandemic, remains unexplored. Longitudinal studies will help elucidate which factors are associated with a higher risk of developing long-lasting negative effects. Qualitative studies may contribute to understanding the influence of individual and social narratives in HPs' distress.
Conclusion:
A deeper analysis on the individual, institutional, political and socio-cultural factors, meanings and values influencing HPs distress and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic is needed.
News creation and consumption has been changing since the advent of social media. An estimated 2.95 billion people in 2019 used social media worldwide. The widespread of the Coronavirus COVID-19 resulted with a tsunami of social media. Most platforms were used to transmit relevant news, guidelines and precautions to people. According to WHO, uncontrolled conspiracy theories and propaganda are spreading faster than the COVID-19 pandemic itself, creating an infodemic and thus causing psychological panic, misleading medical advises, and economic disruption. Accordingly, discussions have been initiated with the objective of moderating all COVID-19 communications, except those initiated from trusted sources such as the WHO and authorized governmental entities. This paper presents a large-scale study based on data mined from Twitter. Extensive analysis has been performed on approximately one million COVID-19 related tweets collected over a period of two months. Furthermore, the profiles of 288,000 users were analyzed including unique users profiles, meta-data and tweets context. The study noted various interesting conclusions including the critical impact of the (1) exploitation of the COVID-19 crisis to redirect readers to irrelevant topics and (2) widespread of unauthentic medical precautions and information. Further data analysis revealed the importance of using social networks in a global pandemic crisis by relying on credible users with variety of occupations, content developers and influencers in specific fields. In this context, several insights and findings have been provided while elaborating computing and non-computing implications and research directions for potential solutions and social networks management strategies during crisis periods.
With more than three billion people in isolation, the status of digital spaces is switching from an amenity to a necessity, as they become not only the main way to access information and services, but also one of the only remaining vectors for economic, educational, and leisure activities as well as for social interactions to take place. However, not all are equals in terms of access to networks or connected devices, or when it comes to the skills required to navigate computerized spaces optimally. Digital inequalities were already existing, yet the COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating them dramatically. On the one hand, the crisis will worsen digital inequalities within the population. On the other hand, digital inequalities represent a major risk factor of vulnerability for exposure to the virus itself, and for the non-sanitary consequences of the crisis. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring the reciprocal impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and digital inequalities, and to propose operative solutions to help fight the nefarious consequences of the crisis. We first describe how digital inequalities are a determinant of health. We then investigate how COVID-19 can potentiate digital inequalities, and how digital inequalities potentiate vulnerability to COVID-19. Finally, in order to contribute to the mitigation of this crisis, we propose a set of multi-layered strategies focusing on actionability that can be implemented at multiple structural levels, ranging from governmental to corporate and community levels.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has not only caused significant challenges for health systems all over the globe but also fueled the surge of numerous rumors, hoaxes, and misinformation, regarding the etiology, outcomes, prevention, and cure of the disease. Such spread of misinformation is masking healthy behaviors and promoting erroneous practices that increase the spread of the virus and ultimately result in poor physical and mental health outcomes among individuals. Myriad incidents of mishaps caused by these rumors have been reported globally. To address this issue, the frontline healthcare providers should be equipped with the most recent research findings and accurate information. The mass media, healthcare organization, community-based organizations, and other important stakeholders should build strategic partnerships and launch common platforms for disseminating authentic public health messages. Also, advanced technologies like natural language processing or data mining approaches should be applied in the detection and removal of online content with no scientific basis from all social media platforms. Furthermore, these practices should be controlled with regulatory and law enforcement measures alongside ensuring telemedicine-based services providing accurate information on COVID-19.
We address the diffusion of information about the COVID-19 with a massive data analysis on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and Gab. We analyze engagement and interest in the COVID-19 topic and provide a differential assessment on the evolution of the discourse on a global scale for each platform and their users. We fit information spreading with epidemic models characterizing the basic reproduction number R 0 for each social media platform. Moreover, we identify information spreading from questionable sources, finding different volumes of misinformation in each platform. However, information from both reliable and questionable sources do not present different spreading patterns. Finally, we provide platform-dependent numerical estimates of rumors’ amplification.
Mobile apps are effective tools for administering health interventions and changing user behaviors in key lifestyle areas, such as physical activity, but the attrition rates of fitness app users are high. To understand how to increase user retention rates, the present study draws from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and investigates the role of exercise self-efficacy, in addition to the original TAM constructs, namely, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment, in predicting current users’ intention to continue using the apps. Moreover, this study extends TAM from a human-technology interaction perspective by elucidating the antecedents of perceived usefulness in terms of specific functions provided by fitness mobile apps. Samples were drawn from a large online Chinese subject pool to test the hypotheses via a survey (N = 449). The results showed that four technological functions—instruction provision, self-monitoring, self-regulation, and goal attainment—had an indirect effect on continuance intention through perceived usefulness, and this indirect effect was moderated by exercise self-efficacy such that the association between perceived usefulness and continuance intention was stronger for those with low exercise self-efficacy.
This study examined whether and how the publics’ negative peer communication (NPC)about companies on social media could influence the quality of organization-public relationships (OPRs)through the theoretical lens of socialization and social learning theory. Through an online survey and a structural equation modeling analysis, results showed that NPC about companies on social media negatively influenced the quality of OPRs. Publics who were more dependent on social media and who had stronger ties with their peers tended to engage more in NPC about companies. Publics who perceived a favorable reputation of the company were less likely to engage in NPC.
This study examines the factors affecting consumers' purchasing behaviour in respect of green products in a developing nation. Additionally, it ascertains the moderating effect of peer influence on this relationship. A questionnaire was administered to a group of 400 respondents through the convenience sampling method. Data were analysed via the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach to examine the posited research hypotheses. The PLS-SEM approach revealed that perceived deterioration of environmental problems was the strongest predictor of consumers’ purchasing behaviour in respect of green products in a developing nation. This was followed by environmental concern, and then by perceived environmental responsibility, and environmental self-image. Furthermore, the moderating effects varied significantly across peer influence groups. Producers and marketing managers should overtly demonstrate their sensitivity to the need to care for the environment. This requires them to arouse positive environmental awareness among consumers about the deterioration of environmental problems. The originality of the paper is its investigation of peer influence as the moderator and predictor in the proposed theoretical framework, something that has been overlooked in prior studies. The results underpin new and extensive inputs into marketing theory, and enlarge the emergent literature related to consumer green purchasing behaviour in a developing nation. Directions for future research are offered.
This study examines how cognitive (benefit-risk appraisal) and social factors (parent and peer communication) are associated with teenagers’ privacy concerns as well as individual and social coping strategies in dealing with Facebook newsfeed advertising. A survey conducted with U.S. teen Facebook users demonstrates that benefit appraisal (ad value and relevance) induces greater ad engagement, while risk perceptions (goal impediment, ad intrusiveness, and
sponsorship deceptiveness) result in reactive coping strategies such as privacy concerns, ad avoidance, and regulatory control. Parental mediation has a positive impact on teens’ privacy concerns and ad avoidance, whereas peer communication makes teens less critical about advertising practices. Teens’ privacy concerns lead to ad disengagement and support for government regulation. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
This experimental study examined the effects of engaging on social media with attractive female peers on young adult women's body image. Participants were 118 female undergraduate students randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions. Participants first completed a visual analogue scale measure of state body image and then either browsed and left a comment on the social media site of an attractive female peer (n = 56) or did the same with a family member (n = 62) and then completed a post-manipulation visual analogue scale measure of state body image. A 2 × 2 mixed analysis of variance showed a significant interaction between condition and time. Follow-up t-tests revealed that young adult women who engaged with an attractive peer on social media subsequently experienced an increase in negative body image (dependence-corrected d = 0.13), whereas those who engaged with a family member did not (dependence-corrected d = 0.02). The findings suggest that upward appearance comparisons on social media may promote increased body image concerns in young adult women.
Grounded on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, we develop a research model by proposing participants' perceived utilitarian and hedonic value as the two key mediating mechanisms to transmit the effects of marketing stimuli and social media stimuli on participants' intention to repost a marketing message on social media. The survey data of 402 participants largely support the proposed research model. Interestingly, our data also suggest that marketing stimuli has more salient effects in predicting participants' reposting intention when compared to social media stimuli. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of social commerce.
This study aimed to disentangle the effects of Mild-to-Borderline Intellectual Disability (MBID) and Behavior Disorders (BD)on risk taking in circumstances where peer influence was absent or present. We studied 319 adolescents in four groups: MBID-only, MBID+BD, BD-only, and typically developing controls. The Balloon Analogue Risk-Task (BART), in a solo or peer condition, was used as a proxy of real-life risk-taking. Results show a significant main effect of BART condition. Post-hoc tests indicated higher risk-taking in the peer compared to the solo condition in all groups except BD-only. Moreover, risk taking was increased in adolescents with MBID compared to adolescents without MBID, but only under peer-influence. No main or interaction effects with BD were observed. Model based decomposition of BART performance in underlying processes showed that the MBID related increase in risk-taking under peer-influence was mainly related to increased risk-taking propensity, and in the MBID-only group also to increased safety estimates and increased confidence in these safety estimates. The present study shows that risk-taking in MBID may be better explained by low intellectual functioning than by comorbid BD, and may not originate in increased risk taking per se, but may rather be related to risk-taking under peer-influence, which is a complex, multifaceted risk-taking context. Therefore, interventions to decrease risk-taking by adolescents with MBID that specifically target peer-influence may be successful.
This study examines dynamic communication processes of political misinformation on social media focusing on three components: the temporal pattern, content mutation, and sources of misinformation. We traced the lifecycle of 17 popular political rumors that circulated on Twitter over 13 months during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Using text analysis based on time series, we found that while false rumors (misinformation) tend to come back multiple times after the initial publication, true rumors (facts) do not. Rumor resurgence continues, often accompanying textual changes, until the tension around the target dissolves. We observed that rumors resurface by partisan news websites that repackage the old rumor into news and, gain visibility by influential Twitter users who introduce such rumor into the Twittersphere. In this paper, we argue that media scholars should consider the mutability of diffusing information, temporal recurrence of such messages, and the mechanism by which these messages evolve over time.
Purpose
Based on Stimulus-Organism-Response model, this study develops an integrated model to explore the effects of 6 marketing-mix components (stimuli) on consumer loyalty (response) through consumer value (organism) in social commerce (SC).
Design/methodology/approach
In order to target online social buyers, a web-based survey was employed. Structural equation modeling with partial least square (PLS) is used to analyze valid data from 599 consumers who have repurchase experience via Facebook.
Findings
The results from PLS analysis show that all components of SC marketing mix (SCMM) have significant effects on SC consumer value. Moreover, SC customer value positively influences SC customer loyalty.
Research limitations/implications
The data for this study are collected from Facebook only and the sample size is limited; thus replication studies are needed to improve generalizability and data representativeness of the study. Moreover, longitudinal studies are needed to verify the causality among the constructs in the proposed research model.
Practical implications
SC sellers should implement more effective SCMM strategies to foster SC customer loyalty through better SCMM decisions.
Originality/value
This study develops a parsimonious model to explain the over-arching effects of SCMM components on customer loyalty in SC mediated by customer value. It confirms that utilitarian, hedonic, and social values can be applied to online SC and that SCMM can be leveraged to achieve these values.
This research examines the mechanisms through which entrepreneurial orientation (EO) affects firm performance in an emerging market context. We argue that EO drives firms to develop the dynamic capabilities of absorptive capacity (ACAP) and boundary-spanning (BS), and that these capabilities enhance firm performance. Moreover, the effectiveness of these knowledge- and network-based dynamic capabilities in mediating the EO-performance relationship is contingent on the institutional conditions firms are exposed to. We test our hypotheses using multi-sourced data on Chinese high-tech firms in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Our results show that ACAP and BS mediate the positive effect of EO on firm performance, and that as the development of market-supporting institutions improves, the mediating effect of ACAP becomes stronger while that of BS weakens.
This study explores the role of peer communication in normative social influences on risk behavior. We use the theory of normative social behavior (TNSB) as a guiding framework for developing a communication perspective on normative social influences. Peer communication is conceptualized as a norm-building factor and its concrete role is specified as a function of its content. The hypotheses on peer communication’s impact on norms in normative social influences are tested for the case of speeding in road traffic. The analyses are based on representative survey data of 1,138 German young car drivers. Findings from mediational analyses indicate that peer communication plays a crucial role in the formation of social norms which, in turn, affect risk behavior, and that the communication’s health-promoting potential depends on its content. Implications for further norm-based theory development and strategic risk communication are discussed.
Presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from 4 principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Factors influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arise from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. (21/2 p ref)
This study seeks to understand the specific factors on social media that help drive the intention to purchase fashion‐related products, focusing on the central role of trust. The unique contribution of this research lies in its exploration of the interplay between perceived usefulness of the fashion brand's social media and peer communication on the fashion brand's social media in driving trust in the fashion brand's social media and, ultimately, purchase intention. Theoretically, we combine the technology acceptance model and consumer socialisation theory to explore the mediating role of trust in a rapidly expanding and growing industry sector. In surveying 150 Europeans to test our hypotheses around the aforementioned concepts, findings show that the perceived usefulness of a brand's social media is impacted by a set of atmospheric cues, and it influences the level of trust in both the fashion brand and its social media channels. Peer communication also influences perceived usefulness and level of trust in both the fashion brand and its social media channels. Trust in the brand but not its social media channels impacts purchase intention. The role of privacy concerns is limited in our model. We draw implications for theory around combining consumer socialisation theory and the technology acceptance model and for managers around parallel strategies to build different sets of trust on social media.
Information behavior for health and fitness have attained increasing attention in the e-health field. However, mobile users still need exploring a largely untapped resource on fitness apps to obtain more health benefits. Regarding that prior studies seldom focused on which factor hinders fitness app exploration, this study proposes a moderated mediation model to investigate the mechanisms underlying users’ intention to explore fitness apps (IEFA) based on status quo bias theory and goal-setting theory. This model stresses on the mediation effect of perceived need and the moderating effect of health goal. Data from 346 respondents in China were used to examine the hypotheses proposed in the research model and further to verify the moderated mediation model. The results indicate that users’ inertia negatively influences both perceived need and IEFA, and perceived need not only has a positive influence on IEFA, but also mediates the relationship between inertia and IEFA. In addition, health goal weakens the relationships between inertia and perceived need as well as between inertia and IEFA. This study extends the knowledge of information behavior in the mobile health field and enriches literature of status quo bias and health goal-setting. It also discusses practical implications for fitness app providers.
Guided by fear appeal effect theories and the defensive attribution hypothesis, the current study examined the influence of the threat and efficacy messages in instructing and adjusting information on crisis responsibility and organizational reputation. Study 1 adopted a 2 (high vs. low threat in instructing information) × 2 (high vs. low self efficacy for instructing information) × 2 (high vs. low proxy efficacy for adjusting information) experiment and revealed that the high threat message significantly increased the attribution of crisis responsibility and further harmed organizational reputation. The high proxy efficacy message in adjusting information helped protect the organizational reputation, however, the effect was not mediated by crisis responsibility. Study 2 replicated the first experiment using a different crisis and introduced fear to the research model. Conclusions in Study 1 were largely reinforced. Fear was observed to indirectly influence organizational reputation via crisis responsibility. The mixed results of threat and efficacy in instructing and adjusting information encouraged managerial considerations when organizations design initial crisis responses.
The Internet widely display interactions between various parties, calling for research to understand how message- and source-related factors in these easily observed interactions influence observers’ attitudes in health contexts. From a masspersonal communication perspective, we investigated how reading a conversation about seeking counseling between two members of an online support group affects individuals’ attitudes toward counseling-seeking behavior. In the conversation, one group member asked for advice about depressive symptoms, and in our online experiment with adults living in the United States (N = 250), we manipulated the responding source’s expert status and framing of the message that recommended seeking counseling. Guided by an overarching theoretical framework–dual-process theory of supportive communication outcomes, we found a significant three-way interaction among severity of depressive symptomatology (low vs. high), message framing (gain vs. loss), and source expertise (peer vs. peer counselor vs. professional counselor). When a peer counselor provided the message, loss framing reduced self-stigma toward seeking counseling to a greater degree than gain framing and, in turn, induced more favorable attitudes toward the behavior among people with a high severity of depressive symptomatology. Those findings provide theoretical insights into the masspersonal communication approach to health promotion and inform promising communication strategies to promote counseling-seeking behavior among people with depressive symptomatology.
This study investigates the possible association between social media usage and the mental health toll from the coronavirus at the peak of Wuhan's COVID-19 outbreak. Informed by the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Model and Health Belief Model, it proposes a conceptual model to study how people in Wuhan – the first epicenter of the global COVID-19 pandemic – used social media and its effects on users' mental health conditions and health behavior change. The results show that social media usage was related to both depression and secondary trauma, which also predicted health behavior change. But no relation was detected between health behavior change and mental health conditions. As the virus struck, social media usage was rewarding to Wuhan people who gained informational, emotional, and peer support from the health information shared on social media. An excessive use of social media, however, led to mental health issues. The results imply that taking a social media break may promote well-being during the pandemic, which is crucial to mitigating mental health harm inflicted by the pandemic.
The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant threat to the healthy lives and well-being of billions of people worldwide. As the world begins to open up from lockdowns and enters an unprecedented state of vulnerability, or what many have called “the new normal”, it makes sense to reflect on what we have learned, revisit our fundamental assumptions, and start charting the way forward to contribute to building a sustainable world. In this essay, we argue that despite its significant damage to human lives and livelihoods, the coronavirus pandemic presents an excellent opportunity for the human family to act in solidarity and turn this crisis into an impetus to achieve the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In this article, we will highlight the six relevant themes that have evolved during the pandemic and the corresponding topics that future researchers could focus on. We conclude by issuing a call for more research attention on tackling SDG through developing the concept and practice of digital sustainability.
Research summary
Though prior research highlights the organizational and cognitive challenges associated with achieving organizational ambidexterity, there has been comparatively less empirical attention focused on the cognitive characteristics that may differentiate top managers of firms that achieve ambidexterity. We build on emerging research and identify cognitive flexibility as a cognitive characteristic with particular relevance to the challenges associated with ambidexterity and suggest that it works through CEOs’ information search activities. We find that cognitively flexible CEOs are more likely to engage in effortful and persistent information search and rely to a greater extent on outside sources of information. In turn, effortful and persistent information search activities are associated with higher levels of organizational ambidexterity. Our study pushes forward the research agenda on cognitive micro‐foundations of firm capabilities.
Managerial summary
Ambidextrous organizations, or organizations that have the capability to pursue both incremental and discontinuous innovation, enjoy more sustainable competitive advantages. However, the achievement of organizational ambidexterity poses unique demands for top managers, including cognitive challenges. To help managers better understand these challenges, this study focuses attention on the role of the CEO in the achievement of organizational ambidexterity, and on CEO cognitive flexibility as a potential influencing factor. Our results suggest that CEO cognitive flexibility may influence organizational ambidexterity indirectly through its effect on CEO information search activities, in particular where and how intensely CEOs search for information. Our study reinforces the importance of human factors in the executive office for the development of firm dynamic capabilities, and the implementation of an innovation‐based strategy.
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This study investigates beneficial effects of social media communication on encouraging positive health prevention behaviors among U. S. parents. The ongoing 2019 U. S. measles outbreak was the topical focus due to its urgency, highly contagious nature, societal impact, and high relevance to public health. Applying the Extended Parallel Process Model as a theoretical framework, social media expression and reception effects on different prevention intentions were examined along with self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity as potential mediators. The study found that both social media expression and reception were effective in encouraging preventive hygiene intention, but only through improved self-efficacy and perceived severity. For information seeking intention, both social media expression and reception were effective directly and indirectly through increased susceptibility and severity perceptions of measles infection on their child. Practical implications and study contributions are further discussed.
Mobile health-monitoring services (MMSs) empower patients with chronic illnesses to self-manage their health concerns; however, in practice, many patients become inactive users after employing MMSs for a short time. The reasons for this usage pattern remain unclear. By extending the literature that focuses on the cognitive reasoning behind system usage, our study takes an affect transfer perspective to examine how these patients develop emotional attachment to MMSs that subsequently drives their usage. Drawing on affect transfer theory, we hypothesize that patients’ satisfaction with MMS components influences their emotional attachment to the service through both cognitive and misattribution routines, and that the combined effects of these two routines are contingent on patients’ health rationality. Our hypotheses are tested with survey data collected from 228 patients with chronic illnesses. This study contributes to the mobile health (mHealth) literature by investigating patients’ actual behavior based on their interactions with MMSs from an affect transfer perspective. It also informs service providers of MMSs regarding how to motivate service usage by patients with chronic illnesses by adopting a strategic design.
During the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), people use social media to acquire and exchange various types of information at a historic and unprecedented scale. Only the situational information are valuable for the public and authorities to response to the epidemic. Therefore, it is important to identify such situational information and to understand how it is being propagated on social media, so that appropriate information publishing strategies can be informed for the COVID-19 epidemic. This article sought to fill this gap by harnessing Weibo data and natural language processing techniques to classify the COVID-19-related information into seven types of situational information. We found specific features in predicting the reposted amount of each type of information. The results provide data-driven insights into the information need and public attention.
Use of the social platform Facebook belongs to daily life, but may impair subjective well-being. The present experimental study investigated the potential beneficial impact of reduction of daily Facebook use. Participants were Facebook users from Germany. While the experimental group (N = 140; Mage(SDage) = 24.15 (5.06)) reduced its Facebook use for 20 min daily for two weeks, the control group (N = 146; Mage(SDage) = 25.39 (6.69)) used Facebook as usual. Variables of Facebook use, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, physical activity and smoking behavior were assessed via online surveys at five measurement time points (pre-measurement, day 0 = T1; between-measurement, day 7 = T2; post-measurement, day 15 = T3; follow-up 1, one month after post-measurement = T4; follow-up 2, three months after post-measurement = T5). The intervention reduced active and passive Facebook use, Facebook use intensity, and the level of Facebook Addiction Disorder. Life satisfaction significantly increased, and depressive symptoms significantly decreased. Moreover, frequency of physical activity such as jogging or cycling significantly increased, and number of daily smoked cigarettes decreased. Effects remained stable during follow-up (three months). Thus, less time spent on Facebook leads to more well-being and a healthier lifestyle.
A family environment, characterized by low expressiveness, low cohesion and intense conflicts is usually associated with problematic internet use (PIU) among adolescents. However, the mechanism that correlates family environment with PIU is still unclear. We propose that a negative family environment is associated with high adolescents' depression which, in turn, leads to Fear of Missing Out (FoMO); Finally, FoMO is associated with PIU, and time spent online. Eighty-five adolescents (aged 12–16) and their parents (total N = 170) participated in the study. Parents provided data on the family environment, and adolescents provided data on depression, FoMO and PIU. In addition, we monitored adolescents' smartphones for 14 days, gathering objective data to evaluate time and content online. Results supported out model, indicating that the effects of low family expressiveness and high conflicts on PIU and time spent online are mediated by depression and FoMO. Results suggest that positive family environment could decrease depressive symptoms and FoMO among adolescents, and hence, diminish PIU and time spent online.
Underpinned by the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework and the anchoring effect, this paper investigates how perceived message properties of online rumor rebuttals are related to perceived utilitarian and hedonic values, which further could determine rebuttal acceptance. Given the possibility that Internet users can confront a rebuttal when they are not even aware of the rumor, this paper takes into account the role of exposure sequence as a moderator. Data were collected from 322 social media users in a between-participants experiment, which manipulated the exposure sequence. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Perceived message properties were positively associated with perceived utilitarian and hedonic values, both of which were positively related to rebuttal acceptance. Exposure sequence significantly moderated the underlying mechanism of rebuttal acceptance. This paper contributes to the online rebuttal literature by examining how individuals respond to rebuttals in terms of intention to believe and share such messages. It also has implications for practitioners and other Internet users.
Users of social media websites tend to rapidly spread breaking news and trending stories without considering their truthfulness. This facilitates the spread of rumors through social networks. A rumor is a story or statement for which truthfulness has not been verified. Efficiently detecting and acting upon rumors throughout social networks is of high importance to minimizing their harmful effect. However, detecting them is not a trivial task. They belong to unseen topics or events that are not covered in the training dataset. In this paper, we study the problem of detecting breaking news rumors, instead of long-lasting rumors, that spread in social media. We propose a new approach that jointly learns word embeddings and trains a recurrent neural network with two different objectives to automatically identify rumors. The proposed strategy is simple but effective to mitigate the topic shift issues. Emerging rumors do not have to be false at the time of the detection. They can be deemed later to be true or false. However, most previous studies on rumor detection focus on long-standing rumors and assume that rumors are always false. In contrast, our experiment simulates a cross-topic emerging rumor detection scenario with a real-life rumor dataset. Experimental results suggest that our proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of precision, recall, and F1.
The literature currently lacks an understanding of how denials can be crafted to effectively debunk rumors on social media. Underpinned by the theory of planned behavior, this research develops denials by incorporating salient beliefs to enhance users’ likelihood to share such messages. Two related studies were conducted. The first was a survey of 276 participants to identify salient beliefs that could be incorporated to develop rumor denials. The following salient beliefs were identified in the survey: (i) Sharing denials helps to spread the truth; (ii) Friends and the online community encourage the behavior of sharing denials; and (iii) Source credibility of denials encourages sharing. From among the pool of survey participants, 206 took part in a second study that employed an experiment to measure the efficacy of the developed denials. The experiment revealed that denials incorporating all the salient beliefs had the greatest potential to influence users’ likelihood of sharing. With a theory-driven approach to develop denials, this research offers insights to practitioners such as social media managers and website authorities on ways to debunk rumors.
Since natural disasters can affect many people over a vast area, studying information‐seeking behavior (ISB) during disasters is of great importance. Many previous studies have relied on online social network data, providing insights into the ISB of those with Internet access. However, in a large‐scale natural disaster such as the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, people in the most severely affected areas tended to have limited Internet access. Therefore, an alternative data source should be explored to investigate disaster‐related ISB. This study's contributions are twofold. First, we provide a detailed description of natural disaster‐related ISB of people who experienced a large‐scale earthquake and tsunami, based on analysis of written testimonies published by local authorities. This provided insight into the relationship between information needs, channels, and sources of disaster‐related ISB. Also, our approach facilitates the study of ISB of people without Internet access both during and after a disaster. Second, we provide empirical evidence to demonstrate that the temporal stages of a disaster can characterize people's ISB during the disaster. Therefore, we propose further consideration of the temporal aspects of events for improved understanding of disaster‐related ISB.
Destructive rumors can infringe upon others’ interests, disrupt public order and pose a threat to social stability. For crisis communicators, it is important to understand when and how rumor should be controlled. In this paper, taking into account the possibility of that the spreaders may experience a cooling off period before becoming stiflers and the mobility of people in a certain area, we propose a novel rumor spreading model to discuss the control of rumor spreading in emergency. We also analyze the stability of the proposed model. The validity of the obtained theoretical results is verified by numerical results. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the impact of rumor control measures on the spread of rumor. Finally, we suggest means through which crisis management departments can curb the spread of rumor.
Social media plays a critical role in propagating emergency information during disasters. Governmental agencies have opened social media accounts for emergency communication channels. To understand the underlying mechanism of user behaviors and engagement, this study employs social network analysis to investigate information network and diffusion across news, weather agencies, governmental agencies, organizations and the public during the 2017 Storm Cindy in the U.S. This study identified certain types of Twitter users (news and weather agencies) were dominant as information sources and information diffusers (the public and organizations). However, the information flow in the network was controlled by numerous types of users including news, agency, weather agencies and the public. The results highlighted the importance of understanding the unique characteristics of social media and networks for better emergency communication system.
Despite our understanding that social media and online healthcare communities can help to eliminate health information asymmetry and improve patients’ self‐care engagement, we have yet to understand what happens when patients have access to others’ health data and how patients’ access to these shared experiences and opinions influence their health knowledge and perceived treatment outcome. In this paper, we apply social information processing theory and incorporate (1) uncertainty of a treatment, (2) information exposure, and (3) credibility of the information source into patients’ information evaluation function to assess how patients utilize shared health information and experiences. An empirical model, which combines various aspects of patients’ firsthand experiences about treatments into a single construct, yields empirical evidence that patients’ perceived treatment outcome is prone to social influence from other patients’ shared experiences. By disaggregating the sources of social influence, we find that social influence created by generalized others in the community outweighs that by familiar others of one's intimate social group. In addition, we find that other factors, such as positive sentiment in comments and patients’ prior experiences, also affect patients’ perceived treatment outcome. Based on our findings, implications for health promotion and health behaviors are presented.
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This study measures individual resilience to cyberterrorist attacks on financial systems and explores the antecedents of resilience. The research model integrates the resilience literature with the fear appraisal literature to address individuals’ fears of cyberterrorist attacks on financial systems. The model is tested using data collected through an online survey. The results show that (1) community support and family financial management significantly increase resilience toward cyberterrorist attacks, and (2) resilience to and fear of cyberterrorist attacks significantly influence individuals’ behaviors in handling their finances. This research helps IT practitioners to develop strategies to build cyber resilience capacities among individuals and communities.
In the context of Internet and Communications Technology (ICT), this research investigates the acceptance of hate rumor and its consequence during a community crisis situation. Extending prior rumor research for this context, we develop and test a refined model using data collected from victims of a large scale (hate) rumor spread incident. Our data analyses present three main findings. First, during the crisis situation, platform characteristics of media synchronicity and richness of expression affected the likelihood of rumor recipients believing the false rumor to be a true message. Second, rumors received from people with closer social ties were more likely to be believed as true. Third, rumor belief during the crisis was associated with greater intensity of informational and behavioral actions. Our findings provide governments with insights to mitigate the spread of hate rumor especially under community disaster situations. Implications for research and policy are discussed. This paper contributes to the IS literature on rumor theory and its implications by explaining how diverse communication technologies are used in a community crisis, thereby opening new avenue for future research to address the negative consequences of using communication media in the complex ICT mediated world. It shows how media characteristics along with social ties affect the “politics of plausibility”.
Pervasive social media access has induced excessive technology use that can lead to overload, which may produce negative psychological and behavioral consequences for people who suffer from it. Drawing on the S-O-R framework, we develop a research model to explore the effect of overload on the discontinuous intention of social media users, and propose three types of overload in the social media context: information, communication, and social overloads. They are assumed to impact the internal psychological states (i.e., exhaustion and regret) of users, which in turn motivate them to quit. An empirical study of 258 Chinese social media users provides general support for our hypotheses. However, the impact of information overload on regret is insignificant; the relationship between communication overload and exhaustion is also insignificant. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.
The proliferation of the Internet and online communities has greatly increased the number and transmission speed of online rumors. To take more effective measures to counter the negative effects of these rumors, researchers and companies should understand the underlying mechanism of online rumor transmission. Therefore, this study takes an early initiative by focusing on users' arguments in online discussion forums on the rumors and their effects on an individual's belief in rumor and belief change, which is guided by the informational cascade and group polarization theories. In turn, belief and belief change on the online rumor lead to intention to spread the rumor. A lab experiment was conducted to test research hypotheses. The results, implications, limitations of the study, and conclusion are presented.
Social influence has a great impact on human behavior, which has been widely investigated in various research fields. Even so, it has rarely been investigated in the online health community. In this paper, we focus on the multichannel access in online health communities, defining social influence as the average degree of multichannel access to a physician's colleagues. Based on the multinomial logistic regression model, we examined the direct effects of social influence and patients' rating to multichannel access. In addition, we explored the moderating effect of social influence on the relationship between patients' rating and multichannel access in online health communities. The results of the experiment and robustness testing support the propositions that social influence and patients' rating significantly and positively affect multichannel access in an online health community. The moderating effect of social influence is negative and significantly influences the accessible channels provided by the focal physician. This research contributes to the literature concerning online health communities, social influence, and multichannel access; it also has practical implications.
Objective
This study integrates the risk perception attitude framework and social support to examine factors influencing consumers’ intentions to seek health information in mobile social media websites.
Method
We develop a research model consisting of four social support dimensions, perceived health risk, health self-efficacy, and health information-seeking intention. A survey is conducted among patients with non-serious conditions. A two-step approach of structural equation modeling is used to test the research model.
Results
Among the four dimensions of social support, tangible support and appraisal support significantly influence perceived risk, whereas emotional support and esteem support significantly influence health self-efficacy. Perceived health risk and health self-efficacy significantly influence the health information-seeking behavior intention of consumers. Specifically, health self-efficacy significantly moderates the relationship between perceived risk and behavior intention.
Conclusions
This study highlights the integrated effects of social capital and risk perception attitude framework on health information-seeking intention. It examines relationships among perceived health risk, health self-efficacy, and behavior intention in the mobile social media context. The findings help understand effects of social capital factors on perceived health risk and health self-efficacy.
【Full-text available on request】This study employs push-pull-mooring (PPM) framework originated from human migration literature as the theoretical paradigm to explore the key factors influencing users’ switching intention in the context of mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications. The research model was tested with 240 valid responses among Chinese MIM users. The results show that fatigue with incumbent MIM and subjective norm have significant positive effects on switching intention, while inertia negatively affects switching intention. In addition, affective commitment, switching costs and habit are found to be significant to inertia. This study sheds light on the switching behavior of MIM users, and helps explain the key determinants of switching intention of MIM users. The findings also help practitioners make appropriate strategies for maintaining current users as well as attracting new users.