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2024 , Vol. 68 >Issue 4: 70 - 82

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13266/j.issn.0252-3116.2024.04.006

INFORMATION RESEARCH

Investigating the Influence of Health Misinformation Features on Users’ Sharing Willingness in Social Media

  • Xue Xiang ,
  • Ma Haiyun ,
  • Zhao Yuxiang ,
  • Zhu Qinghua
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  • School of Information Management, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023

Received date: 2023-07-21

  Revised date: 2023-10-11

  Online published: 2024-03-15

Supported by

This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China project titled “Study on the Dissemination Mechanism and Collaborative Management of Health Misinformation in the Social Media Environment”(Grant No.72174083) and Natural Science Foundation of China youth project titled “Research on the Identification of Features and Collaborative Correction Mechanism of Health Misinformation in Social Media”(Grant No.72204076).

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Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] Misinformation is easily generated and disseminated through social media. Investigating the interactive influence of health misinformation features on users’ sharing willingness is helpful for the health misinformation governance. [Method/Process] The paper identified emotional appeal, information source, and content modification as three typical features of health misinformation. With two mediating mechanisms, perceived information quality and perceived information trustworthiness, it proposed nine research hypotheses and one research question. And it collected 1784 experimental data from 223 participants with a 2×2×2 within-participant experimental design. And it analyzed the hypotheses and research question through univariate ANOVA and path analysis. [Result/Conclusion] The results show that the three heuristic cues, namely emotional appeal, information source, and content modification, contribute to users’ willingness to share in different degree with an interactive overlapping effect on each other. Perceived information quality and perceived information trustworthiness play a crucial mediating role in this facilitation association and are essential antecedents for establishing users’ willingness to share. This study advances the understanding of health misinformation communication behavior on the internet and provides new insights into the health misinformation governance.

Key words： health misinformation; sharing intention; perceived information quality; perceived information credibility; social media

Cite this article

Xue Xiang , Ma Haiyun , Zhao Yuxiang , Zhu Qinghua . Investigating the Influence of Health Misinformation Features on Users’ Sharing Willingness in Social Media[J]. Library and Information Service, 2024 , 68(4) : 70 -82 . DOI: 10.13266/j.issn.0252-3116.2024.04.006

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