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2025 , Vol. 69 >Issue 16: 116 - 127

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13266/j.issn.0252-3116.2025.16.010

RESEARCH PAPERS

Construal Level Theory-Guided Investigation of Individual Heterogeneity in Credibility Judgment of Health Misinformation

  • Song Shijie ,
  • Song Xiaokang ,
  • Zhao Yuxiang ,
  • Zhu Qinghua
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  • 1 Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100;
    2 School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072;
    3 School of Management, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221004;
    4 School of Information Management, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023
Song Shijie, associate professor, PhD; Song Xiaokang, associate professor, PhD; Zhao Yuxiang, professor, PhD, corresponding author, E-mail: yxzhao@vip.163.com; Zhu Qinghua, professor, PhD.

Received date: 2024-09-02

  Revised date: 2025-02-02

  Online published: 2025-08-01

Supported by

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China project titled “Features Detection and Collaborative Correction of Health Misinformation on Social Media” (Grant No. 72204076), the National Natural Science Foundation of China project titled “Research on the Diffusion Mechanism and Collaborative Governance of Health Misinformation in Social Media” (Grant No. 72174083), and the Social Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province project titled “Credibility Assessment of AI-generated Content in Human-AI Interactions” (Grant No.23TQC005).

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Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] The prevalence of online health misinformation imposes crises of information credibility. Health misinformation misleads users’ health decisions and leads to negative health outcomes. To effectively address the harm caused by health misinformation, it is essential first to understand why users are susceptible to perceiving such misinformation as credible. This study aims to analyze the individual heterogeneity in users’ credibility judgment of health misinformation from the perspectives of construal level theory（CLT） and health and scientific literacy. [Method/Process] The study collected sample data through an online experiment. A total of 397 subjects each completed 10 credibility judgment tasks on health misinformation, generating 3,970 valid records. For data analysis, a multilevel mixed-effects logistic model was used to estimate the impact of individual heterogeneity on the ability to judge the credibility of health misinformation. [Result/Conclusion] There are common obstacles in distinguishing the credibility of health misinformation, with significant individual differences in credibility judgment. Specifically, the psychological distance between users and health misinformation is significantly negatively correlated with the probability of successfully judging credibility. Conversely, users’ scientific beliefs and scientific reasoning abilities are significantly positively correlated with the credibility judgment of health misinformation. Additionally, users’ attitudes towards alternative medicine negatively predict the probability of successfully judging health misinformation’s credibility.

Key words： health misinformation; construal level theory; psychological distance; credibility; individual heterogeneity; multilevel mixed-effects model

Cite this article

Song Shijie , Song Xiaokang , Zhao Yuxiang , Zhu Qinghua . Construal Level Theory-Guided Investigation of Individual Heterogeneity in Credibility Judgment of Health Misinformation[J]. Library and Information Service, 2025 , 69(16) : 116 -127 . DOI: 10.13266/j.issn.0252-3116.2025.16.010

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