An empirical investigation of precursors influencing social media health information behaviors and personal healthcare habits during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Abstract

Purpose Drawing upon the communicative ecology theory (CET), this study aims to identify the potential precursors of social media health information seeking intentions (ISI) and examine their effects on health information re-sharing behaviors and PHH during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The data is collected through an online survey conducted in two different universities situated in highly COVID-19-affected cities – Wuhan and Zhengzhou, China. The valid data consists of 230 useful responses from WeChat users and to analyze the final data set structural equation modeling (SEM) is used. Findings The results indicate that perceived health information credibility (PIC), trust on the medium (TRM) and peer influence (PI) significantly affect health ISI which further affects health information re-sharing behaviors (IRB) and personal health-care habits (PHH). Besides, the results also identify that PI has a direct, positive and significant effect on health IRB via social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations/implications This study investigates the health information intentional behavior precursors and their consequences via WeChat (taken as social media platform) during COVID-19 pandemic. Future studies may conduct research by examining online information behaviors on other social media platforms – Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc. – in health emergency situations. Practical implications The health information producers and providers have to deal with communicative ecology sentiments elegantly in emergency situations such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. They need to do collective efforts by introducing new tools or social apps which deal with valuable, reliable and accurate health content and information generated by the pandemic experts and health professionals. In such a way, the social apps and tools (Information providers) will act as mediators between the health professionals (Information producers) and general social media users (information seekers). Such initiatives will ultimately bring forth positive effect on individuals’ PHH as a whole within a network, community, environment or nations during a health emergency – COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value This research is one of the first studies to examine the potential precursors of social media health ISIs and their resultant effects on individual’s health IRB and PHH during the COVID-19 pandemic. As currently it is noticed, an incredible upsurge of health information via social media has intense impacts on personal health-care research and practice, particularly during health emergency situations such as COVID-19 pandemic conditions.

Information-seeking behavior in the digital age: use by faculty members of the internet, scientific databases and social networks

“…Totally, academic administrators and policymakers of research assessment should encourage academicians to use social networks to increase the visibility of themselves and the university internationally, purposefully and scientifically. As Riaz et al (2020) highlighted that the social apps and tools act as mediators between the Information producers and general social media users (information seekers). Moreover, they should try to teach basic and prominent concepts such as privacy, purposeful usage and information security.…”

“…Simply, strategies that can enhance improved awareness and perceived gaps in ISB. Accordingly, focusing on ISB in online social networks is highly suggested for future works, as noted by Riaz et al (2020).…”

“…Google's search engine used daily in comparison with MEDLINE. Additionally, Riaz et al (2020) surveyed the potential precursors of social media health information seeking intentions (ISI) and health information re-sharing behaviors during coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic via WeChat users. They concluded that perceived health information credibility, trust and peer influence are effective in information seeking intentions, information re-sharing behaviors and habits.…”

The Impact of Health Information on Chinese Social Media on Chinese University Students

“…For teenagers, this is because they have easy access to the medium, have non-threatening access to information and are able to provide personalized responses [4]. As it grew, the rise of social media changed the way people find, receive, and share that information, both in their daily lives and in emergency situations [5]. This is due to social media's advantages of timely intervention, technology-based, and ease of generating user content [3].…”

Clustering the countries for quantifying the status of Covid-19 through time series analysis

“…WHO and US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the viral infection’s preventive actions as avoiding contact with individuals with symptoms and travel to high-risk areas. Further, necessary hygiene measures are advised to follow, such as using personal protective equipments, sneeze to the elbow, frequent hand washing, avoiding handshaking, maintaining a safe distance amongst people and avoiding face touching (Riaz et al , 2020). With the inequalities of the pandemic status, such as the prevalence of the disease, deaths and recovered cases worldwide, the preventive mechanisms used in different countries have been criticised as there are different ways of readiness in preparing the medical supplies and implementing the prevention policies and suggestions.…”