Understanding health misinformation sharing among the middle-aged or above in China: roles of social media health information seeking, misperceptions and information processing predispositions

Abstract

PurposeThe ballooning health misinformation on social media raises grave concerns. Drawing upon the S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-Response) model and the information processing literature, this study aims to explore (1) how social media health information seeking (S) affects health misinformation sharing intention (R) through the channel of health misperceptions (O) and (2) whether the mediation process would be contingent upon different information processing predispositions.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a survey comprising 388 respondents from the Chinese middle-aged or above group, one of China's most susceptible populations to health misinformation. Standard multiple linear regression models and the PROCESS Macro were adopted to examine the direct effect and the moderated mediation model.FindingsResults bolstered the S-O-R-based mechanism, in which health misperceptions mediated social media health information seeking's effect on health misinformation sharing intention. As an indicator of analytical information processing, need for cognition (NFC) failed to moderate the mediation process. Contrarily, faith in intuition (FI), an indicator reflecting intuitive information processing, served as a significant moderator. The positive association between social media health information seeking and misperceptions was stronger among respondents with low FI.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on health misinformation sharing research by bridging health information seeking, information internalization and information sharing. Moreover, the authors extended the S-O-R model by integrating information processing predispositions, which differs this study from previous literature and advances the extant understanding of how information processing styles work in the face of online health misinformation. The particular age group and the Chinese context further inform context-specific implications regarding online health misinformation regulation.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2023-0157.

Linking the pathway from social media health information seeking to health misinformation sharing: A moderated serial mediation model

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 20, 2023. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.18.23294258 doi: medRxiv preprint mediating role of misperception (O) (Tang et al, 2023). These studies illustrate the power of the S-O-R model in explaining health-related behaviors.…”

“…The rampant social media health misinformation and its deleterious consequences call for an in-depth inquiry into why health misinformation has been shared in the social media context, especially given that relevant explanations are insufficiently developed (Apuke et al, 2022;Apuke & Omar, 2021;Chou, 2018;Wu & Pei, 2022). Sharing misinformation is worrisome because it undoubtedly amplifies the impact scope of misinformation and aggravates its undesirable ramifications (Laato et al, 2020;Tang et al, 2023). Therefore, the current study 2 .…”

“…Information processing predispositions are inherent human traits that may shape the relationship between social media information seeking and misinformation-related behaviors (Wu et al, 2023). Thus far, their roles in influencing individuals' susceptibility to health misinformation have not been fully understood (Tang et al, 2023;Wu et al, 2023). Hence, we focus on NFC, an important information processing style representing how much an individual engages in and enjoys critical thinking (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982), to unravel its function in health misinformation sharing, especially how it may restrain the proliferation of health falsehoods.…”

“…In terms of the second component of the organism, misperceptions have always been adopted as a mediator in health misinformation studies (Borah et al, 2022;Tang et al, 2023;Xiao, 2022). The existing literature demonstrates that due to the abundance of health misinformation on social media, it is easy for social media users to develop incorrect beliefs by either actively seeking information (Allington et al, 2021;Tang et al, 2023) or coming across information (Borah et al, 2022;Xiao & Su, 2023) on diverse platforms. The essential reason is that social media users are likely to internalize health misinformation in an environment inundated with misinformation, facilitating the crystallization of inaccurate perceptions (Xiao & Su, 2023).…”

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted August 20, 2023. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.18.23294258 doi: medRxiv preprint Luo et al (2023). Health Misinformation Sharing heeds the call by formulating a psychological mechanism to explicate why the middle-aged or above group in China, as one of the most susceptible populations to health misinformation, shares health misinformation on social media.…”