Information avoidance behavior on social network sites: Information irrelevance, overload, and the moderating role of time pressure

"Left on read" examining social media users' lurking behavior: an integration of anxiety and social media fatigue

Introduction

With the widespread use of social media, the behavior and mindset of users have been transformed, leading to a gradual increase in lurking users, which can impede the sustainable development of social media platforms. In this study, we aim to investigate the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors on social media users' anxiety, social media fatigue, and lurking behavior.

Methodology

For the confirmation of these phenomena and to validate the theories, a structural equation model was constructed based on the SSO (Stressor-Strain-Outcome) theoretical framework. The model was then tested and validated with data from 836 valid online surveys. These data were analyzed using SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 24.0 software.

Results

The results indicate that intrinsic motivations (such as social comparison and privacy concerns) and extrinsic motivations (including information overload, functional overload, and social overload) are positively associated with users' lurking behavior through the mediating effects of social media fatigue and anxiety. Additionally, for the mediator variables, social media fatigue was found to be positively associated with anxiety.

Discussion

These findings underscore the importance of social media platforms considering both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors to mitigate user anxiety and social media fatigue. By addressing these factors, platforms can foster user satisfaction and increase engagement, ultimately contributing to the sustainable development of social media platforms.

Generation Z's Health Information Avoidance Behavior: Insights From Focus Group Discussions

BACKGROUND

Younger generations actively use social media to access health information. However, research shows that they also avoid obtaining health information online at times when confronted with uncertainty.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to examine the phenomenon of health information avoidance among Generation Z, a representative cohort of active web users in this era.

METHODS

Drawing on the planned risk information avoidance model, we adopted a qualitative approach to explore the factors related to information avoidance within the context of health and risk communication. The researchers recruited 38 participants aged 16 to 25 years for the focus group discussion sessions.

RESULTS

In this study, we sought to perform a deductive qualitative analysis of the focus group interview content with open, focused, and theoretical coding. Our findings support several key components of the planned risk information avoidance model while highlighting the underlying influence of cognition on emotions. Specifically, socioculturally, group identity and social norms among peers lead some to avoid health information. Cognitively, mixed levels of risk perception, conflicting values, information overload, and low credibility of information sources elicited their information avoidance behaviors. Affectively, negative emotions such as anxiety, frustration, and the desire to stay positive contributed to avoidance.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has implications for understanding young users' information avoidance behaviors in both academia and practice.

Exploring how health-related advertising interference contributes to the development of cyberchondria: A stressor-strain-outcome approach

Objectives

Cyberchondria is increasingly recognized as the dark side of digital health, given the pervasive use of the internet as a main source of health information in people's daily lives. While previous studies have identified many factors contributing to cyberchondria, there is a dearth of research on the impact of health-related advertisements. Therefore, this study adopts the stressor-strain-outcome (SSO) model to investigate how health-related advertising interference is directly and indirectly related to cyberchondria.

Methods

To empirically validate the proposed research model, we conducted an online survey with 437 internet users with medical information seeking experience in China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the survey data.

Results

Our findings revealed a positive, direct association between health-related advertising interference and cyberchondria. Meanwhile, advertising interference was positively related to both information overload and information irrelevance, with the former further predicting cyberchondria. Moreover, doctor-patient communication weakened the positive effect of information overload on cyberchondria.

Conclusions

The study not only theoretically contributes to the literature by theorizing the relationship between health-related advertising interference and cyberchondria but also practically underlines the pivotal role of effective doctor-patient communication in reducing the development of cyberchondria.

The relationship between openness and social anxiety: the chain mediating roles of social networking site use and self-evaluation

BACKGROUND

As social networking sites (SNSs) with diverse functions gradually become an important social place for modern people, openness, as a personality trait that represents the willingness to consider diverse things, will be more likely to affect people's cognitive and emotional experience (e.g., social anxiety) in social interactions. This study examined the relationship between openness and social anxiety and the underlying psychological mechanism in the internet age based on the cognitive-behavioral model of social anxiety.

METHODS

This cross‑sectional survey study conducted a questionnaire survey of 522 college students from two provinces in China (191 male; age range 18-25; M = 20.76, SD = 1.34).

RESULTS

The results showed that openness is negatively related to social anxiety. Self-evaluation and passive SNS use independently mediate the relationship between openness and social anxiety, respectively. Moreover, openness is associated with social anxiety both through the chain mediating roles of active SNS use and self-evaluation and through the chain mediating roles of passive SNS use and self-evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS

Openness is negatively associated with social anxiety, and the different ways of SNS use and self-evaluation are the underlying mechanisms. These results provide insights into the clinical treatment of social anxiety and how to benefit from online interactions.

"No more COVID-19 messages via social media, please": the mediating role of COVID-19 message fatigue between information overload, message avoidance, and behavioral intention

Employing the stressor-strain-outcome framework, this study demonstrates that COVID-19 information overload on social media exerts a significant effect on the level of fatigue toward COVID-19-related messages. This feeling of message fatigue also makes people avoid another exposure to similar types of messages while diminishing their intentions to adopt protective behaviors in response to the pandemic. Information overload regarding COVID-19 on social media also has indirect effects on message avoidance and protective behavioral intention against COVID-19, respectively, through the feeling of fatigue toward COVID-19 messages on social media. This study emphasizes the need to consider message fatigue as a significant barrier in delivering effective risk communication.

The effect of fear and situational motivation on online information avoidance: The case of COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a plethora of online sources for information and news dissemination have emerged. Extant research suggests that very quickly, individuals become disinterested and begin avoiding the information. In this study, we investigate how an individual's fear and situational motivation impact Online Information Avoidance. Using the self-determination theory and information avoidance theories, we argue that fear and external regulation are associated with increased Online Information Avoidance. We also argue that intrinsic motivation and identified regulation are associated with a decrease in Online Information Avoidance. Our findings suggest that fear, intrinsic motivation, and external regulation drive Online Information Avoidance, where intrinsic motivation is the most significant driver. We also found that identified regulation is a crucial inhibitor of Online Information Avoidance. While focusing on COVID-19, our study contributes to the broader information systems research literature and specifically to the information avoidance literature during a pandemic or a prolonged crisis. Our study's findings will be useful for governments, health organizations, and communities that utilize online platforms, forums, and related outlets to reach larger audiences for disseminating pertinent information and recommendations during a crisis.

Mind over Matter: Examining the Role of Cognitive Dissonance and Self-Efficacy in Discontinuous Usage Intentions on Pan-Entertainment Mobile Live Broadcast Platforms

The current body of literature indicates a growing trend of discontinuous usage intentions among users of social media platforms. While several factors affecting discontinuous usage intentions have been explored in previous research, the specific factors and mechanisms impacting discontinuous usage intentions among users of pan-entertainment mobile live broadcast platforms remain undefined. This study aims to clarify these factors and mechanisms and to provide both theoretical and practical guidance to users to encourage rational usage of the platform, as well as support the optimization of innovative services offered by the platform’s operator. This study, which is grounded in the theoretical framework of “Cognition-Emotion-Behavior intention,” develops an influencing mechanism model based on cognitive dissonance and self-efficacy. A total of 340 valid samples were collected through questionnaires and analyzed using a structural equation model, which revealed that information overload, service overload, and user addiction had a positive impact on cognitive dissonance, which was moderated by self-efficacy. Cognitive dissonance also had a positive impact on discontinuous usage intentions, again moderated by self-efficacy. These findings expand upon previous research on discontinuous usage intentions among social media users and offer insights into the underlying psychological mechanisms among users of pan-entertainment mobile live broadcast platforms. Additionally, the study provides valuable information for practitioners to consider in the design of the platform, with the ultimate goal of improving user experience and promoting retention.

Do you reap what you sow? Driving mechanism of supply chain transparency on consumers' indirect reciprocity

Introduction

To maintain sustainable poverty alleviation in the post-pandemic world, China encourages firms to participate in the "Social Commerce Helping Farmers Project." This study aims to explore the phenomenon of indirect reciprocity between firms, consumers, and farmers in the supply chain. This study explores how supply chain transparency stimulates indirect reciprocity among consumers through competence trust, goodwill trust, and integrity trust. Furthermore, we explore the impact of compassion and the need for social status on the model.

Methods

We fit a partial least square analysis structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using data from an online random vignette-based experiment questionnaire survey.

Results

Supply chain transparency of social responsibility practices asymmetrically affects three dimensions of consumer trust by improving perceived information quality. And the three dimensions of trust asymmetrically contribute to indirect reciprocity. Furthermore, compassion has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between perceived information quality and trust. However, the moderating effect of the need for social status on the relationship between the three dimensions of trust and indirect reciprocity differed significantly.

Discussion

Our findings indicate that supply chain transparency improves consumer trust, making consumers more responsive and rewarding companies that assist vulnerable groups in their supply chains. Faced with a trust crisis, companies can take different measures to achieve their goals based on each dimension of trust. At the same time, companies need to consider differences in the responses of consumers with different personality traits (e.g., compassion and the need for social status) when revealing their corporate social responsibility practices to consumers.

An empirical study on impulse consumption intention of livestreaming e-commerce: The mediating effect of flow experience and the moderating effect of time pressure

Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model, this paper studies the impulsive consumption mechanism of consumers participating in livestreaming e-commerce from the perspectives of information source characteristics and social presence and examines the mediating effect of flow experience and the moderating effect of time pressure. Based on the consumption data of 268 live shoppers, multiple regression analysis and Bootstrap method were used to test the research hypothesis. The empirical results show that the credibility, professionalism, attractiveness, and interactivity of live information sources have significant positive impacts on consumers' flow experience and impulsive consumption intention. Furthermore, coexistence, communication and emotional presence of social presence have a significant positive impact on consumers' flow experience and impulsive consumption intention. Flow experience plays part of the mediating role in the process of the characteristics of livestreaming information sources and social presence affecting consumers' impulsive consumption intention, while time pressure has a positive moderating effect in the relationship between livestreaming information source characteristics and coexistence presence and flow experience. The higher the time pressure, the stronger the promotion of live information source characteristics and coexistence presence on flow experience. This study enriches the research literature on the consumption driving mechanism of livestreaming e-commerce and offers practical enlightenment and reference to improve the effectiveness of livestreaming e-commerce anchors. It is also one of the first studies to apply the theory of flow and social presence to the impulsive consumption intention of livestreaming e-commerce.

Perceived Information Overload and Intention to Discontinue Use of Short-Form Video: The Mediating Roles of Cognitive and Psychological Factors

The current study investigated the effects of Chinese young adult users' perceived information overload (i.e., the daily perception of exposure to excessive information) on their intention to stop using short-form video applications. Specifically, this study accomplished this by measuring the direct and indirect effects of social media fatigue, maladaptive coping, and life dissatisfaction in relation to users' intention to discontinue their use of short-form video applications. The data were collected using a web-based survey and validated questionnaire, with a sample of 340 young adult (18-26 years old) respondents. The results indicated that perceived information overload had a direct effect on the intention to discontinue the use of short-form video applications. Moreover, short-form video fatigue, maladaptive coping, and life dissatisfaction all played mediating roles in the relationship between perceived information overload and the intention to discontinue the use of short-form video applications among young adults in China.

How Differential Dimensions of Social Media Overload Influences Young People's Fatigue and Negative Coping during Prolonged COVID-19 Pandemic? Insights from a Technostress Perspective

Although social networking sites have emerged as the primary source of information for young people, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning the underlying associations between differential aspects of social media overload and whether social media overload ultimately influenced people's negative coping strategies during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. In order to fill this gap in existing knowledge, the current research employed the stressor-strain-outcome (SSO) theoretical paradigm to explicate social media fatigue and negative coping strategies from a technostress perspective. The study used cross-sectional methodology, whereby 618 valid questionnaire responses were gathered from WeChat users to assess the conceptual model. The obtained outcomes demonstrated that information overload and communication overload positively impacted young people's fatigue. Furthermore, these two patterns of perceived overload heighten social media fatigue, which ultimately leads to young people's negative coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings would extend the present social media fatigue and technical stress literature by identifying the value of the SSO theoretical approach in interpreting young people's negative coping phenomena in the post-pandemic time.

Determining the critical factors of eWOM about corporate social responsibility on social networking sites: End users’ perspective

It is now possible to propagate CSR information through social media platforms. Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) directly impacts image and upcoming portfolios of the organization. Customers, employees, and other stakeholders generate revenue for the company. Our goal was to understand why people were sharing and commenting in response to terrible reports about corporate social responsibility (CSR) on WeChat. A company’s desire to comment on and share CSR news and its perception of its own social and environmental responsibility were all presumed explanatory variables in our investigation. 315 WeChat users were asked to grade a fictitious news report of the environment. The results were shocking. According to our findings, an individual’s attitude toward actions and the effectiveness of information directly correlates to their social and environmental awareness level. EWOM may be discouraged by a company’s brand name, which has the potential to harm its reputation with its customers.

Popularity Prediction for Consumers' Product Recommendation Articles

Consumer product recommendation articles posted in Social Shopping Community (SSC) have become an important source of purchase information for other potential consumers. However, less effort has been put into understanding and predicting the popularity of such a distinctive form of consumer-generated content. In this study, we built a rich and comprehensive dataset comprising author-related features, article-related features, and engagement behavior information collected from post.smzdm.com. We constructed machine learning models to predict article popularity, and used the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) approach to visualize and explain feature importance in the prediction. The results show that with all identified features, LGBMClassifier gives best results with most evaluation metrics, and that the author-related feature set has better predictive capability than the article-related one. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first study to investigate the popularity of consumers’ product recommendation articles in SSCs.

What Causes Health Information Avoidance Behavior under Normalized COVID-19 Pandemic? A Research from Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Affected by the normalization of the COVID-19 pandemic, people's lives are subject to many restrictions, and they are under enormous psychological and physical pressure. In this situation, health information may be a burden and cause of anxiety for people; thus, the refusal of health information occurs frequently. Health-information-avoidance behavior has produced potential impacts and harms on people's lives. Based on more than 120,000 words of textual data obtained from semi-structured interviews, summarizing a case collection of 55 events, this paper explores the factors and how they combine to lead to avoidance of health information. First, the influencing factors are constructed according to the existing research, and then the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method is used to discover the configuration relationship of health-information-avoidance behavior. The results show that the occurrence of health-information avoidance is not the result of a single factor but the result of a configuration of health-information literacy, negative emotions, perceived information, health-information presentation, cross-platform distribution, and the network information environment. These findings provide inspiration for reducing the adverse consequences of avoiding health information and improving the construction of health-information service systems.

The relationship between information overload and state of anxiety in the period of regular epidemic prevention and control in China: a moderated multiple mediation model

This study aimed to examine the relationship between information overload and individual state anxiety in the period of regular epidemic prevention and control and mediating effect of risk perception and positive coping styles. Further, we explored the moderating role of resilience. 847 Chinese participated in and completed measures of information overload, risk perception, positive coping styles, state anxiety, and resilience. The results of the analysis showed that information overload significantly predicted the level of individual state anxiety (β = 0.27, p < 0.001). Risk perception partially mediate the relationship between information overload and state anxiety (B = 0.08, 95%CI = [0.05, 0.11]) and positive coping styles also partially mediate the relationship between information overload and state anxiety(B = -0.14, 95%CI = [-0.18, -0.10]). In addition, resilience moderated the mediating effects of risk perception (β = -0.07, p < 0.05) and positive coping styles (β = -0.19, p < 0.001). Resilience also moderated the effect of information overload on state anxiety (β = -0.13, p < 0.001). These results offer positive significance for understanding the internal mechanism of the influence of information overload on individual state anxiety in the epidemic environment and shed light on how to reduce people's state anxiety during an epidemic.

Benefits and drawbacks of communication visibility: from vicarious learning and supplemental work to knowledge reuse and overload

Purpose

This study aims to examine some of the benefits and drawbacks of communication visibility. Specifically, building on communication visibility theory, the authors study how and why message transparency and network translucence may increase knowledge reuse and perceived overload through behavioral responses of vicarious learning and technology-assisted supplemental work.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on survey data obtained from 1,127 employees of a global company operating in the industrial machinery sector, the authors used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized model.

Findings

The results demonstrate that the two aspects of communication visibility yield somewhat differential benefits and drawbacks in terms of knowledge reuse and communication overload, through vicarious learning and supplemental work practices.

Research limitations/implications

The results demonstrate the relationship between different aspects of communication visibility and knowledge reuse, specifically through vicarious learning. Furthermore, the findings highlight a potential drawback of visibility – communication overload – specifically through technology-assisted supplemental work. Overall, network translucence seems more beneficial compared to message transparency in terms of knowledge reuse and communication overload.

Originality/value

The study connects with recent work on communication visibility by distinguishing differential direct and indirect effects of message transparency and network translucence. It also extends this work by testing relationships between communication visibility and a potential drawback of visibility – communication overload – specifically through technology-assisted supplemental work.

Mask-wearing intentions on airplanes during COVID-19 - Application of theory of planned behavior model

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the air transport industry, forcing airlines to take measures to ensure the safety of passengers and crewmembers. Among the many protective measures, mask mandate onboard the airplane is an important one, but travelers' mask-wearing intentions during flight remain uninvestigated especially in the US where mask use is a topic of on-going debate. This study focused on the mask use of airline passengers when they fly during COVID-19, using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model to examine the relationship between nine predicting factors and the mask-wearing intention in the aircraft cabin. A survey instrument was developed to collect data from 1124 air travelers on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), and the data was statistically analyzed using structural equation modeling and logistic regression. Results showed that attitude, descriptive norms, risk avoidance, and information seeking significantly influenced the travelers' intention to wear a mask during flight in COVID-19. Group analysis further indicated that the four factors influenced mask-wearing intentions differently on young, middle-aged, and senior travelers. It was also found that demographic and travel characteristics including age, education, income, and travel frequency can be used to predict if the airline passenger was willing to pay a large amount to switch to airlines that adopted different mask policies during COVID-19. The findings of this study fill the research gap of air travelers' intentions to wear a mask when flying during a global pandemic and provide recommendations for mask-wearing policies to help the air transport industry recover from COVID-19.

Determinants of Social Commerce Usage and Online Impulse Purchase: Implications for Business and Digital Revolution

Since their introduction in the early 2000s, the use of social networking websites has exploded. Many businesses are seeing increased revenue due to their social commerce strategy. Despite the popularity of social commerce websites, some consumers are still hesitate to use them. This study aims to evaluate the factors that influence the adoption of social commerce. A sample of 721 Chinese We Chat users took part in the research. The findings reveal that social capital mediates the positive effect of social commerce adoption and perceived ease of use (PERU) on techno-stress and online impulse purchasing. Likewise, information overloading mediates the positive effect of social commerce adoption and PERU on techno-stress and online impulse purchasing. The findings have implications for both practice and research in understanding social commerce adoption in emerging economies.

The challenges of entering the metaverse: An experiment on the effect of extended reality on workload

Information technologies exist to enable us to either do things we have not done before or do familiar things more efficiently. Metaverse (i.e. extended reality: XR) enables novel forms of engrossing telepresence, but it also may make mundate tasks more effortless. Such technologies increasingly facilitate our work, education, healthcare, consumption and entertainment; however, at the same time, metaverse bring a host of challenges. Therefore, we pose the question whether XR technologies, specifically Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), either increase or decrease the difficulties of carrying out everyday tasks. In the current study we conducted a 2 (AR: with vs. without) × 2 (VR: with vs. without) between-subject experiment where participants faced a shopping-related task (including navigating, movement, hand-interaction, information processing, information searching, storing, decision making, and simple calculation) to examine a proposed series of hypotheses. The NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) was used to measure subjective workload when using an XR-mediated information system including six sub-dimensions of frustration, performance, effort, physical, mental, and temporal demand. The findings indicate that AR was significantly associated with overall workload, especially mental demand and effort, while VR had no significant effect on any workload sub-dimensions. There was a significant interaction effect between AR and VR on physical demand, effort, and overall workload. The results imply that the resources and cost of operating XR-mediated realities are different and higher than physical reality.

Social noise: the influence of observers on social media information behavior

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of social noise. Under the influence of social noise, a social media user may adjust information behavior based on external cues, attempting to present themselves in a more desirable way to increase their social capital.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative study informed by an ethnographic approach was used to examine social media information behavior. Participants were observed using Facebook, followed by semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was theoretically grounded in thematic analysis but also adaptive to observations in the data.

Findings

Four constructs of social noise were identified in the data. Identity curation emerged as the overarching consideration for individuals. The constructs cultural commitments and relationship management both had a strong presence within the data as well. The fourth construct, conflict management, was identified as social media users decided how to respond to individuals or information with which they did not agree.

Originality/value

This study reveals that social media users' awareness of observation by others does impact their information behavior. Efforts to craft a personal reputation, build or maintain relationships, pursue important commitments and manage conflict all influence the observable information behavior of social media users. As a result, observable social media information behavior may not be an accurate reflection of an individual's true thoughts and beliefs.

How does information overload about COVID-19 vaccines influence individuals' vaccination intentions? The roles of cyberchondria, perceived risk, and vaccine skepticism

This research proposes and tests an integrated model to explain how information overload influence vaccine skepticism and vaccination intention. In addition, this research investigates the effectiveness of using a celebrity endorsement strategy in promoting vaccination and compares its effectiveness with other endorsement types. A survey study (Study 1) was conducted to examine the mechanism underlying the impact of the COVID-19 vaccine information overload on vaccine skepticism that, subsequently, affects vaccination intention. It also examined the moderating role of celebrity endorsement trustworthiness. The results indicate that information overload positively influenced vaccine skepticism through cyberchondria and perceived risk of the vaccine, which subsequently reduces vaccination intention. The negative effect of vaccine skepticism on vaccination intention was weakened by the celebrity endorsement that was considered trustworthy. A follow-up experimental study (Study 2) was performed to compare the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement with other endorsement types (i.e., government official and medical expert endorsements). The results showed that the celebrity endorsement was more effective in mitigating the negative effect of vaccine skepticism on vaccination intention compared to government official and medical expert. The findings provide practical insights into how governments can minimize people's vaccine skeptical views and increase their vaccination intentions.

The Dark Side of Mobile Learning via Social Media: How Bad Can It Get?

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread at an unprecedented rate, many universities around the world halted physical forms of teaching and learning to stop the spread of the virus. As a result, many university students were forced to utilize online learning through channels such as mobile social media. Due to the novelty of this situation, there are many unknowns particularly with the negative influences of mobile learning via social media on university students. Thus, this study looks to examine this subject matter from the perspective of the stimulus-organism-response theory. The uniquely developed research model included four stimuli (i.e., social overload, information overload, life invasion, and privacy invasion), two organisms (i.e., technostress and exhaustion) as well as a response in terms of reduced intention to use mobile learning via social media. The responses were collected from 384 university students via an online survey and analyzed with the Partial-Least-Square-Structural-Equation-Modelling. It was found that the antecedents for both technostress and exhaustion were able to account for more than half of their respective variances. Furthermore, technostress and exhaustion were significant facilitators of the students' reduced intention to use mobile learning via social media. In addition to the practical insights for stakeholders in the education industry, this study also posited several theoretical implications for researchers.

How compulsive WeChat use and information overload affect social media fatigue and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic? A stressor-strain-outcome perspective

Social media has been increasingly utilized as an effective avenue for individuals to obtain needed social support and health-related information, especially during the on-going global COVID-19 pandemic. However, surprisingly few empirical studies have concentrated on the detrimental impact of social media adoption on young adults' psychosocial well-being and mental health. Drawing upon previous stressor-strain-outcome theoretical paradigm (SSO), the present research investigates how psychosocial well-being assessments, especially compulsive WeChat use and information overload could trigger social media fatigue and, furthermore, how social media fatigue would ultimately result in emotional stress and social anxiety. This article utilized the cross-sectional design whereby statistical data were collected from 566 young people to test the conceptual research model. This research results demonstrate that perceived information overload through WeChat could significantly trigger social media fatigue among young people. Moreover, perceived information overload could indirectly predict emotional stress and social anxiety through the mediation of social media fatigue. This present work has vital theoretical and practical implications for widespread adoption of newly emerging communication technologies to enhance mental health and well-being among younger generation during recent public health crises.

Emergency Response and Risk Communication Effects of Local Media during COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Study Based on a Social Media Network

As the country where the COVID-19 was first reported and initially broke out, China has controlled the spread of the pandemic well. The pandemic prevention process included emergency response and risk communication, both of which could notably increase public participation, people's anxiety has been alleviated, their confidence in the government has been enhanced, and the implementation of prevention and control measures has been understood. This study selected 157,283 articles published by 447 accounts across 326 cities in February 2020 from WeChat, the largest social media application in China, to systematically compare the spatial distributions in the effectiveness of emergency responses and risk communication. The results showed that there were significant regional differences in the effectiveness of emergency response and risk communication during the pandemic period in China. The effectiveness of emergency response and risk communication are related to the exposure risk to the COVID-19, the level of economy, culture, and education of the region, the type of accounts and articles, and the ranking of the articles in posts. The timeliness and distribution types of articles should take into account the psychological changes in communication recipients to avoid the dissemination of homogenized information to the masses and the resulting information receiving fatigue period.

Flooded with too many messages? Predictors and consequences of instant messaging fatigue

Purpose

During the digital media era with an explosion of messages, the prevalence of what is known as “message fatigue” has grown. However, there is a lack of understanding toward message fatigue in using instant messengers. Based on the stressor-strain-outcome framework, this study provides a theoretical model to explore possible predictors and consequences of instant messaging fatigue.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypothesized model includes communication overload, social overload, instant messaging fatigue, technology and behavioral intention to use instant messaging. Three hundred and eleven responses are collected using an online survey. The authors conduct structural equation modeling to evaluate the hypothesized model and test the hypotheses.

Findings

This study reveals that (1) communication overload and social overload are positively associated with instant messaging fatigue and technostress; (2) higher levels of instant messaging fatigue and technostress are also related to a higher level of intention to discontinue usage; (3) technostress significantly mediates the relationship between instant messaging fatigue and intention to discontinue usage of instant messaging.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to collect data from one university in the United States with a cross-sectional design. Future research should include other countries, different age groups and longitudinal methods to examine instant messaging fatigue.

Originality/value

This study extends existing findings on fatigue in using mobile communication by applying the stressor-strain-outcome framework to IM fatigue and improves the understanding of the potential negative aspects of instant messaging.

The use of Web-based interactive technology to promote HPV vaccine uptake among young females: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Currently no study has investigated whether Web-based interactive technology can influence females to adopt healthy behaviors. We investigated how and under what conditions do Web-based interactivity influence vaccination intentions among young females.

METHODS

In this randomized controlled trail, we conduct a 2 (mode of information presentation: narrative vs. data visualization) × 2 (interactivity: interactive information vs. noninteractive information) between-groups design. A total of 180 Chinese female undergraduate students who had never received HPV vaccination were randomly allocated to 4 experimental groups. Each participant was assessed for their information avoidance behavior and vaccination intention. The hypotheses were tested using a moderated mediation model. All analyses were performed using SPSS version 22.0 with probability set at 0.05 alpha level.

RESULTS

The indirect relationship between interactivity and behavioral intention though information avoidance was moderated by the mode of presentation. Under the narrative condition, interactivity (vs. non-interactivity) decreased information avoidance and increased the intention to receive HPV vaccination (B = -.23, SE = 0.10, P < 0.05). However, under data visualization condition, no significant difference was observed between the effects of interactivity and non-interactivity on intention.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that when young females experience difficulties in manipulating or understanding HPV-related information, their information-avoidance behavior is likely to increase. Rather than use interactive statistical or graphical information, young females are more likely to be persuaded by interactive narratives.

A Preliminary Validation of the Polish Version of the Social Media Fatigue Scale

Background

As social media fatigue is a newly described phenomenon, we do not possess many tools to measure this concept. The main aim of the study was to establish a latent structure of the Social Media Fatigue Scale (SMFS) and to identify whether the Polish version is congruent with the Chinese version. The second aim was to examine whether the factor structure fits the data and yields a comparable goodness-of-fit index. The third aim was to consider the convergent validity of the SMFS and to verify whether tiredness and Internet addiction correlate positively.

Methods

The research was conducted on a group of 331 (1st Study) and 379 (2nd Study) adolescents and young adults. It was performed using the SMFS and Internet Addiction Test (IAT).

Results

The outcomes suggest that the three-factor structure is the optimal and reliable solution that corresponds to the original SMFS. CFA provided a good fit. All the dimensions of the SMFS correlated positively with Internet addiction.

Conclusion

The Polish version of the SMFS presented satisfactory psychometric properties, showing many similarities with the original Chinese version of the SMFS. The findings confirm that excessive use of social media may lead to discomfort and negative emotions related to feeling overwhelmed by information, social interaction overload, and personal/others' expectations.

Understanding Consumers’ Purchase Intentions in Social Commerce through Social Capital: Evidence from SEM and fsQCA

Social commerce has become a fiercely competitive environment. Understanding consumers’ purchase intentions can help social commerce platforms retain and attract more consumers. Social capital is one of the primary resources that plays a critical role in facilitating consumers’ purchase intentions in social commerce. Here, complex relationships between different dimensions of social capital are further clarified and its impact on consumers’ purchase intentions are discussed. Based on a survey of 302 social commerce users, this study utilizes an SEM and fsQCA approach to validate the effect of social capital on consumers’ purchase intentions. The SEM results reveal that the effect of structural social capital on consumers’ purchase intentions is fully mediated by relational and cognitive social capital. The fsQCA results confirm the significance of consumers’ social capital as determinants and provide the configurations that can lead to high purchase intentions. Though previous studies have discussed the factors influencing consumers’ purchase intentions, this study takes the first step toward enhancing the understanding of the configurations that link dimensions of social capital to consumers’ purchase intentions in s-commerce using fsQCA approach.

Is Bauman's "liquid modernity" influencing the way we are doing science?

This commentary analyzes the possible effects of lightness—a typical attribute of modern (liquid) society, according to Bauman—on the way we are doing science. We share our opinion in an attempt to discern whether some unwanted practices that may affect our scientific results (such as technology misuse, bonus rewards, publishing under pressure, or indolence for getting accurate results) can be attributed, at least partially, to the liquid characteristic of modern society. We also examine whether the different systems that support science favor these actions, conspiring against what should be the primary goal of science: the search for truth. We finally consider several aspects that should be taken into account to rescue science from the intrusion of weightless actions.

COVID-19 information overload and generation Z's social media discontinuance intention during the pandemic lockdown

While previous research highlights the benefits of social media in times of a pandemic, this research focuses on the potential dark side of social media use among Generation Z (Gen Z) in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown between March and May 2020. The study reveals that COVID-19 information overload through social media had a negative impact on Gen Z social media users' psychological well-being. Moreover, perceived information overload heightened both social media fatigue and fear of COVID-19, which, in turn, increased users' social media discontinuance intention. In addition, considering that social media is the predominant method of maintaining connectivity with others for Gen Z users during the lockdown, the fear of missing out (FoMO) buffered the impact of social media fatigue and fear of COVID-19 on Gen Z users' social media discontinuance intention. Our research adds a hitherto underexplored perspective to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people's mental health. We offer a series of practical suggestions for social media users, social media platform providers, and health officials, institutions, and organizations in the effective and sustainable use of social media during the global COVID-19 pandemic and in the post-pandemic time.

Media Exposure, Cancer Beliefs, and Cancer-Related Information-Seeking or Avoidance Behavior Patterns in China

This study explored the relationships between media exposure, cancer beliefs, and cancer information-seeking or information-avoidance behaviors. Based on the planned risk information-seeking model and its extended framework, two predictive models were constructed: one for cancer information seeking and the other for cancer information avoidance. A structural equation modeling strategy was applied to survey data from China HINTS 2017 (n = 3090) to compare the impact of traditional mass media and social media exposure to cancer-related information on cancer information-seeking and information-avoidance behaviors. The study findings suggest that health-related information exposure through different media channels may generate distinctive information-seeking or information-avoidance behaviors based on various cancer beliefs. Additionally, the findings indicate that social media exposure to health-related and cancer curability beliefs does not lead to cancer information avoidance; both mass media and social media exposure encourage people to seek cancer-related information. Cancer fatalism is positively associated with cancer information-seeking and avoiding intentions, suggesting that negative cancer beliefs predict seemingly contradictory yet psychologically coherent information intentions and behaviors.