Modeling Online Health Information-Seeking Behavior in China: The Roles of Source Characteristics, Reward Assessment, and Internet Self-Efficacy

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 marked the explosion of health information seeking online in China and the increasing emergence of Chinese health websites. There are both benefits and potential hazards of people's online health information seeking. This article...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health communication 2016-09, Vol.31 (9), p.1105-1114
Main Authors: Cao, Weidan, Zhang, Xinyao, Xu, Kaibin, Wang, Yuanxin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to Information
Adult
Characteristics
China
Credibility
Effectiveness
Evaluation
Expertise
Female
Hazards
Health Behavior
Health education
Health hazards
Health information
Humans
Information dissemination
Information Seeking Behavior
Internet
Male
Mathematical models
Outbreaks
Polls & surveys
Reinforcement
Reward
SARS coronavirus
Self Efficacy
Severe acute respiratory syndrome
Socioeconomic Factors
Surveys and Questionnaires
Websites
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 marked the explosion of health information seeking online in China and the increasing emergence of Chinese health websites. There are both benefits and potential hazards of people's online health information seeking. This article intended to test part of Wilson's second model of information behavior, including source characteristics and activating mechanisms, and to identify the relationships among perceived access, perceived expertise credibility, reward assessment, Internet self-efficacy, and online health information-seeking behavior. Data were drawn from face-to-face surveys and an online survey of health information seekers (N = 393) in China. The results showed that source characteristics predicted activating mechanisms, which in turn predicted online health information-seeking behavior. Activating mechanisms, that is, reward assessment and Internet self-efficacy, mediated the relationship between source characteristics (i.e., access and credibility) and online health information-seeking behavior. Strategies for improving information access, expertise credibility, and Internet self-efficacy are discussed in order to maximize the benefits of online health information seeking and to minimize the potential harm.
ISSN:1041-0236
1532-7027
DOI:10.1080/10410236.2015.1045236