Examining Social Media Users’ Information Avoidance: An Integration of Cognitive Dissonance and Psychological Empowerment

Abstract

As a passive information behavior, information avoidance (IA) may undermine the sustainable development of social media platforms. Previous research has focused on the enabling effect of negative cognitions and emotions on IA, and has seldom considered the inhibitors of IA. This research tries to fill the gap by integrating a dual perspective of both enablers and inhibitors. Drawing on the cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) and psychological empowerment theory (PET), this research examined social media users’ IA. We adopted a mixed method of structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to conduct data analysis. The results showed that social support (SS) and information quality (IQ) affect psychological empowerment (PE), which further inhibits IA. In contrast, social comparison (SC), and perceived overload (PO) affect cognitive dissonance, which leads to IA. The fsQCA results found three paths that trigger users’ IA. The results imply that social media platforms need to mitigate cognitive dissonance and enhance PE in order to prevent users’ IA. This research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the development process of IA. The limitation is that the results need to be generalized to other samples, such as the elderly.