How Government Actions Influence People’s Intentions to Share on Social Media During Shanghai’s Lockdown for COVID-19: A Third-Person Effect Perspective

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s “Zero-COVID” policy and strong government actions led to significant disruptions in daily life. Using Shanghai’s 2022 lockdown as an example, this study investigated how the government’s actions influenced people’s intentions to share information about risks and content with positive emotions. By employing the Third-Person Effect theory, this study further explores the underlying socio-psychological mechanism. A survey was conducted with 7,962 participants, and multiple linear regressions and structural equation models were applied to analyze the data. We found that (1) the policies that led to inconvenience whetted the dissemination of risk information and restricted the sharing of positive-emotion content; (2) “status-led” motivation was the critical reason why people shared both types of messages; and (3) Third-Person Perception mediated both of these influences. These findings expand our understanding of social communication during public health crises, particularly how the Third-Person Effect works.