Mechanism of WeChat's Impact on Public Risk Perception During COVID-19.

Abstract

PurposeTaking COVID-19 as an example, this paper explores the mechanism of WeChat’s impact on risk information transmission in social media and builds a model of WeChat’s impact on public risk perception based on risk communication.MethodsResearch primarily utilised the questionnaire survey method to collect and analyse public attitudes towards COVID-19 to achieve the research goals. We checked the adequacy of measurements and tested the hypotheses with regression analysis based on 801 participants in China.ResultsThe results indicated that the levels of the public WeChat COVID-19 risk information attention and trust had a significant positive impact on the public’s risk perception and willingness of pandemic prevention. The improved public risk perception of COVID-19 as a mediator enhanced the public pandemic prevention ability, which allowed WeChat to play a more effective role in major disaster emergency.