Abstract

This study examines the relationship between cognitive and affective factors and people's information-seeking and -avoiding behaviours in acute risks with a 1,946-sample online survey conducted in February 2020, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that perceived information insufficiency correlates negatively with information-seeking behaviour and there was an inverted U-shaped relationship between information insufficiency and avoidance behaviour. As for the risk-related cognitive factors, information seeking increases as perceived severity of risks rises, while information avoiding increases as perceived susceptibility rises. Perceived response efficacy positively correlates with information-seeking and negatively with information-avoidance behaviours. Preliminary results also indicated that different affective factors relate to information-seeking and avoidance behaviours differently.

Highlights

  • As of August 17, 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen more than 208 million cases worldwide and over 4 million deaths (CSSE, 2020)

  • The results showed that the squared term of information insufficiency is not significantly related to information seeking behaviour (β = −0.04, p > 0.05) and was negatively related to information avoidance behaviour (β = −0.05, p< 0.05)

  • This paper examined the relationship between various cognitive factors and individuals’ information-seeking and informationavoidance behaviours under the acute health risk of the COVID-19 pandemic

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Summary

Introduction

As of August 17, 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen more than 208 million cases worldwide and over 4 million deaths (CSSE, 2020). PHEICs are extraordinary events that are “determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and potentially require a coordinated international response” Google trends data show that “COVID-19” was the most-searched keyword worldwide in March and April 2020 (Google Trends, 2020). This indicates the importance of information availability during a public health crisis, but it foregrounds the need to ensure the proper management of a massive flow of risk-related information on the Internet and the 24-h news cycle. During the COVID-19 outbreak, people around the world are pressured to seek information about the spread of the virus and potential preventative measures at the governmental and individual level. As most people were asked to stay at home to prevent the virus’s spread, most information-searching behaviours occurred online

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