Understanding the Health Information Sharing Behavior of Social Media Users

Ying Hong,Zheng Li,Meng Wan

doi:10.4018/joeuc.20210901.oa9

Ying Hong, Zheng Li + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4018/joeuc.20210901.oa9

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Abstract

Studies have focused on elucidating the sharing behavior of media users. However, few studies have specifically investigated users' health information sharing behavior in the social media context, especially WeChat. This study proposes a theoretical research model that integrates social capital and user gratification with the theory of planned behavior to explore health information sharing behavior of WeChat users. Based on online survey data collected from 616 WeChat users, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were sequentially performed. It was found that both social capital and gratification factors play important roles in influencing WeChat users' health information sharing. Social interaction, acting both as social capital and gratification factor directly and indirectly generated positive effects on health information sharing intention. In conclusion, this study revealed the key determinants of health information sharing intention among WeChat users and examined the mediation effects to effectively understand users' health information sharing behavior.

Highlights

Social media, which provides online tools or platforms that allow people to freely and share their thoughts, experiences, perspectives, and knowledge (Kwahk & Park, 2016), has revolutionized the way people communicate (Zou et al, 2015; Zhang et al, 2017)
Integrating social capital theory, uses and gratifications (U&G) theory, and theory of planned behavior (TPB) model, our study explored the causal relationships among nine latent variables
The overall explanatory power of our research model had an R-square of 52.1% for health information sharing intention and an R-square of 39.8% for subjective norm, and 46.3% for attitude toward health information sharing intention, suggesting that the extended TPB model was capable of explaining intention to share health related information through WeChat

Summary

Introduction

Social media, which provides online tools or platforms that allow people to freely and share their thoughts, experiences, perspectives, and knowledge (Kwahk & Park, 2016), has revolutionized the way people communicate (Zou et al, 2015; Zhang et al, 2017). A typical example of such information is medical and health information (Deng et al, 2015). Health information mainly consists of personal health awareness, treatment options, and personal success experiences (Johnston et al, 2013). To cope with illness and make well-informed decisions, people require information regarding the illness, associated therapeutic options, and other health matters (Varshney, 2014; Bolle et al, 2015). Previous studies focused on health information acquisition through the Internet and new media, as well as the related improvement of healthy living

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