A Creator Matters and So Does a Sharer (But for Different Reasons)

• In Event: Social Media, Public Health, and Mental Health

Abstract

During public health threats, like Ebola in 2014, source credibility is one of important attributes of risk information in maintaining the public’s trust and confidence in the risk communication. A 2 (information creator: a governmental agency vs. a fictional organization) X 2 (information sharer: public health experts vs. friends) between-subjects experiment was conducted to examine how different types of online risk information sources and their varying degrees of credibility affect receivers’ information evaluation, which subsequently influences individuals’ personal- and social risk perception, and information behaviors. Results demonstrated that information creator’s credibility more influentially affects participants’ perception of the believability of information while sharer’s credibility more greatly contributes to perceived utility of information. Amongst three source credibility dimensions, only both creator’s and sharer’s trustworthiness were positively associated with information believability. Personal risk perception was positively associated with information seeking intention, whereas social risk perception was positively associated with information sharing intention.

Authors

• Soela Kim, University of Georgia

• Lijiang Shen, Pennsylvania State University