Psychological antecedents of COVID-19 information sharing within strong-tie and weak-tie networks.

Objective: This study investigates the psychological mechanisms underlying people's sharing of COVID-19 information within their strong-tie networks and weak-tie networks. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between March and April 2020 (N = 609 Chinese adults). Measures included emotions and behavioral beliefs about COVID-19 information sharing, risk perceptions, and COVID-19 information acquisition and sharing behaviors. Multiple linear regression was performed to examine the psychological predictors of COVID-19 information sharing. Results: People were more likely to share COVID-19 information within their strong-tie networks when they experienced more negative emotions (ß = .09, p = .01) and had stronger beliefs that information sharing would promote disease prevention (ß = .12, p = .004). By comparison, negative emotions were the only significant predictor of COVID-19 information sharing (ß = .12, p = .002) within weak-tie networks (ß = .04, p = .31 for beliefs about sharing). Conclusion: People may share COVID-19 information within weak-tie networks to cope with negative emotions regardless of whether they perceive information sharing as beneficial to disease prevention. Innovation: Health educators should raise people's awareness of the psychological motivators of COVID-19 information sharing to create a healthy information environment for disease prevention.

Source Trust and COVID-19 Information Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Emotions and Beliefs About Sharing.

Health information sharing has become especially important during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic because people need to learn about the disease and then act accordingly. This study examines the perceived trust of different COVID-19 information sources (health professionals, academic institutions, government agencies, news media, social media, family, and friends) and sharing of COVID-19 information in China. Specifically, it investigates how beliefs about sharing and emotions mediate the effects of perceived source trust on source-specific information sharing intentions. Results suggest that health professionals, academic institutions, and government agencies are trusted sources of information and that people share information from these sources because they think doing so will increase disease awareness and promote disease prevention. People may also choose to share COVID-19 information from news media, social media, and family as they cope with anxiety, anger, and fear. Taken together, a better understanding of the distinct psychological mechanisms underlying health information sharing from different sources can help contribute to more effective sharing of information about COVID-19 prevention and to manage negative emotion contagion during the pandemic.