An investigation on information quality, media richness, and social media fatigue during the disruptions of COVID-19 pandemic.

Mobile social platforms have become a valuable information source by which users gain information about the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about whether users have experienced increased daily fatigue as a result of the disruptions caused by pandemic. Drawing on the cognitive activation theory of stress (CATS), this study proposed that two typical characteristics of social media platforms (SMP), information quality and media richness, are associated with event disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic (EDC), and then induce social media fatigue. To address this, this study used the experience sampling method (ESM), collecting 550 matched cases from 110 users of the WeChat application in mainland China over five consecutive days. Through multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM), this study discovered three main findings: (1) daily information quality is negatively related to event disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn decreases daily social media fatigue; (2) daily media richness is positively associated with such event disruptions, which ultimately increases daily social media fatigue; (3) these effects were stronger for users who reported higher (vs. lower) levels of health consciousness. The implications of these results for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond are discussed.

A diary study of impulsive buying during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why impulsive buying happens under emergency and crisis situations, such as that of COVID-19. Drawing on the cognitive-affective personality system theory (CAPS), we tested the dynamic influence of daily perceived uncertainty on COVID-19 on daily impulsive buying via daily information overload and daily information anxiety in a two-wave experience sampling method (ESM) design. Through a multilevel structural equation model (MSEM) analysis, we found that the daily perceived uncertainty on COVID-19 affected daily information overload, which in turn stimulated daily information anxiety, ultimately determining the daily impulsive buying. Namely, daily information overload and daily information anxiety played a complete chain-mediating role between the daily perceived uncertainty on COVID-19 and daily impulsive buying. The present paper is the first to uncover the important dynamic effect of the perceived uncertainty on COVID-19 on impulsive buying with diary data. Specific implications of these findings are discussed.

Information quality, media richness, and negative coping: A daily research during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For most mobile technology users, social media platforms are their main source of information about the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the stimulus-organism-response model, this study proposes that information quality and media richness are related to social media fatigue, which induces negative coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. The moderating roles of health consciousness and COVID-19-induced strain are also examined. The data were collected from 108 users of WeChat using a daily experience sampling method and analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling with Mplus. The results show that information quality significantly decreases social media fatigue, whereas media richness significantly increases social media fatigue, which is an outcome of negative coping. Health consciousness buffers the indirect effect of information quality on negative coping through social media fatigue, whereas COVID-19-induced strain strengthens the indirect effect of media richness on negative coping through social media fatigue. These findings enrich the literature on social media fatigue and negative coping by revealing the informational and technical causes of these issues at the episode level in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19-Related Disruptions and Increased mHealth Emergency Use Intention: Experience Sampling Method Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global public health event, which has raised concerns regarding individuals' health. Individuals need to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic with guidelines on symptom recognition, home isolation, and maintain mental health. Besides routine use of mobile health (mHealth) such as accessing information to keep healthy, individuals can use mHealth services in situations requiring urgent medical care, which is defined as mHealth emergency use. It is not known whether individuals have increased their daily mHealth services emergency use as a result of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this diary analysis study is to assess the influences of daily disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals' mHealth emergency use. The secondary purpose of this study is to explore the mediating role of COVID-19-induced strain and the moderating role of promotion regulatory focus in the relationship between daily disruptions of COVID-19 and mHealth emergency use. Drawing from the cognitive activation theory of stress, we investigated the underlying mechanism and boundary condition of the influence of COVID-19-related disruptions on daily mHealth emergency use. METHODS: To test the proposed model, this study adopts the experience sampling method to collect daily data. The experience sampling method helps researchers to capture participants' fluctuations in emotions, mental engagement in an activity, and experienced stress. This study collected 550 cases nested in 110 samples in mainland China to test the conceptual model. In addition, we employed hierarchical linear modeling analysis to test the effect of COVID-19-related disruptions on mHealth emergency use. RESULTS: We found that COVID-19-related disruptions increased COVID-19-induced strain (γ=0.24, P<.001) and mHealth emergency use on a daily basis (γ=0.28, P<.001). COVID-19-induced daily strain mediated this relationship (effect=0.09, 95% CI 0.05-0.14). Promotion regulatory focus moderated the relationship between COVID-19-induced strain and mHealth emergency use (γ=0.35, P=.02). In addition, the indirect relationship between disruptions and mHealth emergency use intentions through COVID-19-induced strain is contingent upon promotion regulatory focus: this relationship was stronger in those with high promotion regulatory focus (effect=0.12, 95% CI 0.06-0.19) than in those with low promotion regulatory focus (effect=0.06, 95% CI 0.02-0.11). CONCLUSIONS: Event disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic induced mHealth emergency use intention through increased psychological strain. Furthermore, individuals' promotion regulatory focus amplified this indirect relationship. Our findings extend our understanding of the factors underlying mHealth emergency use intention and illustrate the potential contingent role of promotion regulatory focus in the cognitive activation theory of stress. This study also opens avenues for future research on mHealth emergency use intention in other countries and cultural settings.