How does health information seeking from different online sources trigger cyberchondria? The roles of online information overload and information trust

Cyberchondria is conceptualized as excessive online searches for medical information, which is typically accompanied by feelings of emotional distress or anxiety. While previous studies in this nascent area have identified various psychological predictors of cyberchondria, a relative dearth of research has explored the role of different online information sources in its development. Informed by the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model and the literature on cyberchondria, this study proposes a theoretical framework to explain why people develop cyberchondria when seeking medical information via different online sources. Based on a three-wave panel survey (N = 654), our findings suggest that health information seeking via online search engines increases online information overload (β = 0.11, p = .02), while health information seeking via social media platforms and health-specific websites increases online information trust (β = 0.13, p = .005; β = 0.25, p < .001). Additionally, online information overload is negatively related to online information trust (β = -0.39, p < .001). Subsequently, both online information overload and online information trust trigger cyberchondria (β = 0.73, p < .001; β = 0.15, p < .001). This study can contribute to the literature by expanding and deepening our understanding of cyberchondria developmental trajectory as well as emphasizing the pivotal role of online information sources in this complicated and dynamic process.     

Promoting users’ intention to share online health articles on social media: The role of confirmation bias

Nowadays, it is a common practice for healthcare professionals to spread medical knowledge by posting health articles on social media. However, promoting users’ intention to share such articles is challenging because the extent of sharing intention varies in their eHealth literacy (high or low) and the content valence of the article that they are exposed to (positive or negative). This study investigates boundary conditions under which eHealth literacy and content valence help to increase users’ intention to share by introducing a moderating role of confirmation bias—a tendency to prefer information that conforms to their initial beliefs. A 2 (eHealth literacy: high vs. low) × 2 (content valence: positive vs. negative) between-subjects experiment was conducted in a sample of 80 participants. Levels of confirmation bias ranging from extreme negative bias to extreme positive bias among the participants were assessed during the experiment. Results suggested that: (1) users with a high level of eHealth literacy were more likely to share positive health articles when they had extreme confirmation bias; (2) users with a high level of eHealth literacy were more likely to share negative health articles when they had moderate confirmation bias or no confirmation bias; (3) users with a low level of eHealth literacy were more likely to share health articles regardless of positive or negative content valence when they had moderate positive confirmation bias. This study sheds new light on the role of confirmation bias in users’ health information sharing. Also, it offers implications for health information providers who want to increase the visibility of their online health articles: they need to consider readers’ eHealth literacy and confirmation bias when deciding the content valence of the articles.     

What drives employees to share their tacit knowledge in practice?

Tacit knowledge is internal to an individual in the form of know-how, experience or expertise. To create and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage, many companies have made substantial efforts to promote employees’ sharing of their tacit knowledge. In practice, however, tacit knowledge sharing (TKS) between employees is rare. This study empirically analyses the impacts of individual motivations and social capital on employees’ TKS in order to deepen and widen the understanding about the antecedents to employees’ TKS. Data collected from 713 employees in multiple industries were empirically tested by using structural equation modelling analysis through partial least squares. The analysis results show that anticipated intrinsic rewards and social capital positively influence employees’ TKS whereas anticipated extrinsic rewards have a negative effect on it. Furthermore, they show that employees’ attitudes, intentions and subjective norms of TKS play significant roles in linking the effects of individual motivations and social capital to employees’ TKS through a combination of expectancy theory and social capital theory based on the theory of planned behaviour. Theoretical and practical implications are presented on the basis of the major findings from this study.     

What makes bloggers share knowledge? An investigation on the role of trust

As a Web 2.0 technology, blogs are gaining attention as useful knowledge sharing platforms for knowledge management in a collaborative work environment. This study investigates the relationship between trust and bloggers’ knowledge sharing practices. Based on an analysis of results from the 485 survey respondents, the research found that there is the positive relationship between bloggers’ trust and their knowledge sharing practices. This study explores trust in multiple dimensions including economy-based trust, trust in bloggers, and trust in the Internet and trust in blog providers. The detailed research findings are presented.     

To share or not to share? Self-perception and knowledge-sharing intent

The paper explores the intent of knowledge sharing in complex organizational contexts. Findings from semi-structured interviewing with 54 subjects in two large organizations in Saudi Arabia indicate that self-perception and contextual interpretation create tensions that affect the way knowledge is managed and shared. The dichotomy between self-centeredness and self-doubt was found to affect trust and openness necessary for genuine knowledge sharing. Mutual trust, developed through timely self-disclosure, was found to offer psychological safety for employees to share knowledge more openly. Inner tensions become the stimuli for maximizing the social aspect of interaction to negotiate meanings, strategize knowledge sharing, and redefine role identity. The interplay of cognitive and behavioural participation challenges one’s knowing and becoming, increasing the complexity and dynamics of knowledge sharing. Knowledge-sharing intent determines the learning of individuals and learning in organizations. A conceptual framework is introduced and implications for practice are discussed.     

Evaluating the social value of online health information for third-party patients: Is uncertainty always bad?

Online health interactions (OHIs) can benefit patients, physicians, and society. However, little research has been conducted that studies the social value of OHIs for third-party patients who view previous OHIs concerning similar health issues to theirs. Drawing on the literature on social support and information uncertainty, this study established a theoretical model to explore the roles of treatment information, prevention information, and emotional support in determining information usefulness perceived by third-party patients, and whether such relationships are contingent on information uncertainty. The model was tested using “health questions and answers” textual data from 1,848 OHIs. The results indicate that prevention information and emotional support significantly improve information usefulness perceived by third-party patients. When the level of information uncertainty regarding physicians’ replies is high, the effect of treatment information is strengthened and the effect of emotional support is weakened, indicating both the bright and dark side of information uncertainty. This study has implications for practitioners and contributes to the literature on online health information, social support, information science, and information uncertainty.     

Voters’ online information behaviour and response to campaign content during the Scottish referendum on independence

Research into the public’s motivations for, and barriers to, the use of referendum campaign sites was carried out in the final weeks before the 2014 vote on Scottish independence. As a qualitative study, drawing on 54 interactive, electronically-assisted interviews, where participants were observed and questioned as they searched for and used information on the websites and social media sites of the campaign groups, the results enable more precise causal inferences to be drawn about voters’ exposure to campaign sites. Results indicate participants value ‘facts’, what they perceive as authoritative voices, the capacity to compare campaign messages directly, infographics and concise, direct information. They are sceptical, particularly about celebrity contributions, preferring expert messages, and uncertain about their personal capacity to evaluate information they will use to make decisions. The authors set out a new model of levels of user engagement with political discourse during campaigns. Results have relevance for governments, as well as researchers in the fields of politics, communications and information management.     

What makes user-generated content more helpful on social media platforms? Insights from creator interactivity perspective

A growing number of enterprises begin to utilize user-generated content (UGC) to help build brand awareness and loyalty on social media platforms. Thus, it is important to investigate what makes UGC more helpful under the new social media environment. This study attempts to identify the influence mechanism of UGC helpfulness by examining the systematic impacts of argument quality and source reliability, especially considering the effects of creator interactivity. Using a dataset of product-related UGC in a popular social media app, our empirical study finds that the detailedness, readability, and objectivity of the content, as well as the social recognition and popularity of the creator, all have a significant impact on UGC helpfulness. Furthermore, the results indicate that creator interactivity plays a vital role in building UGC helpfulness by moderating other factors. This study contributes to both UGC and social media literature by proposing a comprehensive model to better understand UGC helpfulness. It also provides several practical insights for content creators to improve their online performances.     

The influence of information depth and information breadth on brokers’ idea newness in online maker communities

Social networks provide individuals with diverse or redundant information depending on the network structure. Both types of information offer advantages for generating new ideas. At the same time, network structure and network content are independent. As a result, two individuals with the same network position can access diverse or redundant content from their social peers. In this study, we investigate the function of social networks in innovative endeavors given individuals’ different kinds of information accessing behavior. In accordance with previous research, we argue that individuals with a broker status access more diverse information through non-redundant network structures and develop, on average, more novel ideas. We further propose that redundancy in content complements brokers’ structural non-redundancy by providing familiar knowledge elements and therefore interpretability, while non-redundancy in both content and structure leads to information overload. Thus, we hypothesize that brokers accessing more information depth, and independently, less information breadth generate newer ideas. To test our hypotheses, we collected data from a popular online maker community containing 18,146 ideas, 19,919 profiles, and 52,663 comments. We used topic modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) to extract hidden knowledge elements and social network analysis to identify brokers. In line with our hypotheses, we find that information depth (breadth) strengthens (weakens) a favorable broker position. These findings have implications for the literature on idea generation in social networks and household sector innovation.     

Do online information sources really make tourists visit more diverse places?: Based on the social networking analysis

This study investigated whether or not online tourism information prompted the international tourists who visited South Korea in 2015 to visit a wide range of tourism destinations, in particular those in non-capital regions, by comparing the tourist site networks of online and offline information seeker groups. It was hypothesized that the data would confirm how well the smart tourism ecosystem has been built and contributed to South Korea's tourism industry by showing that online tourism information leads tourists to visit more geographically diverse sites. Using network analysis with big data, the results showed that the offline information seeker group had geographically wider movement patterns than the online information seekers. In other words, the offline information seeker group showed movements in various directions and frequent visits to non-capital regions as opposed to the online information seeker group, which was highly dependent on the capital region. Thus, this study suggested that current online tourism information about South Korea did not provide appropriate tourism information to fulfill the needs of international tourists. This, consequently, might interrupt the implementation of smart tourism ecosystem efforts. Based on these results, this study had highlighted the importance of delivering both regionally and contextually diverse tourism information via online information sources.     

The interaction effects of online reviews and free samples on consumers’ downloads: An empirical analysis

Consumers’ software purchase decisions are influenced both by online reviews and by their experiences with free samples provided by firms. This paper empirically investigates the differential effects of online reviews (user and editor ratings) on consumers’ sample downloading behavior, using a dataset drawn from a large software free sampling website CNET.com. Our findings extend the previous research by suggesting that information disclosure levels of free samples (indicated by licenses) moderates the impacts of online reviews on consumers’ sample downloads. For samples that disclose a great level of information, higher user ratings can increase downloads; otherwise, higher user ratings fail to increase downloads. When both user and editor ratings are available to consumers, only user ratings can increase sample downloads. The findings can be explained by consumers’ two-stage information process whereby consumers first refer to online reviews and then determine whether to sample software. This study provides practical implications on the design of information disclosure channel and offers suggestions for firms regarding how to select and apply sample licenses.     

Better interaction performance attracts more chronic patients? Evidence from an online health platform

Online health consultation (OHC) serves as an important approach for patients to take an initial impression of a physician's interaction with their patients. However, little study has paid attention to how physicians leverage their interaction performance to attract patients. Drawing on signaling theory and externality effect, this study investigates how a physician's OHC performance influences patients’ choice of consulting the physician in a chronic disease context on an online health platform. By decomposing a physician's interaction performance into three dimensions, i.e., interaction breadth, interaction length, and interaction depth, this paper provides a novel method to evaluate the physician's performance. Information of 4434 physicians from six departments of chronic diseases at 185 general hospitals in the Tier Three Class A segment across China was collected, including individual information and the OHC records of the physicians. Regression analyses were applied to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that better performance in the interaction breadth and length helps physicians attract more patients while higher interaction depth reduces patients’ choice of physician. A physician's general health knowledge sharing behavior and expertise level intensify the negative effect of interaction depth on patient choice of physician. This study contributes to the literature on online health behavior, chronic disease management, and signaling theory, and offers implications for practice.     

What is the ‘personal’ in ‘personal information’?

Ethics and Information Technology - Contemporary privacy theories and European discussions about data protection employ the notion of ‘personal information’ to designate their areas of...     

What’s happening to our universities?

In recent decades, many universities have been moving in the direction of a more hierarchical and centralised structure, with top-down planning and reduced local autonomy for departments. Yet, the management literature over this period has stressed the numerous benefits of flatter organisational structures, decentralisation and local autonomy for sections or departments. What might explain this paradox? And why have academics remained strangely quiet about this, meekly accepting their fate? This proposition paper critically examines the dangers of centralised top-down management, increasingly bureaucratic procedures, teaching to a prescribed formula, and research driven by assessment and performance targets, illustrating these with a number of specific examples. It discusses a number of possible forces driving these worrying developments, and concludes by asking whether academics may be in danger of suffering the fate of the boiled frog.     

What motivates academic scientists to engage in research commercialization: ‘Gold’, ‘ribbon’ or ‘puzzle’?

This paper employs the three concepts of ‘gold’ (financial rewards), ‘ribbon’ (reputational/career rewards) and ‘puzzle’ (intrinsic satisfaction) to examine the extrinsic and intrinsic aspects of scientists’ motivation for pursuing commercial activities. The study is based on 36 individual interviews and an on-line questionnaire survey of 735 scientists from five major UK research universities. It finds that there is a diversity of motivations for commercial engagement, and that many do so for reputational and intrinsic reasons and that financial rewards play a relatively small part. The paper draws on self-determination theory in social psychology to analyse the relationship between scientists’ value orientations with regard to commercial engagement and their personal motivations. It finds that those with traditional beliefs about the separation of science from commerce are more likely to be extrinsically motivated, using commercialization as a means to obtain resources to support their quest for the ‘ribbon’. In contrast, those identify closely with entrepreneurial norms are intrinsically motivated by the autonomy and ‘puzzle-solving’ involved in applied commercial research while also motivated by the ‘gold’. The study highlights the primacy of scientists’ self-motivation, and suggests that a fuller explanation of their commercial behaviour will need to consider a broader mix of motives to include the social and affective aspects of intrinsic motivation. In conclusion, the paper argues that policy to encourage commercial engagement should build on reputational and intrinsic rather than purely financial motivations.     

Why do I take deviant disclosure behavior on internet platforms? An explanation based on the neutralization theory

Internet platforms increasingly rely on personal data to maintain user base and attract potential users. However, users might misrepresent their personal information in response to the requests when they expect their personal information to be used for unstated purposes. Misrepresenting of personal information (MPI), as a regular deviant behavior on online platforms, leads to data noises and service failures and needs further investigation. Drawing on the neutralization theory and online scenario survey, this study constructs a model to examine the factors of MPI. The results show that techniques of neutralization, such as denial of injury, defense of necessity, metaphor of the ledger, and avoidance of greater harm, are positively associated with users’ intention of MPI. In particular, avoidance of greater harm has a stronger effect on MPI intention than other neutralization techniques. Furthermore, we also explore the contingent role of personality traits. The results show that extraversion negatively moderates the relationships between denial of injury, avoidance of greater harm and MPI, whereas neuroticism plays a positive role in moderating the relationships between denial of injury, metaphor of the ledger, avoidance of greater harm and MPI. Moreover, post-hoc analysis results show that users do some differernces regarding justify their deviant disclosure behavior by using neutralization techniques between e-commerce platform and social networking site. Focusing on the dark side of disclosure behavior, this study enriches the current literature by applying neutralization theory and provides a new direction for academia and Internet practitioners to understand users’ deviant disclosure behavior.