Antecedents and Consequences of Information Overload in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Health Information Overload and COVID-19
2.2. Antecedents of Information Overload
RQ: Does information overload differ across individual socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender, education level, and income level), cognitive capacity (i.e., current knowledge and information ability), and media use when obtaining COVID-19 information?
2.3. Consequences of Information Overload
2.3.1. Influence on Information Processing
2.3.2. Influence on Behavioral Intentions
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Survey Procedure and Sample
3.2. Measurements
3.2.1. Perceived Information Overload
3.2.2. Information Processing
3.2.3. Behavioral Intentions
3.2.4. Cognitive Capacity
3.2.5. Media Use
3.2.6. Socio-Demographics
4. Results
5. Discussion
5.1. Antecedents of Information Overload
5.2. Consequences of Information Overload
5.3. Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Future Studies
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Factors | Model 1 | Model 2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
β | t | p | β | t | p | |
Socio-Demographics | ||||||
Gender | 0.030 | 0.736 | 0.462 | 0.019 | 0.541 | 0.589 |
Age | −0.025 | −0.633 | 0.527 | 0.024 | 0.670 | 0.503 |
Level of Education | −0.017 | −0.405 | 0.686 | −0.034 | −0.971 | 0.332 |
Level of Household Income | −0.001 | −0.018 | 0.985 | 0.014 | 0.404 | 0.686 |
Cognitive Capacity | ||||||
Current Knowledge | −0.073 | −1.976 | 0.049 | |||
Information Ability | −0.519 | −13.753 | <0.001 | |||
Media Use | ||||||
Interpersonal Communication | 0.115 | 3.268 | 0.001 | |||
Television News | 0.025 | 0.658 | 0.511 | |||
Newspaper | 0.005 | 0.141 | 0.888 | |||
Online News Channels | 0.100 | 2.725 | 0.007 | |||
Social Media | 0.057 | 1.577 | 0.115 | |||
Mobile Applications | −0.056 | −1.425 | 0.155 | |||
Government Channels | 0.049 | 1.300 | 0.194 | |||
F = 0.301, p = 0.878 R2 = 0.002 | F = 21.371, p < 0.001 R2 = 0.312 ΔR2 = 0.310 (p < 0.001) |
β | B | S.E. | C.R. | p | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Heuristic processing | ← | Information overload | 0.296 | 0.416 | 0.066 | 6.310 | <0.001 |
Systematic processing | ← | Information overload | −0.113 | −0.117 | 0.049 | −2.373 | 0.018 |
Behavioral intention | ← | Information overload | 0.063 | 0.046 | 0.032 | 1.445 | 0.149 |
Behavioral intention | ← | Systematic processing | 0.285 | 0.199 | 0.041 | 4.865 | <0.001 |
Behavioral intention | ← | Heuristic processing | −0.237 | −0.122 | 0.029 | −4.161 | <0.001 |
IO7 | ← | Information overload | 0.618 | 1.000 | |||
IO6 | ← | Information overload | 0.734 | 1.216 | 0.082 | 14.777 | <0.001 |
IO5 | ← | Information overload | 0.548 | 0.876 | 0.074 | 11.769 | <0.001 |
IO4 | ← | Information overload | 0.487 | 0.752 | 0.071 | 10.650 | <0.001 |
IO3 | ← | Information overload | 0.825 | 1.509 | 0.094 | 15.988 | <0.001 |
IO2 | ← | Information overload | 0.764 | 1.260 | 0.083 | 15.207 | <0.001 |
IO1 | ← | Information overload | 0.805 | 1.344 | 0.085 | 15.741 | <0.001 |
HP1 | ← | Heuristic processing | 0.850 | 1.000 | |||
HP2 | ← | Heuristic processing | 0.911 | 1.072 | 0.046 | 23.212 | <0.001 |
HP3 | ← | Heuristic processing | 0.587 | 0.701 | 0.046 | 15.315 | <0.001 |
SP1 | ← | Systematic processing | 0.722 | 1.000 | |||
SP2 | ← | Systematic processing | 0.832 | 1.087 | 0.066 | 16.447 | <0.001 |
SP3 | ← | Systematic processing | 0.695 | 0.882 | 0.058 | 15.160 | <0.001 |
BI1 | ← | Behavioral intention | 0.538 | 1.000 | |||
BI2 | ← | Behavioral intention | 0.852 | 1.352 | 0.098 | 13.851 | <0.001 |
BI3 | ← | Behavioral intention | 0.916 | 1.466 | 0.105 | 13.983 | <0.001 |
BI4 | ← | Behavioral intention | 0.726 | 1.322 | 0.078 | 16.961 | <0.001 |
Covariances | |||||||
esysematic | ↔ | eheuristic | −0.533 | −0.253 | 0.028 | −9.088 | <0.001 |
eBI1 | ↔ | eBI4 | 0.478 | 0.169 | 0.018 | 9.630 | <0.001 |
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Hong, H.; Kim, H.J. Antecedents and Consequences of Information Overload in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 9305. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249305
Hong H, Kim HJ. Antecedents and Consequences of Information Overload in the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(24):9305. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249305
Chicago/Turabian StyleHong, Hyehyun, and Hyo Jung Kim. 2020. "Antecedents and Consequences of Information Overload in the COVID-19 Pandemic" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 24: 9305. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249305