A Cross-Country Analysis of the Combined Influence of Social Media Use and Perceived Social Media Networks on Pandemic Communicative Responses

ABSTRACT

This study examines how social media (SM) use is related to human responses to emerging infectious disease risks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic via an online survey conducted in the United States and Taiwan. Results showed that SM use was related to different types of communicative responses (information seeking, interpersonal discussion, and rumor correction) directly and indirectly through cognitive and affective responses (risk perception, responsibility attribution, and negative and positive emotions). The indirect relationships between SM use and communicative responses through these cognitive and affective responses were moderated by perceived SM network structures. In particular, the mediating influence of negative emotions on communicative responses was associated with perceived SM network homogeneity, while that of positive emotions was related to perceived SM network centrality. Furthermore, responsibility attribution drove Taiwanese SM users’ communicative responses, whereas the interrelated influence of positive emotions and perceived SM network centrality shaped American SM users’ communicative responses.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC 108-2628-H-A49 -001-SS4 & NSTC 109-2420-H-001-008).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2185923

Notes

1. The indirect relationships between SM use and information seeking, interpersonal discussion, and rumor correction through the serial mediation of self-efficacy and emotions (both negative and positive) were moderated by perceived SM network centrality. See Appendix for details.

2. The indirect effects of SM use on information seeking through the serial mediation of cognitive factors (risk perception, organizational and personal attributions) and positive emotions were stronger in the United States than in Taiwan. See Appendix for details.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council [NSTC 108-2628-H-A49 -001-SS4].