ABSTRACT

This study investigates how parents manage conflicting online information, which may affect their information-seeking behavior and decision-making about childhood vaccination, by applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management in online communication contexts. Although an extensive body of literature has demonstrated the effectiveness of TMIM in predicting how individuals manage health uncertainty and information in the interpersonal communication contexts, the present study goes beyond and applies the theoretical framework in the online communication contexts. Our findings of a survey with 439 parents in the United States are in conjunction with previous applications of TMIM, which show that individuals adopt a similar process to deal with uncertainty resulting from conflicting information in the online environment. Although further research must be conducted to change perceptions, attitudes, and vaccine-related behaviors, this study may help communication practitioners, vaccination advocates, and related nonprofit organizations to eliminate misconceptions about immunization among parents.

摘要

这项研究通过在网络交流环境中运用动机信息管理理论，研究了父母如何处理有冲突的网络信息，这可能会影响他们的信息寻求行为和有关儿童接种疫苗的决策。尽管大量文献已经证明了TMIM在预测个人如何在人际交流环境中管理健康不确定性和信息的有效性，但本研究超出了理论框架，并在在线交流环境中应用了理论框架。我们对美国439位父母的调查结果与TMIM的先前应用相结合，表明TMIM采取了类似的过程来处理由在线环境中信息冲突引起的不确定性。