In order to inform understanding of the public’s health information management during the COVID-19 pandemic, we applied a modification of TMIM from a serial mediation model to a conditional process model (moderated mediation). In doing so, the current study attempted to refine some of the relational propositions of the original TMIM with a focus on efficacy while addressing the distinction between a mediator and a moderator in a behavioral decision model. Findings from an online survey of U.S. adults (n = 488) demonstrated that anxiety can positively motivate evaluation of information seeking during the COVID-19 pandemic context, a unique context of application for TMIM. Efficacy was found to be qualified as an individual difference variable that moderates the relationships of uncertainty perception and health decision. Our newly proposed conditional process framework of the TMIM opens research directions in health information-seeking and encourages researchers to continuously incorporate updated methodological thought and approach in applying and building communication theory.

为了让人们了解 COVID-19 大流行期间公众的健康信息管理，我们将 TMIM 从串行调解模型修改为条件过程模型（适度调解）。在这样做的过程中，当前的研究试图改进原始 TMIM 的一些关系命题，重点关注功效，同时解决行为决策模型中调解人和调解人之间的区别。一项针对美国成年人 (n = 488) 的在线调查结果表明，焦虑可以积极推动在 COVID-19 大流行期间对信息寻求的评估，这是 TMIM 应用的独特背景。发现功效被限定为调节不确定性感知和健康决策之间关系的个体差异变量。