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The article is devoted to the study of the ‘information noise’ phenomenon in the context of modern cinema. As a comprehensive art form, cinema in the current era confronts this multifaceted issue. This study critically analyses the concept of information noise scrutinizing its manifestations across diverse cultural and social contexts. The author highlights various dimensions of information noise and assesses its impact on the perception and interpretation of cinematic productions, encompassing aspects like historical authenticity, value stereotyping, the preservation or substitution of core ideas, censorship influence, narrative complexity, and verbal imperfections. The article also addresses the current state of scientific development of the topic under study. It underscores people’s limitations in processing information and how perception is influenced by their socio-cultural origins. The necessity for a standardized approach to identify characteristics of information noise in film production is also emphasized.

Abstract Background In the information age of health care, nurses often face information overload, leading to negative emotions, e.g., anxiety that may impede the adoption of evidence-based practice and clinical decision-making process. Nurses with higher digital health literacy can effectively process and manage information. Despite this, no research has explored the relationship between information anxiety, digital health literacy, and core competency among nurses. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the mediating effects of digital health literacy on information anxiety and core competency among nurses. Methods From July to October 2023, the data for this cross-sectional study were collected. The study surveyed a total of 608 nurses from three tertiary hospitals in Fujian Province, and the survey instruments included a sociodemographic information questionnaire, Chinese revision version of the Digital Health Literacy Instrument (CR-DHLI), Information Anxiety Scale (IAS), and Competency Inventory for Registered Nurses (CIRN). Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis were conducted using SPSS 29.0, and the mediating effect of digital health literacy was examined using Mplus. Results The mean score of nurses’ information anxiety, digital health literacy, and core competency was 3.03 ± 0.91, 2.46 ± 0.56, 2.72 ± 0.88, respectively. And the mediation model of information anxiety on core competency for nurses showed a good model fit index (χ²/df = 2.207, CFI = 0.985, TLI = 0.982, RMSEA = 0.045, SRMR = 0.035). Digital health literacy was positively correlated with nurses’ core competency but negatively correlated with information anxiety. The results of path analysis revealed that information anxiety had negative and significant direct effects on NCC (β = -0.119, P = 0.004) and DHL (β = -0.297, P < 0.001). DHL had a positive effect on NCC (β = 0.306, P < 0.001). Digital health literacy played a partial mediating role, accounting for 43.54% of the relationship between information anxiety and nurses’ core competency. Conclusions Information anxiety among nurses was at relatively high levels, which had a negative impact on the core competency of nurses. This issue requires attention from nursing managers. The mediating role of digital health literacy in the relationship between information anxiety and core competency among nurses has been established. Nursing managers should strengthen the evaluation of nurses’ DHL and devise effective support strategies to enhance DHL, thus improving the core competence of nurses in information age.

An increasingly common practice for policy-makers is to leverage e-participation to collect citizens’ opinions and improve their decision-making processes. This practice, however, is hindered by the large quantity of collected opinions which are often overloading and hard to value. This is referred to as information overload. As a way to mitigate this challenge for policy-makers, this article develops a prioritization framework for citizens’ ideas collected through e-participation. The framework builds on Design Science Research and is validated on a real-world case in collaboration with the European Commission. The resulting contributions are threefold. First, theoretical criteria, popularity and polarization, are developed to prioritize citizens’ proposals. Then, automated and quantitative metrics are proposed to measure these criteria. Finally, a prioritization matrix is developed to visually assess the relative priority of these citizens’ proposals.

The exponential growth of digital information has led to the pervasive problem of information overload, affecting decision-making, productivity, and well-being. This article reviews the existing literature on the various effects of information overload, its underlying causes, and strategies for managing it. A scoping review of English literature up until January 2023 was conducted using Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Emerald. The findings reveal that information overload is caused by personal factors, information characteristics, task parameters, organizational parameters, and information technology parameters. The effects include poor decision-making, decreased productivity, and cognitive pressures. Strategies for managing information overload include learning multiple skills and using filtering, prioritizing, and technology tools. This article provides a foundation for future research and interventions in this area.

Online reviews have become an important source of information for consumers, significantly influencing their purchasing decisions. However, the abundance and variety of review formats, especially the mix of text, image, and video elements, can lead to information overload and hinder effective decision-making. This study investigates how different review formats and their combinations affect the perceived helpfulness of reviews. We develop a comprehensive framework to analyze the interactions between text, image, and video elements and their impact on the helpfulness of reviews. We collect and code 8693 online reviews from JingDong Mall Mallacross six product categories, including both experience products and search products, and use multiple regression analysis to test our hypotheses. Our results show that textual review elements significantly increase review helpfulness. However, their effectiveness decreases as the amount of information increases, indicating cognitive overload. Text reviews are more prone to contribute to information overload, while visual elements such as images and videos generally do not contribute to information overload in the coexistence of text, image, and video reviews. Imagery components have a minimal effect on review helpfulness. Video elements are relatively short, which may not be sufficient to convey useful information. We also find that the impact of review formats varies between experience products and search products, and that star ratings moderate the alignment of textual or imagery components with consumer expectations. We conclude that the hybrid of text, image, and video elements in online reviews plays a crucial role in shaping consumer decision-making and information overload. Our research contributes to the literature on online reviews and information overload while providing practical implications for online retailers, review platforms, and consumers to optimize review formats, star ratings, and product types to facilitate informed purchase decisions.

ABSTRACTUsing a sample of Chinese listed firms over 2011–2020, this study examines the impact of digital finance on accounting information transparency. Our findings reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between digital finance and accounting information transparency, suggesting that digital finance within certain limits increases accounting information transparency by optimising information acquisition and processing, but excessive digital finance leads to information overload and impairs accounting information transparency. Our findings are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests and are still valid after using two-stage “shift-share” instrumental variable procedures, propensity score matching method and firm-level fixed effect regression to control for the endogeneity issue. Lastly, MD&A and annual reporting disclosure timeliness are two influential channels by which digital finance affects accounting information transparency, and further the inverted U-shaped relationship is more pronounced for firms in provinces with lower marketisation indexes (CEO-chairman duality) than for their counterparts.

This study aims to explore whether social media information overload affects medical staff's information avoidance behavior and the extent to which time pressure mediates and job performance moderates this relationship. We analyze survey data on 586 medical staff from 11 hospitals in China using bootstrapping. The results demonstrate that medical staff's social media information overload has a significant positive effect on their information avoidance behavior and that time pressure plays a partial mediating role. Additionally, job performance moderates the impact of social media information overload on information avoidance. Further, high-performing medical staff's social media information overload has a greater impact on their information avoidance behavior than that of medical staff with low job performance. This study satisfies the call for an in-depth investigation of social media information avoidance by uncovering the relationship between social media information overload and the job performance of medical staff. The findings not only shed light on intention from an informational overload perspective but also provide fresh insights for practitioners on how to strategically manage information overload. Medical staff are suggested to be aware of both the positive and the negative effects of social media on their work and life as well as secure the time to deal with social media information to benefit from the convenience that social media brings to their work and life spheres without spending too much time on social media, which negatively affects working time. Healthcare institution managers should avoid sending too much information to high-performing medical staff, as information overload may cause them to be more inclined to “hide from” this information in reality.

IntroductionWith the boom in social media, many people spend a lot of time on these platforms. Among them, some developed negative emotions, such as fatigue, depression, or disinterest in communicating, and used social media temporarily or permanently. Therefore, this study aims to explore the antecedents of social media fatigue, including social media helpfulness, social media self-efficacy, online subjective well-being, social comparison, compulsive social media use, privacy concerns, fear of missing out, and information overload, and to further discuss the determinants of social media fatigue on social anxiety and lurking.MethodsAn online questionnaire was distributed to social media users, and 659 valid samples were obtained with the help of a purposive sampling strategy. The data was analyzed by the partial least square (PLS) method.ResultsThe study found that social media self-efficacy had a significant negative effect on social media fatigue; compulsive social media use, fear of missing out, and information overload had a significant positive effect on social media fatigue; and social media fatigue had a significant positive effect on social anxiety and lurking.DiscussionThe research results can be used as a reference for social media marketers and internet service providers in developing business strategies.

Panic buying is an intriguing social phenomenon during a crisis. However, the existing literature primarily emphasises impulsive purchases and fails to address the objective of panic buying. A minimal study has examined panic buying, integrating variables within an S-O-R framework throughout a crisis. Therefore, this study bridges the existing gaps by examining the variables influencing panic buying behaviour in Malaysia. The quantitative and purposive sampling techniques were used to evaluate Malaysians aged 18 and above who have previously encountered panic buying. A total of 280 questionnaires were collected via distribution to social media platforms. Findings reveal that information overload impacts cyberchondria and perceived severity. Furthermore, price consciousness affects panic buying behaviour. No link is found between perceived severity and cyberchondria towards panic buying behavior. This study theoretically contributes to the literature on the variables influencing panic buying behaviour in Malaysia. This study enhances consumers' decision-making knowledge during a crisis. This study also provides insights to the government in ensuring product stability and business operators to undertake appropriate strategies pre- and post-crisis. Future research should consider the developed countries and different product categories.

In social commerce, users are increasingly resorting to social media platforms to search for information, purchase goods, and share shopping experiences. However, social media use may also affect users' emotions negatively, causing them to switch platforms. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how negative factors (i.e., information and communication overload) affect consumers’ platform-switching behavior in social commerce. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model, this study established a research framework and conducted an online survey in China. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data, generating 477 valid responses. Data analysis, based on structural equation modeling, indicates that information and communication overload, and online fatigue positively affect platform-switching intention. The effect of the intention to switch on behavior is moderated by switching costs. Mediation analysis shows that information and communication overload can indirectly influence switching behavior through online fatigue and switching intention. This study incorporates the novel aspects of switching costs in examining the driving forces behind platform-switching in social commerce, thereby theoretically adding value to the existing body of knowledge. Apart from this, our findings also bear significant practical implications and are valuable for social commerce platforms and sellers to improve their user experience and retain existing customers.

Employee burnout is considered a serious problem in today’s organizations, having severe repercussions both on individual and operational levels. A large number of studies have been conducted to identify antecedents and consequences of burnout but were mostly carried out in medical and other helping professions. This research aims to explore the burnout of employees working in Croatian companies by developing a multidimensional model that explores the influence of three elements that are considered typical features of today’s modern, post-pandemic workplace: information overload, demands at work, and multitasking. In addition, it observes the influence of burnout on employee decision-making style and the moderating effects of information accuracy and time pressure on the burnout-decision-making relationship. A total of 567 employees working in various industries and carrying out different professions completed an online survey, and linear regression analysis was applied to analyze the data. The results confirmed the direct positive effect of information overload and demands at work on burnout and the direct positive effect of burnout on poor decision-making style. This study is one of the first studies conducted in Croatia on employees in the business sector, so it contributes to the field with important theoretical implications and practical and managerial recommendations.

The advancement in information and communication technologies (ICTs) has increased the generation and dissemination of information. This has created a remarkable shift from the previous promulgation of information explosion to the concept of information overload in this age, which seems to be characterised by the ease of intellectual theft in various forms. The sophistication of ICTs and the overwhelming availability of information have subjected many research outputs to the affliction of ‘copy-and-paste’ syndrome and copyright abuse; and there appears to be a dearth of literature on efforts being made by LIS professionals to tackle the challenges in Nigerian academic institutions. This study, therefore, sought to draw attention to how the challenges of plagiarism are tackled by LIS professionals in the age of information overload in Nigerian academic institutions. The study adopted the phenomenological research design of qualitative methodology, using semi-structured written interview that was developed by the researchers and sent electronically to the respondents. The data were presented textually with the insertion of verbatim quotations where necessary while the research findings were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings from the 45 respondents across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria revealed a high level of plagiarism and a moderate level of engagement in curbing the menace by LIS professionals. The study recommends a multifaceted approach to curb plagiarism; comprising information literacy instructions in academic institutions, institutionalised adoption and access to plagiarism detection software and advocacy programmes that promote ethical writing and ICT skills for LIS professionals.

The Covid‐19 pandemic caused a digitalization boost, mainly through the rise of telework. Even before the pandemic, advancing digital transformation restructured the way of working and thereby changed the quality of jobs—albeit at a different pace across occupations. With data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we examine how job quality and the use of digital technologies changed during the first pandemic year in different occupations. Building on this, we analyze change score models to investigate how increased workplace digitalization connects to changes in selected aspects of employees’ subjective job quality. We find only a weak association between the digitalization boost in different occupational fields and the overall decrease in subjective job quality. However, telework—as one aspect of digitalization—is connected to a smaller decrease in work–family reconciliation and conformable working hours. Thus, it may buffer some detrimental pandemic effects on job quality. In addition, telework is connected to increased information overload, creating a new burden for specific employee groups.

While comprehensive knowledge networks can be instrumental in finding solutions to complex problems or supporting the development of detailed simulation models, their large number of nodes and edges can become a hindrance. When the representation of a network becomes opaque, they stop fulfilling their role as a shared representation of a system between participants and modelers; hence, participants are less engaged in the model-building process. Combating the information overload created by large conceptual models is not merely a matter of changing formats: shifting from an unwieldy diagram to enormous amounts of text does not promote engagement. Rather, we posit that participants need an environment that provides details on demand and where interactions with a model rely primarily on a familiar format (i.e., text). In this study, we developed a visual analytics environment where linked visualizations allow participants to interact with large conceptual models, as shown in a case study with hundreds of nodes and almost a thousand relationships. Our environment leverages several advances in generative AI to automatically transform (i) a conceptual model into detailed paragraphs, (ii) detailed text into an executive summary of a model, (iii) prompts about the model into a safe version that avoids sensitive topics, and (iv) a description of the model into a complementary illustration. By releasing our work open source along with a video of our case study, we encourage other modelers to use this approach with their participants. Their feedback and future usability studies are key to respond to the needs of participants by improving our environment given individual preferences, models, and application domains.

IntroductionDrawing on the cognition-affect-conation (C-A-C) framework, this study investigates how perceived information and social and system feature overload induce depression and anxiety, which leads to affect discontinuous intentions of the social media users.MethodsThe data collected from 570 social networking site users in China are analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM).Results and DiscussionThe findings show that perceived information overload, perceived social overload, and perceived system feature overload directly affect depression and anxiety among social networking site users, which directly leads to discontinuous intentions. This study fulfills the identified need for an in-depth investigation of discontinuous behavior in social networking sites. The findings provide social networking site providers with guidelines on how to actively manage social networking site user’s behavior to reduce the effects of negative emotions on social networking sites.

Ontologies are used to support access to a multitude of databases that cover domains relevant information. Heterogeneity and different semantics can be accessed by using structured texts and descriptions in a hierarchical concept definition. We are interested in Life Sciences (LS) related ontologies including components taken from molecular biology, bioinformatics, physics, chemistry, medicine and other related areas. An Ontology comprises: (i) term connections, (ii) the identification of core concepts, (iii) data management, (iv) knowledge classification and integration to collect key information. An ontology may be very useful in navigating through LS terms. This paper explores some available biomedical ontologies and frameworks. It describes the most common ontology development environments (ODE): Protégé, Topbraid Composer, Ontostudio, Fluent Editor, VocBench, Swoop and Obo-edit, to create ontologies from textual scientific resources for LS plans. It also compares ontology methodologies in terms of Usability, Scalability, Stability, Integration, Documentation and Originality.

User Experience (UX) has been increasing linearly with the systems and digital media. UX concept describes a human factor as an experience with the life cycle of digital technology. UX increases the usability of the product in the industry more than functionality. Interest in UX has produced a huge amount of product and research articles. Moreover, this interdisciplinary topic becomes increased significantly because of the wider applications. However, this benefit become a problem due to the number of publications. The information overload problem is the result of the increasing UX topic. Several researchers solved this problem with qualitative analysis, but it cannot solve the overload problem. In this paper, we purposed bibliometric analysis and research profiling to interpret UX information on the map, with the publications from 1998-2022, a dataset compiled in RIS format to provide article metadata. As a result, the UX information map from the topic with the five clusters. Therefore, to provide information on the topic's coherence, we propose a coupling network. A related topic is shown as a link; a direct link means high coherence between topics. The analysis was carried out using the 5W1H approach (what, where, who, when, why, and how). The results show that UX is indeed an interdisciplinary field, especially with a design approach and user experience. In addition, to determine novice researchers, determining the focus of research can be done by taking into account previous research goals and maps.

Drawing upon the communication visibility theory, this study delves into the intricate dynamics of message transference and network translucence within the context of enterprise social media (ESM), unraveling their profound impact on information overload and social overload experienced by employees. Consequently, we examine the consequential relationship between these overwhelming cognitive burdens and the levels of work stress experienced by individuals in the organizational setting. Moreover, our study explores the moderating role of resilience, shedding light on how this intrinsic psychological trait can shape the connection among information overload, social overload, and work stress. Based on empirical analysis of the data collected from 351 ESM users, the findings demonstrate a significant positive association between message transference, network translucence, and the occurrence of information overload and social overload among employees. Furthermore, the results reveal a strong positive association among information overload and social overload over work stress. However, the salient contribution of this study lies in uncovering the pivotal moderating effect of resilience, revealing that high levels of resilience act as a buffer against the adverse impacts of information overload and social overload, leading to lower levels of work stress among individuals. By advancing our comprehension of communication visibility theory, this study adds to the theoretical underpinnings of communication visibility, resilience, and their interplay in the context of ESM while providing practical insights for employees and organizations to navigate the challenges posed by information overload, social overload, and work stress. Through its meticulous examination of these multifaceted phenomena, this study opens avenues for further research and invites scholars to probe deeper into the complex dynamics of communication visibility and resilience in the evolving landscape of contemporary organizations.

IntroductionThe advent of bigdata era fundamentally transformed the nature of medical information seeking and the traditional binary medical relationship. Weaving stress coping theory and information processing theory, we developed an integrative perspective on information seeking behavior and explored the antecedent and consequence of such behavior.MethodsData were collected from 573 women suffering from infertility who was seeking assisted reproductive technology treatment in China. We used AMOS 22.0 and the PROCESS macro in SPSS 25.0 software to test our model.ResultsOur findings demonstrated that patients’ satisfaction with information received from the physicians negatively predicted their behavior involvement in information seeking, such behavior positively related to their perceived information overload, and the latter negatively related to patient-physician relationship quality. Further findings showed that medical information seeking behavior and perceived information overload would serially mediate the impacts of satisfaction with information received from physicians on patient-physician relationship quality.DiscussionThis study extends knowledge of information seeking behavior by proposing an integrative model and expands the application of stress coping theory and information processing theory. Additionally, it provides valuable implications for patients, physicians and public health information service providers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations distributed important information through social networking sites (SNS). Unfortunately, the information can be hindered due to information avoidance, where users choose not to receive the information. While there is existing research on information avoidance, studies on how social media design can trigger information avoidance still need to be made available. The purpose of this study is to create a conceptual model of SNS user behavior based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory, explaining the impact of digital interactivity (communication between humans and computers) on SNS users' decisions to avoid information. Therefore, in this study, an investigation was conducted on the role of SNS design in information avoidance, using S-O-R as the theoretical framework. A total of 332 respondents were included in the study. Using Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-CB), we found that SNS design was related to information avoidance through the mediation of information overload and information anxiety. Based on these factors, it is believed that information avoidance arises as a negative response to the stimulus of using SNS, leading to user decision-making. Consequently, designers are recommended to create features that meet user needs and minimize negative impacts that could interfere with the user experience. The paper provides a more detailed explanation and discussion of the knowledge and practical implications.

Online social networks have become important channels for spreading rumors, and the spreading process in these networks is influenced by many factors. This study focuses on the problem of rumor spreading through indirect contact, such as non-following/non-friend relationships due to the roles of social networks, and considers the phenomenon of rumor isolation from users resulting from information overload on social networks.The SMQIR rumor-spreading model with five user groups was developed by introducing two parameters: the probability of social network influence and the probability of rumor isolation. The laws of influence of the relevant parameters were investigated using numerical simulations. Furthermore, the reproduction number and equilibrium point of the model were calculated, and the stability of the equilibrium point was analyzed based on the Routh-Hurwitz criterion. The proposed model was evaluated through a comparative analysis with the SIR and SIHR models, while two authentic datasets were employed for validation purposes. This study revealed that online social networks not only intuitively increase the rate of rumor propagation and amplify its reach and magnitude, but also prolong the duration of rumor spreading. Moreover, a higher influence coefficient of online social media leads to an extended period for spreading rumors in terms of speed, scale, and longevity. Conversely, information overload hampers the speed and scale of rumor spreading while simultaneously extending its duration. Additionally, it was observed that information overload may result in the limited exposure to rumors for certain individuals.

User-generated content explodes in popularity daily on e-commerce platforms. It is crucial for platform manipulators to sort out online reviews with repeatedly expressed opinions and a large number of irrelevant topics in order to reduce the information processing burden on review readers. This study proposes a framework named TipScreener that generates a set of useful sentences that cover all of the information of features of a business. Called tips in this work, the sentences are selected from the reviews in their original, unaltered form. Firstly, we identify information tokens of the business. Second, we filter review sentences that contain no tokens and remove duplicates. We then use a convolutional neural network to filter uninformative sentences. Next, we find the tip set with the smallest cardinality that contains all off the tokens, taking opinion words into account. The sentences of the tip set contain a full range of information and have a very low repetition rate. Our work contributes to the work of online review organizing. Review operators of e-commerce platforms can adopt tips generated by TipScreener to facilitate decision makings of review readers. The convolutional neural network that classifies sentences into two classes also enriches deep learning studies on text classification.

Information overload is a problem that is being exacerbated by the ongoing digitalization of the world of work and the growing use of information and communication technologies. Therefore, the aim of this systematic literature review is to provide an insight into existing measures for prevention and intervention related to information overload. The methodological approach of the systematic review is based on the PRISMA standards. A keyword search in three interdisciplinary scientific databases and other more practice-oriented databases resulted in the identification of 87 studies, field reports, and conceptual papers that were included in the review. The results show that a considerable number of papers have been published on interventions on the behavioral prevention level. At the level of structural prevention, there are also many proposals on how to design work to reduce information overload. A further distinction can be made between work design approaches at the level of information and communication technology and at the level of teamwork and organizational regulations. Although the identified studies cover a wide range of possible interventions and design approaches to address information overload, the strength of the evidence from these studies is mixed.

In homicide investigations, the growing availability of data results in an increasing amount of information and Persons of Interest (PoIs) that can be collected and incorporated during an investigation. This might result in information overload and increased tunnel vision during a homicide investigation. In this paper, we designed a system to support homicide investigations in such a way that it reduces information overload and tunnel vision. For evaluation purposes, we built a prototype that was filled with a fictional homicide investigation. A user study indicated that criminal investigators experienced a significantly low level of information overload and tunnel vision using the prototype. Moreover, the results showed acceptable usability and verbal statements indicated a largely positive attitude towards the prototype. This research clearly shows the opportunity to use interface design artefacts to support the prevention of information overload and tunnel vision.

Due to the processes of globalization and transition to the information society their negative effects started to become apparent, namely virtually unlimited access to an abundance of information. Information overload occurs when the amount of information exceeds the perceptual abilities of accepting human being. It questions the impact of this process on health and sleep. Such phenomena as mind scrolling, communicative overload, distrust of digital security, cyber violence, digital inequality as mediators or consequences of information overload are considered. This article reviews the types of the information overload, ways of disseminating information, mechanisms of influence on the self-rated health and psychological condition and sleep, connections with anxiety and depression. This subject became especially relevant in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, since isolation, restriction of motor activity, and increased time spent behind the screen have become important predictors not only of sleep disorders, but also of other health problems. The article addresses the issue of subjects of studies are usually teenagers and people under 35 (generation Z), as the most active smartphones, messengers, social networks and mass media users. The problem of providing unfair information to users of social networks of different regions of residence, socio-economic levels is raised. Most scientists agree that the ways to solve the described problems are to limit the time behind the screen, the amount of content consumed per day, and compliance with sleep hygiene. Additional studies are required to determine the exact pathophysiological mechanisms of the effect of stress on sleep.

Virtual reality’s (VR) ability to reconcile immediacy and hyper-mediation is one of the most fascinating and contradictory aspects of it: hyper-mediated as the reality it allows access to is entirely constructed and made of media objects, and because the access is mediated by devices, VR is immediate as it fully involves the senses to which it is addressed, excluding other external stimuli. This aspect of exclusion is crucial for understanding the nature and potential of VR: today, immersing oneself in VR does not only mean temporarily estranging oneself from reality, but from a reality clogged with information flows, sensorial stimuli, diversion of attention; it means, in other words, artificially recreating the possibility of focus and daydream, a condition that has been made inaccessible – according to neuroscience – by hyperactivity and information overload. A daydream that’s guided and designed by the author of the VR environment, based on an unprecedented relationship between work and user and precisely for this reason capable of enabling the viewer with a new kind of autonomy and an attitude for digression. Through a selection of VR artworks as case studies, this paper wants to demonstrate how VR, often related to Surrealism for its ability to give life to alternative worlds and to host fragments of the unconscious, is rather closer to the “meridian dream” of De Chirico’s metaphysics, and able to stimulate flows of consciousness, inward looking and abstract thought.

In the ever-changing global context, the need to understand why users discontinue using social media platforms is rapidly rising. Comprehending the backdrop of such decisions and factors governing the effects, as mentioned earlier, may help users to make such decisions and help service providers to mitigate them. There is a need to enrich the theoretical account of the phenomenon of social media discontinuation. Other authors focused on different social media platforms, but we have mainly used Facebook with sound justification to select its users as participants. We applied a quantitative study to survey 384 Facebook users, selecting the convenience sampling method. We integrated the ‘Stimulus-Organism-Response’ (S-O-R) framework and applied the Smart-PLS technique and software. The results support this framework and indicate that information overload, communication overload, social media self-efficacy, privacy concern, social media helpfulness, and annoyance (as stimuli). Results demonstrate that increase the fatigue feelings integrated with perceived relevance (i.e., organism) of social media users, which in turn, increases their social media discontinuance intentions and ad avoidance behavior (i.e., response). This research sheds light on the antecedents of social networking services (SNS) fatigue that influences overall Facebook fatigue and suggests practical implications for the ever-expanding SNS market. Our findings offer valuable insights to marketers, entrepreneurs, and organizations in every sector regarding the social media usage and break-up issues of individual users.

Objectives: The increase in the intensity of social media use during the COVID-19 lockdown has affected mental health. Therefore, it is of practical implications to explore the association between social media overload and anxiety and the underlying mechanisms.Methods: Using data from 644 university students during the COVID-19 blockade in Shanghai from March to April 2022, the chain mediation model of information strain and risk perception of omicron between social media overload and anxiety was then tested using the macro PROCESS4.0 tool.Results: The findings showed that social media overload (including information overload and social overload) was positively associated with anxiety. This relationship was mediated by information strain and risk perception of Omicron. A chain mediating role of information strain and risk perception of Omicron has also been proved in this study.Conclusion: Social media overload has a positive effect on anxiety by increasing information strain and risk perception of Omicron. This study provides some implications for future interventions on how to use social media properly for mental health during the pandemic and health management of urban governance.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyze the existence of information pollution in the banking sector of Pakistan. Worldwide unlimited and without restrictions information production and dissemination have resulted in an information-dense society and information-polluted environment. Methodology: An empirical study of 155 employees in the banking sector was undertaken. The influence of information quality and information quantity has caused information pollution. Eight factors of information quality were taken as independent variables. Decision-making is the key function of leaders and managers in the organization. Therefore, Decision making was taken as a dependent variable to gauge the influence of information pollution in organizations. Findings: The reliability and validity of data have been checked and results show that information influences a positive 37% influence on decision-making. According to the result, information pollution exists in the banking sector of Pakistan. Implications: It is further suggested to investigate the impact of information pollution on the work performance and productivity of organizations.

There is considerable interest in whether increased investment in science, made by society, pays dividends. Some plausibly argue the increased rate of production of information results in an ossification of the canon. Reports, challenging the canon, fall by the wayside. The field thus becomes increasingly complex, reflecting not so much the reality of nature but how we investigate the subject. I suggest that focusing on and resolving the paradoxes evident within a canon will free the logjam, resulting in more resilient research. Immunology is among the fastest growing of biological sciences and is, I suggest, an appropriate case study. I examine the commonly accepted frameworks employed over the last three decades to address two major, related immunological questions: what determines whether antigen activates or inactivates CD4 T cells, and so whether immune responses are initiated or this potential ablated; secondly, what determines the Th subset to which the activated Th cells belong, thus determining the class of immunity generated. I show there are major paradoxes within these frameworks, neglected for decades. I propose how research focused on resolving paradoxes can be better fostered, and so support the evolution of the canon. This perspective is pertinent in facing critical issues on how immune responses are regulated, and to more general issues of both the philosophy of science and of science policy.The last section is in response to questions and comments of the reviewers. It brings together several considerations to express my view: the same frameworks, formulated in response to the two questions, are useful in understanding the regulation of the immune response against model antigens, against self and foreign antigens, those of tumors and of pathogens.

The market size of live streaming on the Internet, in which the streamer earns profit by prompting users to give virtual gifts through emotional labor, is getting bigger and bigger. However, most users will only buy cheap virtual gifts in live streaming, therefore exploring how to promote users to buy expensive virtual gifts is a valuable topic in live commerce research. Based on social presence theory and information overload theory, this study used the PLS-SEM method to investigate the factors influencing live streaming users to shift from buying cheap virtual gifts to buying expensive virtual gifts, and analyzed the moderating role of information overload in these relationships. The results show that immediate interaction anxiety, verbal intimacy, and virtual physical intimacy positively influence users’ shift to purchasing expensive virtual gifts, and that perceived network size and perceived financial risk are negative factors in users’ shift to purchasing expensive virtual gifts. Information overload has a moderating role in the relationship between immediate interaction anxiety and switch intention, and it also plays a moderating role in the relationship between perceived network size and perceived financial risk on users’ switch intention.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism economy has been seriously affected. China has implemented a direct traveling management mechanism and recovered from the pandemic faster than the rest of the world. However, the COVID-19 situation is complicated and uncontrollable because of the available unclear information including difficult medical terminologies. This study attempts to find the determinants of the travel intention of China’s tourists in the post-COVID-19 epidemic. Along with information overload and perception risk, an expanded research model of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was employed to propose the theoretical framework of this study. A survey was conducted among 518 tourists who spend their holiday in Hainan, which is a popular tourist destination in China. The empirical results show that information overload positively and significantly impacted perceived risk. Furthermore, perceived risk negatively affects the intention to travel. Perceived risk also negatively affected the attitude toward traveling. However, response self-efficacy did not have a significant effect on the intention to travel. Finally, based on the analysis results, this study proposes relevant research contributions and practical recommendations with management implications for the travel industries.

This paper addresses the scientific production of pharmaceutical communication in Spain around the COVID-19 crisis, in which information overload, amplified by the digital media, evidenced the relevance of communication in the digital society. The research observes the evolution and characteristics of such studies, identifying scientific fields and disciplines related to communication, thematic lines, agents and publics. To this end, it proposes an exploratory review study adjusted to the PRISMA protocol with a search strategy including three databases (Scopus, WOS and Dialnet) and whose filtration produced a final population of 56 publications on Spanish pharmaceutical communication between 2018 and 2022. The results point to a greater production of scientific papers around the year of the pandemic. These papers were published by university institutions in health sciences journals, although differences in authorship by gender were detected. Most of them are empirical papers, with a predominance of mixed content analyses. The field of public relations stands out, but terminological confusion was also detected. This leads to a reflection on its causes and solutions in favour of the transparency and accountability in pharmaceutical communication.

This study evaluates the relationship between diversified relationships established under the umbrella of the Stimuli-Organism-Response (SOR) framework to study the consumer continuation intention of the Airbnb platform from a Malaysian perspective. A web-based survey was conducted among Malaysian Airbnb consumers, and a sample of 303 respondents was obtained. SmartPLS has been used for data analysis. The statistical output of the respondent’s data indicates that social overload and information overload influence consumer continuation intention. Moreover, the satisfaction and trust in the platform partially mediate the relationship between the stimuli and behavioral response. Further, perceived health risk strengthens the negative relationship between continuation and trust in the platform. The theoretical implications include enacting a SOR framework to understand the consumer’s internal state of mind and ability to influence the consumer platform continuation intention. The practical implications suggest that the managers and business owners focus on limiting the social exposure at the host destination and the flow of information from the application.

ObjectiveWe assessed the associations of family wellbeing with verifying and subsequently forwarding COVID-19-related information to family members and the mediating effect of the quality of family communication on these associations among Chinese adults in Hong Kong.MethodsUnder the Jockey Club SMART Family-Link Project, we conducted an online population-based survey, using Family wellbeing Scale and questions related to the family communication quality and forwarding and verifying COVID-19 information. Data were collected from 4,891 adults in May 2020. Prevalence estimates of forwarding and verifying COVID-19 information were weighted by sex, age, and education of the general population, and their associations with family wellbeing (ranged 0–10) were analyzed using generalized linear models with mutual adjustment. Their interactive effects on family wellbeing and the mediating effects of family communication quality were examined.ResultsIn total, 53.9% of respondents usually/always forwarded COVID-19 information related to their family, 68.7% usually/always verified it before forwarding, and 40.9% did both. Greater family wellbeing was associated with usually/always forwarding [adjusted β (95% CI): 0.82 (0.72–0.92)] and usually/always verifying [0.43 (0.32–0.55)] (both P < 0.001) the information. Forwarding and verifying such information showed an additive effect on family wellbeing [1.25 (1.11–1.40)]. Family communication quality mediated the associations of family wellbeing with forwarding (83.7%) and verifying (86.6%) COVID-19-related information.ConclusionForwarding COVID-19 information to family, verifying such information, and especially doing both, were associated with greater family wellbeing, being strongly mediated by the quality of family communication. Individuals should be encouraged to verify COVID-19-related information before forwarding it to family members amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 outbreak is no longer a pure epidemiological concern but a true digital infodemic. Numerous conflicting information and misinformation occupy online platforms and specifically social media. While we have lived in an infodemic environment for more than 2 years, we are more prone to feel overwhelmed by the information and suffer from long-term mental health problems. However, limited research has concentrated on the cause of these threats, particularly in terms of information processing and the context of infodemic.ObjectiveThis study proposed and tested moderated mediation pathways from two types of health information behaviors (social media engagement and interpersonal communication) on information overload and mental health symptoms—long-term stress.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional online survey between May and June of 2021 among the Malaysian public. The final sample size was 676 (N = 676). A conceptual model was built to guide the data analysis. We conducted structural equation modeling (SEM), moderation and mediation analyses to examine each direct pathway, moderating and mediating effects.ResultsAccording to the pathway analysis, we found that, during the infodemic period, engaging COVID-19 information on social media positively associated with information overload, but interpersonal communication was negatively related to it. As the proximal outcome, there was also a positive association between information overload and the final outcome, perceived stress. The moderation analysis only reported one significant interaction: risk perception weakened the association between social media engagement and information overload. A conditional indirect effect was demonstrated and the indirect associated between social media engagement and perceived stress mediated through information overload was further moderated by COVID-19 risk perception.ConclusionThis research offers new grounds for understanding health information behaviors and their consequences in the COVID-19 infodemic. We particularly highlighted the distinct functions of health information behaviors in causing information overload, as well as the importance of personal health belief in this process. Our proposed model contributes to the strategies of developing health messaging strategies that may be utilized by public health researchers and health educators in the future.

Features and relevant services of online social media have been attracting users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies have shown that college students tend to use social media more frequently than other groups. However, in being affected by social media overload, the social media use behaviors of many college students have been out of their control in terms of their capabilities or cognition. Based on the stressor–strain–outcome (SSO) model and the theory of compensatory internet use (TCIU), we developed a research model to study the causes of social media overload and its impact on college students’ academic performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 441 valid responses from college students through questionnaires in China are collected via purposive sampling and used in the data analysis. This study conducts PLS-SEM to analyze collected data, finding that boredom proneness is associated with overload (stress), which has a bearing on social media overload (strain) and the reduction in final performance (outcome). Through illustrating the psychological and behavioral conditions that hinder the academic performance of students, this study provides deeper insights into students’ uncontrollable use of social media. Moreover, with respect to the identified antecedents, this study aims to find solutions to mitigate the impact of social media overload resulting from boredom proneness on the academic performance of college students.

During crises and uncertain situations such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social media plays a key function because it allows people to seek and share news, as well as personal views and ideas with each other in real time globally. Past research has highlighted the implications of social media during disease outbreaks; nevertheless, this study refers to the possible negative effects of social media usage by individuals in the developing country during the COVID-19 epidemic lockdown. Specifically, this study investigates the COVID-19 fear using the survey data collected from a developing country. In total, 880 entries were used to analyze the COVID-19 fear using the AMOS software. Findings indicated that information-seeking and sharing behavior of individuals on social media has a significant impact on perceived COVID-19 information overload. Perceived COVID-19 information overload has a positive impact on COVID-19 fear. In addition, fake news related to COVID-19 strengthens the relationship between perceived COVID-19 information overload and COVID-19 fear. The implication and limitations of the study are also discussed in the final section of the study.

Introduction: The phenomenon of information overload experienced by the Indonesian people has caused many problems ranging from a decrease in the level of public awareness in understanding the validity and accuracy of information sources to changes in public information behavior. One of the problems in the flood of information is the increase of publications both scientific and popular which are the daily consumption of society which is very relevant to the librarian in the current situation and in the future. Methodology: This research was conducted qualitatively by collecting data from literatures that relevant to the research theme. The collected data was then identified to find patterns that match the research objectives, namely to find out the competence of librarians that is relevant for the industrial era 4.0. Discussion: The results show librarians need to have strategies in developing new ways to help people direct and focus their search for finding documents or information that are accurate and valid. Conclusion: It is known that the information overload phenomenon is one of the hallmarks of this industrial 4.0 era so that it requires the development of librarian competencies in maintaining their contribution and existence in the information society.

The advancement of technology paved the way for significant improvements in higher education institutions (HEIs) as much as it was associated with sizable pressures for individuals, implied by the challenging task of managing enormous volume of information from digital communication channels. This research is addressing two main objectives. First, explore the extent of Information and Communication Overload (ICO) that accompanied the digital transformation in Kuwaiti HEIs and accelerated amidst the Covid19 pandemic. Second, assess the conditions that are/could be used in those organizations to mitigate ICO and any of its adverse effects.

The major objective of this research is to test if two types of information overload are different: Information overload from searching for the information someone needs to search, and information overload from following all the information someone needs to follow. These two types of information overload may be labelled information search overload and information follow overload, corresponding to the concepts of information search and information follow. Using the data of a survey from a sample of about 1600 respondents across 50 states in the United States, the research identified 2 items corresponding to information search overload and information follow overload, and ran analyses including correlation and logistic regression with the 2 items separately as the dependent variables, and with some other items about consumers’ activities involving information as independent variables. Results of the various analyses suggest that information search overload and information follow overload are different, especially in terms of how they associate with different variables of consumer activities involving information, therefore indicate as a preliminary research that we may separate the two types of information overload in our future research.

Resumo Neste trabalho analisamos uma empresa de mediação imobiliária, procurando situar a sua atividade nas cinco forças competitivas de Porter. Procedemos ao seu enquadramento sintético, histórico e sócio-económico, e à descrição sumária do setor de atividade onde a empresa atua. Descrevemos alguns instrumentos que permitem identificar as necessidades de informação da empresa na atividade desenvolvida, assim como o papel fundamental da informação como fomentadora de vantagens competitivas. Descrevemos a informação como fator de importância estratégica para qualquer organização e como recurso cuja gestão influencia o bom desempenho das organizações. A gestão de informação inserida na estratégia empresarial revela ser um fator chave na obtenção de vantagens competitivas para a organização. Salientamos a importância do envolvimento da gestão ao mais alto nível de forma a possibilitar o efetivo envolvimento de toda a organização. Para desempenhar convenientemente a sua função, o gestor de informação deve ter à sua disposição toda a informação interna relevante, pois só conhecendo de forma aprofundada a organização poderá encontrar as melhores soluções de informação. Para concluir, algumas chamadas de atenção para os elementos a considerar na elaboração da estratégia de informação a implementar.

With the rapid development of the internet, how to mine and analyze massive network information has become a recognized hot and difficult problem. Among them, the recommendation system can provide users with accurate and fast business (commodities, projects, services, etc.) information, which is the common interest and research hotspot of industry and academia in recent years. A recommendation system can help users to solve the problem of information overload when there is no clear demand or a large amount of information. However, at present, the types of data are diverse and the application scenarios are extensive. When faced with this situation, the recommendation system also encounters challenges such as cold start and sparse matrix. Deep learning is an important research field and the most important branch of machine learning. In recent years, deep learning has developed rapidly. Researchers have made great breakthroughs and achievements in speech recognition, image processing, natural language processing and other fields by using deep learning. At present, deep learning has also been favored by a large number of researchers in the field of recommendation and has become a new direction. Incorporating deep learning technology into the recommendation method can effectively solve the problems of cold start and sparse matrix in traditional recommendation systems, and improve the performance and recommendation accuracy of the recommendation system. 河北科技大学学报 2020年 第1期 周万珍，等:推荐系统研究综述 This paper mainly summarizes the application of traditional recommendation methods and the application of neural network in current deep learning technology in recommendation methods, among which the traditional recommendation methods can be divided into the following three categories: 1) Content-based recommendation methods is mainly based on the feature information between the user and the project. The connection between users will not affect the recommendation result, so there is no problem of cold start and sparse matrix, but the content-based recommendation results are low in novelty and face the problem of feature extraction. 2) The collaborative filtering recommendation method is the most widely used method that does not require information about users or items, but only makes accurate recommendations based on the user's interactions with items such as clicks, views, and ratings. Although this method is simple and effective, sparse matrix and cold start problems will occur. 3) The hybrid recommendation method combines the characteristics of the first two traditional recommendation methods and can achieve good recommendation effect. However, this method still faces some challenges and difficulties in processing multi-source heterogeneous auxiliary information such as text and images.Recommendation methods based on deep learning are mainly classified according to neural network categories, which are divided into the following four categories: Recommendation methods based on deep neural network (DNN); recommendation methods based on convolutional neural network (CNN); recommended methods based on cyclic neural network (RNN) and long and short term memory neural network (LSTM); and recommended methods based on graph neural network (GNN). Incorporating deep learning technology into the recommendation field, the constructed model has the following five advantages: it has strong representation ability, and can directly extract the characteristics of users and items from the content; with strong anti-noise ability, it can easily process data with noise; in deep learning, cyclic neural network can model dynamic or sequential data; it can learn user or project characteristics more accurately; and deep learning facilitates the unified processing of data and can process large-scale data. Applying deep learning technology to the recommendation field can effectively overcome the challenges faced by traditional recommendation methods and improve the recommendation effect.

Abstract Background Cognitively straining conditions such as disruptions, interruptions, and information overload are related to impaired task performance and diminished well-being at work. It is therefore essential that we reduce their harmful consequences to individual employees and organizations. Our intervention study implements practices for managing the cognitive strain typical to office work tasks and working conditions in offices. We will examine the effects of a cognitive ergonomics intervention on working conditions, workflow, well-being, and productivity. Methods/design The study is a stratified cluster randomized trial. The clusters are work units, for example, teams or offices. The four participating organizations entered a total of 36 clusters, and we invited all 1169 knowledge employees of these units to participate. We randomly allocated the clusters into an intervention group (cognitive ergonomics) or an active control group (recovery supporting). We invited an additional 471 participants to join a passive control group only for baseline and follow-up measurements, with no intervention. The study consists of a baseline survey and interviews and observations at the workplace, followed by an intervention. It starts with a workshop defining the specific actions for the intervention implementation stage, during which we send task reminder questionnaires to all employees to support behaviour change at the individual and team levels. The primary outcome measure is perceived frequency of cognitive strain from working conditions; the secondary outcome measures include subjective cognitive load, well-being, workflow/productivity, and cognitive stress symptoms. Process evaluation uses the quantitative and qualitative data obtained during the implementation and evaluation phases. The baseline measurements, intervention phase, and end-of-treatment measurements are now complete, and follow-up will continue until November 2019. Discussion There is a need to expand the research of cognitive strain, which poses a considerable risk to work performance and employee well-being in cognitively demanding tasks. Our study will provide new information about factors that contribute to such strain. Most importantly, the results will show which evidence-based cognitive ergonomic practices support work performance in knowledge work, and the project will provide concrete examples of how to improve at work. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03573674. Registered 29 June 2018.

In the modern society, Internet provides massive amounts of heterogeneous information, hence Information overload has become an ubiquitous issue. In this paper, we conduct a large scale quantitative study for articles dealing with (1) information overloading; (2) faceted search; and (3) filtering the data in three major databases, namely, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and IEEE Explore. These three databases have presented 172 articles, which can be classified into four categories. The first category contains review and survey papers related to information overload. The second category includes papers that concentrate on developing theoretical frameworks to reduce information overloading. The third category contains papers dealing with improving structure or architectural of software for filtering the huge data. The fourth category includes papers that provide criteria to evaluate filtering techniques. Finally, our contribution provides further understanding of information overload, and gives an important basis for future research. Moreover, we illustrate that the dynamic faceted filters are more efficient to reduce the information overload.

Background: The antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) report has guiding significance for physicians to prescribe antibiotics. This study aims to examine the effect of the AST report information complexity on physician’s intention to prescribe antibiotics based on the AST report, as well as the mediating role of information overload and attitude.Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted on 411 physicians in a general hospital in China in July 2021. Data were collected by a self-reported questionnaire. A serial multiple mediation model was tested to explore the sequential causality between the information complexity of the AST report, information overload, attitude, and behavior intention to prescribe antibiotics based on the AST report by using the SPSS macro PROCESS program.Results: Information complexity, information overload, attitude and behavior intention were significantly correlated (p < 0.01). Information complexity can not only have a direct positive impact on the intention to prescribe antibiotics based on the AST report (effect = 0.173; SE = 0.044; Boot95%CI: LL = 0.089, UL = 0.260), but also have an indirect impact on behavior intention through the independent mediating role of information overload (effect = 0.025; SE = 0.011; Boot 95%CI: LL = 0.008, UL = 0.050) and the independent mediating role of attitude (effect = 0.130; SE = 0.025; Boot 95%CI: LL = 0.086, UL = 0.180), while the chain of information overload and attitude played a masking effect between information complexity and behavior intention (effect = −0.013; SE = 0.004; Boot 95%CI: LL = −0.023, UL = −0.005).Conclusion: The increase in information complexity can encourage physicians to prescribe antibiotics based on the AST report, information overload and attitude can promote this effect. It is necessary to provide physicians with sufficient information to prescribe antibiotics without increasing the burden on them. At the same time, publicity and standardized training should be conducted for physicians to interpret the AST report better and faster.

One of the advantages of e-retailers is their capability to provide a large amount of information to consumers. However, when the amount of information exceeds consumers’ information processing capacities, it will lead to worse decision quality and experience, causing the information overload effect. In this study, the event-related potentials (ERPs) were applied to examine the hidden neural mechanism of the impact of information overload on consumers’ decision processes. Behavioral data showed that people would spend more time making decisions when faced with information overload. Neurophysiologically, consumers would invest less attentional resources in the high amount of information (HAI) condition than those in the low amount of information (LAI) condition and lead to less positive P2 amplitudes. The HAI condition would increase decision difficulty than would the LAI condition and result in smaller P3 amplitudes. In addition, an increased late positive component (LPC) was observed for the HAI condition in contrast to the LAI condition, indicating that consumers were more inclined to have decision process regret when consumers were overloaded. We further investigated the dynamic information processing when consumers got over information overload by mining the brain’s time-varying networks. The results revealed that during the decision process and the neural response stage, the central area controlled other brain regions’ activities for the HAI condition, suggesting that people may still consider and compare other important information after the decision process when faced with information overload. In general, this study may provide neural evidence of how information overload affects consumers’ decision processes and ultimately damages decision quality.

Social media applications have increasingly become a valuable platform for personal communication and knowledge sharing in working life. Several researchers have considered the direct role of social media usage in influencing job performance. However, limited studies explore how social media use may impact employees’ job performance, especially in innovativeness. Moreover, inconsistencies in the findings exist in the literature regarding whether social media improves employees’ job performance or causes harm. By adapting the stressor–strain–outcome (SSO) model, the present study investigates how WhatsApp use at work can predict social media overloads that might induce technostress and, subsequently, affect employees’ innovative job performance. Thus, 206 Malaysian employees from the government and private sectors participated in this study and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that social media, predominantly WhatsApp, used at work has a mild but statistically significant influence on information overload, communication overload, and social overload. In addition, information overload and communication overload positively influence technostress, except for social overload. Subsequently, technostress does not have an impact on innovative job performance. This study provides theoretical and practical implications for extending the knowledge and mitigating plans and efforts to improve employees’ performance at work. Therefore, this study helps mitigate the dearth of research pertaining to the roles of social media use at work on employees’ innovative job performance.

Introduction: Every outbreak of an epidemic or pandemic disease is accompanied by the tsunami of information, which is also known as the infodemic. Infodemic makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it, and causes social panic about health, widens the gaps between races and regions, and even brings the social chaos all over the world. While most researchers and related parties made efforts to control the inaccurate information spreading online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the infodemic influence caused by the overload of accurate information were almost or completely ignored, and this will hinder the control of infodemic in future public health crises. This study aims to explore the infodemic vs. pandemic influence on people's psychological anxiety across different media sources in the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China.Methods: A cross-sectional study using online survey method was conducted by a data-collection service provider in April 2020. A total of 1,117 valid samples were finally collected from 5,203 randomly invited members via webpages and WeChat. The sample distribution covered the 30 provincial administrative divisions of mainland China.Results: Hierarchical regression analysis for the potential pandemic sources and infodemic sources of psychological anxiety showed that the infodemic factors of attention to the coronavirus information (β = 0.154, p < 0.001) and commercial media exposure (β = 0.147, p < 0.001) is positively related to the level of anxiety. Statistics indicated that influence of the infodemic factors is over and above that of the pandemic factors (ΔR2 = 0.054, F = 14.199, and p < 0.001). Mediation analysis showed that information overload (B = 0.155, Boot SE = 0.022, and 95% Boot CI [0.112, 0.198]) mediates the link between attention to coronavirus information and anxiety; both information overload (B = 0.035, Boot SE = 0.014, and 95% Boot CI [0.009, 0.062]) and media vicarious traumatization (B = 0.106, Boot SE = 0.017, and 95% Boot CI [0.072, 0.140]) mediate the link between commercial media exposure and anxiety.Conclusion: This study suggested that the influence of infodemic with mixed accurate and inaccurate information on public anxiety does exist, which could possibly go beyond that of the pandemic. Information overload and vicarious traumatization explain how infodemic may be associated to public anxiety. Finally, commercial media could be a major source of infodemic in the Chinese media context. Implications for the related parties were discussed.