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Using a transnational lens, this narrative study examines the online information literacies of six Chinese international graduate students in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data of the study were collected from phenomenological interviewing, weekly information-seeking dairies, and focus group discussions. This study illuminates Chinese international students' transnational information literacies in navigating the pandemic online information environment. These students stayed attuned with the pandemic conditions and relevant regulations in order to inform their important decision-making concerning health, safety, visa issues, and international travel. The study also highlights participants' cultural ways of information seeking and pragmatic approaches to information credibility assessment. Results from the study show the importance of understanding and empowering the information literacy of international students, especially during a global health emergency.

This study examines four learner engagement dimensions (behavioural, cognitive, emotional and social) in pedagogical task performance and provides insights into the effects of two task types (information-seeking and direction-giving) and topic familiarity on learner engagement in a semester-long English course. A total of 28 foreign language learners engaged in eight interactive tasks, and all played the roles of both information-receiver and information-provider alternately under familiar and unfamiliar conditions. Seven measures of engagement and an open-ended questionnaire were employed to understand the learners' engagement in the tasks and their emotional responses to them. The results revealed that the information-providers produced more words and also spent more time on information-seeking tasks wherein they would exchange information than on direction-giving ones that required them to ask for and provide instructions or directions. This was the case for topics they were unfamiliar with; however, when they were faced with familiar topics, they produced significantly more words, spent more time, and spoke more elaboratively in direction-giving tasks. The information-seeking tasks elicited positive emotions, but the direction-giving tasks yielded mixed feelings, attaching positive emotions to familiar tasks but negative ones to unfamiliar tasks. The pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.

The global pandemic and recent shift to online learning has heightened the need to better understand how to support international students, especially across online and virtual platforms. However, a review of literature reveals a paucity of studies dedicated to international student use of internet-based platforms and services for seeking information and sharing experiences. One avenue for further research is Social Question & Answer Communities (SQACs), which are vast conduits of shared experiences and knowledge connecting hundreds of thousands of pre-application and pre-arrival students. In this study, content analysis was utilized to qualitatively observe the contents of the "Overseas Studies in The United States" section of Zhihu, and quantitatively count their features and characteristics. The study found that 58% of the questions and answers were devoted to Academic issues such as testing, admissions, learning and research, with another 13.0% on Crime, Law and Safety, and the remaining 29% of the questions were associated to a diverse array of topics associated with living and working in American society. The most popular answers were made up of mainly 4 main types: Sharing One's Experience (32.0%), Advice (26.0%), Opinion (22.0%) and Critique (15.0%). Content analysis of three main answer features, namely the use of Imagery, Digital Resources, and Social feature, indicated that the Advice and Critique answer types contain the richest variety of features and that question context, textual styles and use of digital resources are important factors for understanding the answer popularity in SQACs.

Despite the popularity of mobile and digital technologies, physical collections still have high user demand in academic libraries and grow continuously. With renovation projects providing more studying and collaboration space, efforts to relocate materials to storage facilities are necessary for major libraries. With the change in student information needs and preferences, it is essential to reinvestigate their behavior and preferences for the use of physical resources and remote storage items. An online survey was conducted in a major international comprehensive university in Hong Kong, China, to explore these questions. Statistical tests were also performed to compare the difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as those with versus those without experience requesting items from storage.

Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities have historically been at high risk for social exclusion and other vulnerabilities. The Western world has shifted away from institutionally-based services and toward community-based services that allow for greater social inclusion as well as for meeting individual developmental needs, and China is beginning the process of exploring how to make this shift. In 2014 and 2015, a situation analysis examining the lived experiences of parents of children with disabilities in Zhengzhou, Henan, China, was undertaken. Perceptions of strengths, needs, opportunities, and barriers experienced by parents of children in intact families (i.e. families where children with disabilities remain in their birth families) were explored by means of parent interviews and focus groups. Families identify experiences of stigma and acceptance related to traditional and alternative social constructions of intellectual and developmental disabilities, and how they use social networks and information-sharing to help develop community-based services.

Sexual health is crucial to the overall health and well-being of international students; however, few studies about them have evaluated their health literacy and knowledge about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) prevention. This study investigated Chinese International Students' (CIS) health literacy about STIs, focusing on their use of information online. A culturally-tailored 12-item STIs prevention survey was developed for this study, and an internet search was conducted by eight CIS. Overall, participants found correct information for the STI items in 51% of the cases (n=96). A Wilcoxon test suggested that CISs who were sexually active had lower health literacy skills than those who were not (p=0.02), and there were no significant associations between health literacy levels, acculturation, and length of stay in the United States. While limited in scope, the result from this study suggests the need for further research as well as need for education in health literacy in order to counter threats to well-being among sexually-active CISs.

Introduction: Visually impaired people in China are socially excluded in multiple ways, such as employment, social status and information access. The purpose of this study is to examine their information needs and information seeking behaviour. Method: Two ways of data collection were employed: a telephone survey with a questionnaire in the first round; fieldwork and face-to-face interviews with a semi-structured topic guide in the second round. Analysis: Statistical analysis and qualitative content analysis were used. Chatman's small world theory was applied. Analysis: The information needs of the visually impaired were focusing on real life problems. Broadcast media, people and networked source satisfied most of their needs. The visually impaired tended to have a small and unconnected social network. Their own experience, friends, and co-workers were the primary resources they would depend on in term of seeking job opportunities, emotional support and other social support. Situation relevance, helpfulness and accessibility were used as criteria to judge the value of information and information sources. Conclusion: A small world life affects the information behaviour of the visually impaired and constructs meaning in it. New information and communications technology will help to break the small world for the younger generation.

China has a conservative sex culture and does not include contraception as part of its sex education curriculum. As a result, young people tend to search for sex information online. How college students seek contraception information, by what means, and the factors affecting their information seeking are poorly understood. To better understand these issues, this study compares the Planned Risk Information-Seeking Model (PRISM) with an expanded model that incorporates device preference and differentiates between perceived severity and vulnerability. The expanded model was found to fit and explain the data better than PRISM. Results indicate that perceived vulnerability to unwanted pregnancy is related to information seeking while perceived severity is not. While perceived severity substantially influenced the affective response to unwanted pregnancy, the affective response was not related to information-seeking behaviour. Channel belief on the other hand proved to be a significant predictor of seeking contraception information online. Our findings also suggest that Chinese college students prefer using smartphones to seeking contraceptive information online. We discuss the implications of using this for providing online sex education on demand to young people.

Understanding the ways that international students seek information and help in the host country is essential for improving academic, social, cultural, and welfare support for this student cohort. However, there is a dearth of literature that documents how international students in the vocational education and training (VET) sector do so. This paper aims to fill this gap. Based on in-depth interviews with 30 Chinese international students undertaking diploma and associate degree programs in Australia, this research shows that the ways in which Chinese international students seek help prior to their departure and after their arrival at the host country, largely depends on the nature of the issues they confront. The data also reveals that students' use of education agents is not limited to the pre-departure stage, as is indicated in the existing literature, but throughout their journey in the host country. Notably, the role of agents has become increasingly important in Chinese international students' decision-making processes during their transition from diploma to associate degree and higher education programs.

The current study investigated whether children understand the conditions under which another agent would hold uncertain knowledge resulting from inferential processes and, more importantly, whether children can make causal inferences about the relationship between the certainty of an agent's epistemic states and consequent behavioral strategies. We developed a game in which 3 blocks (2 of identical color) were hidden in 3 boxes. After the content of the 1st box was revealed, the player was asked to choose between 2 strategies: either make an immediate guess or look in the 2nd box before guessing the color of the block in the 3rd box. We varied the hiding sequence of the 3 blocks to create 2 conditions with differing degrees of certainty. Children aged 5 to 7 watched another agent playing the game and reasoned about the individual's epistemic states and behaviors. Not until 6 years of age did children display stable competence in using the certainty of another agent's knowledge to predict the agent's subsequent behaviors. Moreover, the ability to reason from information-seeking behaviors to uncertain epistemic states lagged until 7 years old. Our findings suggest that reasoning between epistemic states and information-seeking behavior undergoes significant developmental changes between ages 5 and 7.

To evaluate the health information literacy (HIL) level and influencing factors among digital immigrants in rural China and to investigate their obstacles of online health information seeking. Cross-sectional study. Digital immigrants aged 45 to 65 in rural China. Self-assessment questionnaires and a semi-structured interview were developed to measure HIL among 1,132 participants. Nonparametric tests and multiple linear regression were employed to explain the influencing factors. The HIL level of digital immigrants is low. Age, education level, and experience of Internet use impacted their HIL. Digital immigrants primarily accessed the Internet via mobile terminals, but their poor information skills, their lack of HIL education, and the low readability of online health information are major barriers of online health information seeking. Although respondents recognized the positive effects of health-related information on health promotion, their abilities to seek, evaluate, and apply health information were weak. The government should incorporate HIL into the national health literacy promotion program and strengthen legislative supervision of online health information.

This study investigated question acquisition in Cantonese-speaking young children with a focus on the development of interrogative forms and functions. Data from a child Cantonese corpus (492 children aged 36, 48 and 60 months) were analysed. The main results were that: (1) all the interrogative forms and functions were produced by the three age groups and no age difference was found; (2) significant gender differences in favour of females were found; and (3) a significant form-function preference was obtained, with "wh"- and multiple questions being primarily used to seek information, and "yes/no" and rising tone/echo questions being largely used to request action.

Social networking sites have seen tremendous growth and are widely used around the world. Nevertheless, the use of social networking sites in educational contexts is an under explored area. This paper uses a qualitative methodology, autoethnography, to investigate how social networking sites, specifically Facebook[TM], can help first semester doctoral students adapt to a Ph.D. program and a new national culture. Each week during the semester, a Ph.D. Student Tip and a Cultural Tip was posted. Students would then post related discussions, observations, and/or questions. At the conclusion of the semester the doctoral students shared their thoughts about participating in the Facebook[TM] group through autobiographical narratives. A technique called open coding was used to analyze the narratives. Our findings suggest three emergent themes. Social networking sites can aid adaptation through: 1) facilitating knowledge exchange, 2) alleviating apprehension, and 3) enabling socialization and building community. The data showed that the Facebook[TM] discussions aided in various types of knowledge exchange, providing a conceptual map that facilitated greater adaptation. Next, the interactions appeared to help minimize trepidation related to embarking on a new program of study and adjusting to a new national culture. Third, the Facebook[TM] group was useful fostering socialization and community among the students. We make the following recommendations for professors when implementing SNS (Social Network Site) groups: 1) establish a Facebook[TM] group with a course-related identity, 2) be sensitive to security and privacy issues, 3) provide tips to "seed" various types of knowledge exchange, 4) encourage participation, and 5) assess and adjust. While our research is exploratory in nature, we believe it provides a foundation for future research in this important and rapidly expanding area of SNS usage. (Contains 2 tables.)

Objective: University-based peer health education is a recent development in China. The authors evaluated a newly implemented program in the Guangdong province. Participants and Methods: In September 2006, the authors conducted a cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaires on 30 peer educators and 247 students. Results: All peer educators and the majority of student respondents positively evaluated the program. Although students preferred to seek health information online, approximately one-quarter of the student respondents would contact peer educators. Third-year students were more than twice as likely (29.1%) to contact peer educators than were fourth-year students (13.1%). The peer educators perceived diet, physical activity, safer sex, and mental health as the most relevant student health topics. Peer educators cited acquiring factual information and medical skills, rather than personal development, as the most important things learned from the program. Conclusions: Despite some promising results, Western-based peer education models may require cultural adaptation for greater effectiveness in China.

This article examines individuals in a community as defined by their membership in an organization. In such a setting, individuals often make use of their social contacts to make sense of events in the organization. Yet, the organizational justice literature is generally silent on how these contacts shape information seeking, volunteering, and acceptance. Using a social network perspective, we found that expressive ties were positively related to information seeking, volunteering, and acceptance for both procedural and interactional justice issues. Instrumental ties were related to all dependent variables for procedural justice issues but only related to information seeking for interactional justice issues. The role of ties and networks in information flow is discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

While scientific knowledge acquisition is a vital premise for citizens' self-protection against COVID-19, the impact of anti-intellectualism on scientific information seeking has yet to be fully examined. Based on a cross-sectional survey, this study investigated the association of distrust and stigmatization forms of antiintellectualism (i.e. AID vs. AIS) with the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) in predicting Chinese netizens' information seeking about SARS-CoV-2 variants. The statistical results show that AIS is positively associated with seeking-related subjective norms and perceived control, indicating that it may boost a sense of self-empowerment. However, AIS is negatively related to affective risk response and the knowledge-sufficiency threshold, suggesting its possible link to overconfidence and trust in government. AID was found to be negatively associated with seeking-related attitudes and perceived control. Because AIS is far more popular than AID among respondents, its contradictory health implications should be brought into the vision of health communicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To understand the attitudes and health behaviors of middle-aged and older adults in China after receiving elevated results of tumor markers (TMs) test in the annual health examinations (AHEs) and explore the influencing factors. Methods: A three-section online questionnaire survey was conducted from March 1 to April 30, 2020 in Hangzhou, China, to people who were aged 45 and older and had at least one elevated result of TMs test. Clinical information was collected from the online survey and medical records. Descriptive statistics were carried out followed by regression analyses. Results: Of 380 participants, 76.1% were unwilling to quit the TMs test in AHEs, whereas 75.3% would take the doctor’s advice and quit unnecessary TMs test; 67.4% felt stressed about their TMs. Among participants with elevated TMs, 76.8% changed lifestyle to keep healthy, 74.2% sought health information, 58.9% requested a TMs retest, and 50.3% did further tests to confirm a diagnosis. Family history of cancer was associated with lifestyle changing; education level, area of residence and health insurance were associated with health information seeking; comorbidity were associated with retests and sequential confirming tests. Conclusion: The application of the TMs test in AHEs among Chinese people may lead to positive and negative behavioral consequences and psychological distress. Doctors have a significant impact on patients’ health behaviors. Accurate indications and adequate communication with patients before and after the TMs test are in great need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data from mainland China, this study incorporates uncertainty, information seeking, and social support into the goal disruption theoretical model to examine the indirect influence of goal disruption on psychological disequilibrium through uncertainty and the moderating roles of information seeking and social support in this relationship. The results demonstrate that goal disruption causes uncertainty and then leads to psychological disequilibrium. Information seeking can reduce uncertainty and social support can attenuate psychological disequilibrium as well. Limitations and further directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study systematically examined people's protective behaviors against COVID-19 in China, and particular attention was given to people's perceived threat and information-processing strategies. This study constructed a conceptual model and used structural equation modeling to explore this issue, and a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data involving 4,605 participants during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The results showed that people's initial information acquisition played an essential role in their behavioral responses; acquiring more initial information about COVID-19 would make them perceive a higher threat and present a higher demand for information, then making them more likely to seek and process information, and subsequently motivating their protective behaviors. In addition to increasing people's information needs, the perceived threat could also strengthen the analytical assessment and affect protective behavior positively but failed to predict the experiential assessment. Driven by information need, information seeking significantly influenced protective behavior; it also facilitated analytical assessment and decreased experiential assessment, thus predicting people's protective behaviors. Protective behaviors were spurred by analytical assessment but negatively influenced by the experiential assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lockdown that was deployed in Wuhan, China to combat the COVID-19 pandemic curbed the infection but also created great information challenges for people in social isolation. This resulted in surge in online health information seeking (OHIS) behaviors of the patients and their families. While the Internet has been widely used by Chinese public to access and search health information, there is relatively little research in the context of pandemic outbreaks, especially at the onset of a strong lockdown while many people were panicking. From a total of 10 908 '#COVID-19 Patient Seeking Help' posts on Weibo in a period of 20 days when the lockdown policy was first initiated, we identified 1496 unique patients living in or with family in Wuhan, China. Using textual analysis, we explored OHIS behaviors at the onset of the pandemic. Many faced increased difficulties accessing offline healthcare services and such turned to social media for help and information. In particular, the findings highlight the following themes: ' OHIS for medical treatment ', ' OHIS to manage self-quarantine ', ' OHIS for tangible support ' and ' OHIS to navigate information discrepancy '. Overall, our findings provide important insights into health information seeking behaviors and the role of social media during a pandemic. Our findings also highlight the importance of considering people's information need and challenges created due to the lockdown policies in the future pandemic communication and preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between cognitive and affective factors and people's information-seeking and -avoiding behaviours in acute risks with a 1,946-sample online survey conducted in February 2020, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that perceived information insufficiency correlates negatively with information-seeking behaviour and there was an inverted U-shaped relationship between information insufficiency and avoidance behaviour. As for the risk-related cognitive factors, information seeking increases as perceived severity of risks rises, while information avoiding increases as perceived susceptibility rises. Perceived response efficacy positively correlates with information-seeking and negatively with information-avoidance behaviours. Preliminary results also indicated that different affective factors relate to information-seeking and avoidance behaviours differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs the risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model to examine social cognitive variables that motivate active information seeking and systematic processing. The research context is the recent childhood vaccine scandals in China. As a novel contribution to the RISP literature, a significant interaction between relevant channel beliefs and perceived information gathering capacity is unveiled. This result suggests that both information quality and accessibility to information channels influence information seeking, which is an important finding with theoretical and practical implications for other science communication issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding individual differences in communication behaviors is crucial to achieve strategical communication during a public health crisis. To advance this knowledge, the current study explored how Chinese publics with different levels of functional, communicative, and critical health literacy sought and shared information in different forms (i.e. traditional media, social media, and offline word-of-mouth communication) and from different sources (i.e. government, news agencies, health professionals, the company, and other publics) during the Quanjian crisis, a public health crisis happened in China. Findings suggest that higher functional and critical health literacy were associated with higher frequency of seeking and sharing information of almost all forms and sources. However, communicative health literacy was not associated with seeking and sharing information of most forms and sources. The study contributes to crisis communication literature and practice by suggesting health literacy, as an individual factor, can be used to identify influential publics in crisis information transmission. The study also adds to health literacy literature by suggesting the need to develop context-specific operationalizations of communicative health literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) to estimate the public's information seeking and avoidance intentions during the COVID-19 outbreak based on an online sample of 1031 Chinese adults and provides support for the applicability of PRISM framework in the situation of a novel high-level risk. The results indicate that information seeking is primarily directed by informational subjective norms (ISN) and perceived seeking control (PSC), while the main predictors of information avoidance include ISN and attitude toward seeking. Because ISN are the strongest predictor of both information seeking and avoidance, the way the public copes with COVID-19 information may be strongly affected by individuals' social environment. Furthermore, a significant relationship between risk perception and affective risk response is identified. Our results also indicate that people who perceive greater knowledge of COVID-19 are more likely to report greater knowledge insufficiency, which results in less information avoidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how perceived risk influences epidemic information seeking behaviour, which in turn helps us understand public information seeking generally. To this end, the effects of perceived risk, information needs and negative emotions on public epidemic information seeking were examined using a structural equation model (SEM) based on data collected via an online survey (N = 407) covering two regions in China, Guangdong and Hubei, and based on the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model (RISP). The results show that the epidemic risk perceived by citizens impacts information seeking based on the mediating effects of information needs and negative emotions. Furthermore, perceived risk has positive effects on information needs and negative emotions in that higher levels of information needs and stronger negative emotions positively facilitate the seeking of epidemic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have examined the risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model across a range of contexts. However, few studies have examined media use as a predictor variable in the model or situations in which media outlets could provide people with different information on the same topic. This article examines the relationship between traditional and nontraditional Internet-based media in China and important variables (i.e., risk perceptions and emotions) related to the RISP model. With two rounds of crosssectional survey data, our results show that traditional sources are associated with lower concern, ultimately translating into decreased negative emotions and lower intentions to seek out information, whereas the results show the opposite pattern for nontraditional online communication. Our findings extend the RISP model by connecting media use to information seeking, showing that the use of different media outlets could lead to different information-seeking tendencies through important intervening variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the influence of the type (positive vs. negative) and source (patients' online community vs. general online community) of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) on consumers' health care-seeking decisions. Participants in this 2 × 2 between-subjects study comprised 160 patients who had sought medical advice at a large Tier 3, Class A hospital in China in 2019. The results show that negative (vs. positive) eWOM had a greater influence on consumers' health care-seeking decisions, with similar results for the patients' (vs. general) online community. In addition, positive eWOM from the patients' (vs. general) online community had a greater influence on participants' health care-seeking decisions but the result was not significant for negative eWOM. Credibility of eWOM also mediated the relationship between eWOM and health care-seeking decision. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated the use of information communication technology (ICT) to seek antiretroviral therapy (ART)-related knowledge among people living with HIV (PLHIV) taking antiretroviral treatment in Guangxi, China. A total 1902 participants who undertook ART and had used ICT were recruited from 12 sites with the highest cumulative HIV incidence. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data on the participants' sociodemographic characteristics, clinical outcomes, infections in the family and comorbidity, access to healthcare resources, ICT using behavior in HIV management, and ART-related knowledge. The results showed that 15% of the participants had searched HIV-related information online, fewer participants had contacted healthcare providers via computer (1.6%) or text messaging (11.9%), and only 7.7% of the participants had contacted other PLHIV using ICT. Education had a positive impact on the knowledge level of all three categories of ART-related knowledge. Participants with better medication and mechanisms knowledge were more likely to search HIV-related information online and less likely to contact healthcare providers using text messages. Findings of this study suggested that ICT was used as an effective approach to acquire some type of ART-related knowledge. ICT was underutilized in health communication among the PLHIV in this study due to low education level and insufficient eHealth literacy. Future intervention programs should address the customization of the communication tools and focus on improving the education level and eHealth literacy of the PLHIV to better promote ICT as an efficient platform for ART-related knowledge seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is a major environmental problem in China and it poses serious risks to public health. Based on the social amplification of risk framework (SARF), this study examines how media, in particular, an impactful environmental documentary titled Under the Dome, influenced Chinese citizens' risk perception about air pollution. Survey results showed that exposure to the documentary amplified risk perception and risk perception was significantly related to viewers' information seeking behaviors, policy support, and individual mitigation action about this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the protective action decision model and the heuristic-systematic model, this study investigated the determinants of parents' response to the 2016 vaccine crisis in Shandong Province, China. A survey was conducted from Anhui Province (N = 456). The findings showed that both perceived vaccine knowledge and perceptions of risk from the vaccine crisis were vital in predicting parents' information insufficiency (the perceived discrepancy between actual and desired levels of vaccine knowledge), information seeking, information processing (where parents make a judgement about information validity), and their intentions towards childhood vaccination. In addition, information insufficiency and information seeking also significantly facilitated parents' information processing. When parents described processing information systematically, they were more likely to accept childhood vaccination. On the other hand, seeking more information about the crisis did not influence reported childhood vaccination practices. Implications and suggestions for health-related crisis communication research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product-harm crises usually lead to product recalls, which would attract extensive public concern on the issue of product defects, but it is not yet clear how product recalls influence customers' risk perceptions and behavior responses. In this study, guided by the protective action decision model (PADM) and the heuristic-systematic model (HSM), and through an empirical study involving 467 participants drawn from the customers of Volkswagen, a conceptual model of information flow was developed, which starts from individuals' product experience, strengthening or weakening through information seeking and processing, then directly acts on the risk perception, and ultimately influences protective actions. By using structural equation modeling to test the model, and the results shown that customers' information need, seeking, and processing are significantly related to risk perception, their behavioral intentions (loyalty or boycott) are also significantly influenced by risk perception and product experience. Next, multiple-group analysis is employed to compare the distinctions between two groups of customers (those whose cars belong to the recall, and those not belonging to the recall). Unexpectedly, the role of information processing in the recall group is weaker than that in the not recalled group. At last, theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for further research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data from a Qualtrics panel, this study examines Chinese citizens' motivations for information seeking about air pollution. Results from structural equation modelling indicate that information insufficiency, negative affect, attitudes toward seeking, and perceived information gathering capacity are positively related to information seeking. Informational subjective norms, however, were not significantly related to information seeking. Further, participants with more knowledge and higher risk perception were more likely to desire more information about air pollution. These results suggest that communication campaigns should highlight individuals' personal risks and self-efficacy to encourage greater information seeking about air pollution among Chinese citizens. Emotional appeal may serve as an effective strategy as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health is a stigmatized issue in many parts of the world. We conducted a survey of Chinese adults (n = 661) to examine predictors of intentions to seek information related to mental health. Attitudes and subjective norms positively influenced intentions to seek mental health information, with subjective norms being a stronger predictor. Cultural identity was negatively associated with intentions to seek mental health information, with participants who held a stronger cultural identity being less likely to seek information related to mental health. Media use was positively associated with intentions to seek information. This research highlights that cultural identity may influence mental health information seeking, and that health campaigns could focus more on influencing subjective norms, thereby changing the seeking intention of Chinese adults regarding mental health information. Additionally, practitioners may want to explore possible ways of providing health information to people with strong cultural identity, as they may be less likely to seek out information on their own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is a critical environmental problem that has spurred great public concern in China. This study examines how issue salience, environmental value, risk perception, and affective response influence information seeking, objective knowledge, and policy support related to this issue. The recent release of a controversial environmental documentary on Chinese social media, Under the Dome, also prompted us to explore the impact of exposure to this documentary on Chinese social media users’ information seeking and policy support related to air pollution. Results showed that risk perception and negative affect influenced information seeking and policy support both directly and indirectly. Also, exposure to the documentary moderated the effects of key variables on information seeking and policy support. However, contrary to our expectations, no significant relationship was found between information seeking and objective knowledge. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting the Orientation–Stimuli–Reasoning–Orientation–Response (O–S–R–O–R) model of political communication effects, this study examines the mediating roles of online/offline political discussion and political trust on the relationship between social media information seeking and online/offline political participation in China and Hong Kong. Findings through structural equation modeling showed that the relationship between information seeking and online participation was mediated by online discussion for both samples. Moreover, the relationship between information seeking and offline participation was mediated by offline discussion, and offline discussion mediated the relationship between information seeking and online participation. Political trust did not mediate any of the relationships in China and Hong Kong and all significant paths involving political trust were negative. Implications of the findings for youth political participation in China and Hong Kong are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We applied structural equation modeling to examine how the Risk Information Seeking and Processing (RISP) model predicts information-seeking intentions in the United States and China. The context for this comparison was climate change. Results indicate that in the Chinese sample, seeking intentions were less influenced by environmental attitudes, risk perceptions, negative affect, information insufficiency, and behavioral beliefs. Across the two samples, subjective norms had similar impacts on seeking intentions. Overall, the model has cross-cultural validity and applicability in accounting for risk communication behaviors in these two nations. Based on prior support for this model outside of the context of climate change, the model is well poised to serve as a framework for a variety of cross-cultural risk information–seeking contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

International students may experience cultural, linguistic, and educational barriers when using US university libraries, thereby disadvantaging their academic success. University libraries may compound the disadvantage if they are not attuned to international students' information behavior. This study explores the influences of Chinese engineering graduate students' English proficiency and previous library experiences on their understanding and use of American academic libraries. It is suggested that American university libraries can promote the academic success of Chinese engineering graduate students by providing customized library services to match their unique information behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Based on the perspective of interactionist, we examine information seeking as a mediator between newcomer''s proactive personality and adjustment. Data were collected from five-star hotels of south China. The results reveal that information seeking partially mediated the relationship between proactive personality, role clarity and social integration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigates disaster preparation, and information seeking patterns of Wenchuan (Sichuan) residents in the aftermath of the 2008 earthquake, based on survey responses from Wenchuan earthquake survivors. Results indicate that residents of the region were not prepared for the natural disaster. Age related difference did emerge in information seeking behaviors. Findings are discussed and recommendations for communication practitioners are offered with regards to message design and placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study theoretically and empirically identifies a typology of Chinese publics' normative expectations of crisis outcomes. • The typology includes public expectations of organizational accommodation, punishment of the organization, and government intervention. • Information seeking and online expression mediate the relationships between crisis blame and the three types of public expectations. • Active information seekers expect more regarding organizational accommodation and government intervention as crisis blame increases. • Active expressers expect stronger punishments of the organization and less government intervention as crisis blame increases. This study theoretically and empirically identifies a new typology of Chinese publics' normative expectations of crisis outcomes. It classifies the concept into three culturally relevant dimensions—public expectations of (a) organizational accommodative responses (i.e., how an in-crisis organization should respond), (b) punishment of the organization (i.e., how publics collectively should respond), and (c) government intervention (i.e., how government should respond) for desirable crisis outcomes. Using an online survey of the Beijing public, this study investigates the degree to which information seeking and online expression mediate relationships between crisis blame and the three types of expectations. The study finds that as the level of crisis blame increases, active information seekers expect more regarding organizational accommodation and government intervention, whereas active expressers expect stronger punishments of the organization and less government intervention in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We put forward a more holistic theoretical model of information seeking practices in everyday life. • We extend the context to the Global South, where there is less research on mobile platforms. • We link the variation in everyday information seeking practices to different groups. • We show the relation between information divides and social changes in China and India. • We apply a theory of digital divides in everyday information practices to the Global South contexts. The internet is becoming a major source of everyday information, yet existing research often focuses on specific information seeking contexts such as health, climate change, news, or hobbies. In this paper, we put forward a more holistic theoretical model of information seeking practices in everyday life that combines the social phenomenological perspective of everyday life information seeking practices and the domestication framework. We extend the cultural context to the Global South countries, where there is less research on "mobile first" societies centred on emerging mobile platforms. Based on extensive and mixed-methods fieldwork in rural and industrial China about everyday information seeking practices, the paper goes beyond previous research about digital divides in internet access and internet literacy. Instead, it focuses on divides in everyday information seeking practices. We argue that new divides are emerging between those with more restricted everyday internet uses and those with broader and more diverse ones. We compare everyday information practices and divides in China with those in India and show how a theory of digital divides in everyday information seeking practices can be applied beyond both countries to the Global South. Such a theory can also contribute to the design of informatisation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: First detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic stretched the medical system in Wuhan and posed a challenge to the state's risk communication efforts. Timely access to quality health care information during outbreaks of infectious diseases can be effective to curtail the spread of disease and feelings of anxiety. Although existing studies have extended our knowledge about online health information-seeking behavior, processes, and motivations, rarely have the findings been applied to an outbreak. Moreover, there is relatively little recent research on how people in China are using the internet for seeking health information during a pandemic.Objective: The aim of this study is to explore how people in China are using the internet for seeking health information during a pandemic. Drawing on previous research of online health information seeking, this study asks the following research questions: how was the "#COVID-19 Patient Seeking Help" hashtag being used by patients in Wuhan seeking health information on Weibo at the peak of the outbreak? and what kinds of health information were patients in Wuhan seeking on Weibo at the peak of the outbreak?Methods: Using entity identification and textual analysis on 10,908 posts on Weibo, we identified 1496 patients with COVID-19 using "#COVID-19 Patient Seeking Help" and explored their online health information-seeking behavior.Results: The curve of the hashtag posting provided a dynamic picture of public attention to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many patients faced difficulties accessing offline health care services. In general, our findings confirmed that the internet is used by the Chinese public as an important source of health information. The lockdown policy was found to cut off the patients' social support network, preventing them from seeking help from family members. The ability to seek information and help online, especially for those with young children or older adult members during the pandemic. A high proportion of female users were seeking health information and help for their parents or for older adults at home. The most searched information included accessing medical treatment, managing self-quarantine, and offline to online support.Conclusions: Overall, the findings contribute to our understanding of health information-seeking behaviors during an outbreak and highlight the importance of paying attention to the information needs of vulnerable groups and the role social media may play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social media has become the most popular communication tool used by Chinese citizens, including expectant mothers. An increasing number of women have adopted various forms of social media channels, such as interactive websites, instant messaging, and mobile apps, to solve problems and obtain answers to queries during pregnancy. Although the use of the internet by pregnant women has been studied extensively worldwide, limited research exists that explores the changing social media usage habits in China, where the 1 child policy ended in 2015.Objective: This study aimed to (1) present the status quo of pregnancy-related information seeking and sharing via social media among Chinese expectant mothers, (2) reveal the impact of social media usage, and (3) shed light on pregnancy-related health services delivered via social media channels.Methods: A qualitative approach was employed to examine social media usage and its consequences on pregnant women. A total of 20 women who had conceived and were at various stages of pregnancy were interviewed from July 20 to August 10, 2017. Thematic analysis was conducted on the collected data to identify patterns in usage.Results: Overall, 80% (16/20) of participants were aged in their 20s (mean 28.5 years [SD 4.3]). All had used social media for pregnancy-related purposes. For the seeking behavior, 18 codes were merged into 4 themes, namely, gravida, fetus, delivery, and the postpartum period; whereas for sharing behaviors, 10 codes were merged into 4 themes, namely, gravida, fetus, delivery, and caretaker. Lurking, small group sharing, bad news avoidance, and cross-checking were identified as the preferred patterns for using social media. Overall, 95% (19/20) of participants reported a positive mental impact from using social media during their pregnancy.Conclusions: It is indisputable that social media has played an increasingly important role in supporting expectant mothers in China. The specific seeking and sharing patterns identified in this study indicate that the general quality of pregnancy-related information on social media, as well as Chinese culture toward pregnancy, is improving. The new themes that merge in pregnancy-related social media use represent a shift toward safe pregnancy and the promotion of a more enjoyable pregnancy. Future prenatal care should provide further information on services related to being comfortable during pregnancy and reducing the inequality of social media-based services caused by the digital divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Mobile social media use intention in emergencies among China's Gen Y is studied. • Social media dependency is related to gratifications sought during emergencies. • Gratifications influence use intention except for information sharing. • Task-technology fit influences use intention. • Communication and task-technology fit are the most important antecedents. Mobile social media have great potential for emergency management with their penetration into the daily life of humans. Drawing on theories of gratifications, task-technology fit, and media dependency, we develop an integrative research model to understand Gen Yers' mobile social media use intention in emergencies. Based on survey data from 424 Gen Y users in China, we conduct a structural equation modeling analysis and an artificial neural network analysis to validate the model. On one hand, social media dependency has a significant and positive effect on gratifications users seek during emergencies. Each gratification positively influences use intention except for information sharing. In order of the effects on use intention, communication is the most important, followed by solitary play and information seeking. On the other hand, both perceived mobility and task features positively influence perceived task-technology fit, which in turn exerts a significant effect on mobile social media use intention. The findings provide a fine-grained understanding of the relative importance of key predictors of mobile social media use intention in emergencies. Moreover, these findings, however limited to China's Gen Y, suggest a role of solitary play and raise possible concern regarding an absence of information sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]