Factors influencing online health information credibility: a meta-analysis
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address the growing importance of online health information (OHI) and the associated uncertainty. Although previous research has explored factors influencing the credibility of OHI, results have been inconsistent. Therefore, this study aims to identify the essential factors that influence the perceived credibility of OHI by conducting a meta-analysis of articles published from 2010 to 2022. The study also aims to examine the moderating effects of demographic characteristics, study design and the platforms where health information is located.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the Prominence-Interpretation Theory (PIT), a meta-analysis of 25 empirical studies was conducted to explore 12 factors related to information content and source, social interaction, individual and media affordance. Moderators such as age, education level, gender of participants, sample size, platforms and research design were also examined.
Findings
Results suggest that all factors, except social support, have significant effects on the credibility of OHI. Among them, argument quality had the strongest correlation with credibility and individual factors were also found to be relevant. Moderating effects indicate that social support was significantly moderated by age and education level. Different sample sizes may lead to variations in the role of social endorsement, while personal involvement was moderated by sample size, platform and study design.
Originality/value
This study enriches the application of PIT in the health domain and provides guidance for scholars to expand the scope of research on factors influencing OHI credibility.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study is supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 72004091, 72174083) and the Humanity and Social Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (#20YJC870014).
Citation
Zhao, Y., Zhang, L., Zeng, C., Chen, Y., Lu, W. and Song, N. (2024), "Factors influencing online health information credibility: a meta-analysis", Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-05-2023-0155
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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