Title: Understanding the formation mechanism of mobile social media usage intention during public health emergencies: a social media dependency perspective

Authors: Houcai Wang; Li Xiong

Addresses: School of Management, Shanghai University, No. 99, Shangda Road, Shanghai City 200444, China ' School of Management, Shanghai University, No. 99, Shangda Road, Shanghai City 200444, China

Abstract: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread application of mobile social media have made mobile social media play a crucial role in crisis communication. Understanding how the formation mechanism of mobile social media acceptance during public health emergencies is a question that mobile social media platforms and emergency agencies are focusing on. The current research intends to investigate the determinants of mobile social media usage behaviours during public health emergencies from the perspective of social media dependency. Driving data from 513 mobile social media users in China, the findings of structural equation modelling analysis reveal that social media dependency strongly affects information seeking and information sharing, which further significantly influence mobile social media usage intention during public health emergencies. However, the perceived internet censorship did not moderate the linkage between information seeking and information sharing and mobile social media usage intention. Our research results not only offer several theoretical implications for crisis communication research but also make some practical implications for mobile social media platforms and emergency agencies.

Keywords: social media dependency; internet censorship; information seeking; information sharing; mobile social media; public health emergencies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2023.133105

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2023 Vol.22 No.3, pp.340 - 366

Received: 01 May 2021
Accepted: 24 Oct 2021
Published online: 01 Sep 2023 *

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