Psychological antecedents of COVID-19 information sharing within strong-tie and weak-tie networks

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the psychological mechanisms underlying people’s sharing of COVID-19 information within their strong-tie networks and weak-tie networks. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between March and April 2020 (N = 609 Chinese adults). Measures included emotions and behavioral beliefs about COVID-19 information sharing, risk perceptions, and COVID-19 information acquisition and sharing behaviors. Multiple linear regression was performed to examine the psychological predictors of COVID-19 information sharing. RESULTS: People were more likely to share COVID-19 information within their strong-tie networks when they experienced more negative emotions (β = .09, p = .01) and had stronger beliefs that information sharing would promote disease prevention (β = .12, p = .004). By comparison, negative emotions were the only significant predictor of COVID-19 information sharing (β = .12, p = .002) within weak-tie networks (β = .04, p = .31 for beliefs about sharing). CONCLUSION: People may share COVID-19 information within weak-tie networks to cope with negative emotions regardless of whether they perceive information sharing as beneficial to disease prevention. INNOVATION: Health educators should raise people’s awareness of the psychological motivators of COVID-19 information sharing to create a healthy information environment for disease prevention.