Determinants of the Perceived Credibility of Rebuttals Concerning Health Misinformation

Sui, Yujia; Zhang, Bin

Users provide and share information with a broad audience on different forms of social media; however, information accuracy is questionable. Currently, the health information field is severely affected by misinformation. Thus, addressing health misinformation is integral for enhancing public health. This research can help relevant practitioners (i.e., government officials, medical and health service personnel, and educators) find the most effective correctional interventions for governing health misinformation. We constructed a theoretical model for credibility-oriented determinants refuting misinformation based on the elaboration likelihood model. We aggregated 415 pieces of valid data through a questionnaire survey. A partial least squares structural equation model evaluated this research model. The results indicated that both perceived information quality and perceived source credibility can enhance perceived information credibility. Under some circumstances, the influence of information quality on information credibility may be more important than that of the information source. However, the cognitive conflict and knowledge self-confidence of information receivers weaken the influence of information quality on information credibility. In contrast, cognitive conflict can strengthen the influence of source credibility on information credibility. Further, perceived information quality can be affected by information usefulness, understandability, and relevance, while perceived source reliability can be affected by source expertise and authority.