Choi Doo-Hun, Noh Ghee-Young
Gachon University, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
Hallym University, Chuncheon, South Korea.
Sage Open. 2023 Jul 3;13(3):21582440231184969. doi: 10.1177/21582440231184969. eCollection 2023 Jul-Sep.
Social media are important channels to propagate health information and influence preventive behavior during a public health crisis, as witnessed during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). This study explored the association between social media use and preventive behavior during the outbreak of COVID-19 in South Korea. Using the national survey data ( = 1,500), the study examined the mediating role of social norms in the association between social media use for news and information about COVID-19 and preventive behavior. In addition, the study tested the moderating effect of self-efficacy on the mediating path of social media use for preventive behavior via social norms. Conducting a moderated mediation analysis method, this study found that social norms mediated the relationship between social media use and preventive behavior ( = 0.046). Moreover, the study revealed that the indirect relationship between social media use and preventive behavior through social norms becomes stronger as an individual's level of self-efficacy decreases (low: = 0.044, middle: = 0.036, and high: = 0.030). The study provides empirical evidence of the beneficial impact of social media use on preventive behavior. The findings of the study recommend promoting messages on social norms through social media for facilitating preventive behavior.
社交媒体是在公共卫生危机期间传播健康信息和影响预防行为的重要渠道，在冠状病毒大流行（COVID-19）期间就可见一斑。本研究探讨了韩国COVID-19疫情爆发期间社交媒体使用与预防行为之间的关联。该研究利用全国调查数据（n = ），检验了社会规范在用于获取COVID-19新闻和信息的社交媒体使用与预防行为之间关联中的中介作用。此外，该研究还测试了自我效能感对通过社会规范的社交媒体使用预防行为中介路径的调节作用。通过进行有调节的中介分析方法，本研究发现社会规范介导了社交媒体使用与预防行为之间的关系（β = 0.046）。此外，该研究还表明，随着个体自我效能感水平的降低，通过社会规范的社交媒体使用与预防行为之间的间接关系会变得更强（低：β = 0.044，中：β = 0.036，高：β = 0.030）。该研究为社交媒体使用对预防行为的有益影响提供了实证证据。该研究结果建议通过社交媒体推广关于社会规范的信息，以促进预防行为。
