Analysis of the key influencing factors of haze information dissemination behavior and motivation in WeChat
| Pages | 21-29 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-09-2016-0029 |
| Date | 20 February 2017 |
| Published date | 20 February 2017 |
| Author | Siqing Shan,Mengni Liu,Xiaobo Xu |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Library & information services,Lending,Document delivery,Collection building & management,Stock revision,Consortia |
Analysis of the key influencing factors of haze
information dissemination behavior and
motivation in WeChat
Siqing Shan and Mengni Liu
School of Economics and Management, BeiHang University, Beijing, China, and
Xiaobo Xu
School of Business Administration, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE
Abstract
Purpose – With the development of mobile internet, instant messaging (IM) applications have gradually changed the way to receive information
and communicate with friends. Considered as one of the important social media platforms, WeChat is the most popular IM application in China.
This paper aims to examine the influence factors of haze information’s dissemination in WeChat.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on the theory of information dissemination and the theory of motivation, three information dissemination
elements including information source, information and information receiver were proposed in the structural equation model. The model was tested
using data collected from both online and offline questionnaire survey results. The data analysis from 170 valid responses confirmed the path effects
that emotional motivation, social motivation of information receiver and the credibility of information source positively influenced WeChat users’
re-transmission intention and information emotional tendency negatively influenced their re-transmission intention.
Findings – The research model revealed these key factors that affected dissemination of haze information in WeChat. More importantly, it provided
a decision-making framework to release the public emergency information in WeChat. Hence, the paper made an important contribution to practical
guidance to relevant decision makers.
Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature on examining factors affecting the haze information transmission in WeChat. A
framework was proposed to describe the information dissemination process which comprises information source, information and information
receiver.
Keywords Emergency management, Structural equation model, Social network, Information dissemination behavior,
Information dissemination motivation, Instant messaging
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Social media has dramatically revolutionized the way people
communicate with others (He et al., 2013;Zou et al., 2015).
Instant messaging (IM) is a social media tool offering
real-time text, picture and voice transmission over the
internet. As an effective and efficient communication tool, IM
has gained popularity during the past few years. Especially, IM
is attractive to younger generations because it allows them to
instantly obtain and share information with their online
“buddies” (Correa et al., 2010).
WeChat (WeiXin in Chinese) is a mobile instant text and
voice messaging communication application developed by
Tencent Holdings Ltd. in China on January 21, 2011. Same
as WhatsApp, WeChat is free to download, install, use, and it
supports all smartphone platforms including iPhone, Android
and Windows Phone operating systems. WeChat also provides
users an innovative way to communicate through text
messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, one-to-many
messaging, photo/video sharing, location sharing and contact
information exchange (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat).
WeChat has reached 468 million monthly active users during
the fourth quarter in 2013 (Tencent, 2014). There is no doubt
that WeChat has not only become the most widely used social
networking service in China but also become an important
social media platform for computer-mediated communication
(Gao and Zhang, 2013).
WeChat has strong ties based on address list and weak ties
based on location or QQ. The communication channel
between virtual and real worlds is established. Moments
(known as the Friends’ Circle) in WeChat provides a platform
for sharing information and pictures with captions, in which
information sharing is limited within the user’s choice of close
friends for privacy. Both enterprises and individuals
contribute to the formation of a complex network of
relationships based on WeChat. As another function, official
account is provided by WeChat for one-to-many messaging.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/2398-6247.htm
Information Discovery and Delivery
45/1 (2017) 21–29
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2398-6247]
[DOI 10.1108/IDD-09-2016-0029]
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No. 71471008, 71420107025).
Received 8 September 2016
Revised 19 November 2016
Accepted 29 November 2016
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