TY - JOUR
T1 - Can Press Freedom Enhance the Effect of News Exposure on COVID-19 Health Beliefs? A Health Belief Model Perspective
AU - Goh, Zhang Hao
AU - Tandoc, Edson C.
AU - Salmon, Charles Thomas
AU - Kim, Hye Kyung
AU - Shi, Jingyuan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - News media can influence citizens’ health beliefs about COVID-19 and eventually their vaccination intention. However, existing literature has rarely investigated how such effect is contingent upon a country-level factor: press freedom. Situated in the Health Belief Model, this study draws upon a multi-national survey (N = 3,599), involving 10 major cities in Asia to address the research gap. Results showed that news exposure has a positive effect on personal health beliefs on COVID-19, affecting their vaccination intention. More interestingly, the relationship between news exposure and personal health beliefs about COVID-19 was negatively moderated by level of press freedom–that is, the relationship between news exposure and personal health beliefs is stronger in cities that belong to countries with low levels of press freedom.
AB - News media can influence citizens’ health beliefs about COVID-19 and eventually their vaccination intention. However, existing literature has rarely investigated how such effect is contingent upon a country-level factor: press freedom. Situated in the Health Belief Model, this study draws upon a multi-national survey (N = 3,599), involving 10 major cities in Asia to address the research gap. Results showed that news exposure has a positive effect on personal health beliefs on COVID-19, affecting their vaccination intention. More interestingly, the relationship between news exposure and personal health beliefs about COVID-19 was negatively moderated by level of press freedom–that is, the relationship between news exposure and personal health beliefs is stronger in cities that belong to countries with low levels of press freedom.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129157560&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10410236.2022.2056981
DO - 10.1080/10410236.2022.2056981
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85129157560
SN - 1041-0236
VL - 38
SP - 2158
EP - 2166
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
IS - 10
ER -
