How Defense and Accuracy Motives Influence Health Information Seeking and Avoidance: A Dual-Motive Model Perspective

This study proposes a dual-motive model of health information seeking and avoidance, incorporating two distinctive motives for information behaviors–the accuracy and defense motives. In the proposed model, we identify the key antecedents to these two motives and explore political ideology as a potential moderator. In the context of COVID-19, an online survey was conducted with 638 respondents in South Korea. The results indicate that information insufficiency is linked to information seeking, whereas information overload and denial explain information avoidance to a greater extent. Trust in government and risk perception are negatively linked to information overload, reactance, and denial. Liberals’ and conservatives’ perceptions of risk and emotions differently activate information motives and behaviors. These findings provide theoretical and practical implications for health information management.