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 Jr., Edson C.
AU - Salmon, Charles Thomas
AU - Kim, Hye Kyung
AU - Shi , Jingyuan
N1 - Funding information:
This research was funded by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Publisher copyright:
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
PY - 2022/4/6
Y1 - 2022/4/6
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 - Journal article
SN - 1041-0236
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
ER -
