Expectant, anxious and excited: the information journey of Chinese first-time mothers
ISSN: 1468-4527
Article publication date: 6 October 2022
Issue publication date: 29 August 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the information needs and behaviors of Chinese first-time mothers from the perspective of information journey theory.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the popular coding language Python to write a program to extract 366 posts published by first-time mothers in the Babytree community of China's largest maternal and infant platform. Content analysis is used to analyze and encode the collected data.
Findings
This study summarizes the information needs of first-time mothers in China specifically, which includes six aspects of health, pregnancy care, postpartum parenting, socialization, self-actualization, and entertainment. Then, based on its hierarchical and stage characteristics, more flexible information needs matrix for Chinese first-time mothers has been developed to reflect their changing 15 types of information needs more fully. Finally, it constructs the information journey model of Chinese first-time mothers including five stages.
Originality/value
This is the first time that information journey theory has been applied to the research on information needs and behaviors of first-time mothers. The authors have also further expanded the information seeking and acquisition phases and found new gaps in the phases to further refine the information journey model. This study can help us better understand the online information needs and behaviors of Chinese first-time mothers and provide support for organizations and online health community managers to develop new information services or improve the quality of existing services.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0538.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to the peer reviewers for their valuable advice. This work was supported by Youth Interdisciplinary Research Team of Humanities and Social Sciences, Soochow University (Grant number: 202205) and Suzhou City University National Pre-research Project (Grant number: 2021SGY003) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers: 71874130, 72274146).
Citation
Liu, M. and Xu, F. (2023), "Expectant, anxious and excited: the information journey of Chinese first-time mothers", Online Information Review, Vol. 47 No. 5, pp. 801-819. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0538
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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