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The ballooning health misinformation on social media raises grave concerns. Drawing upon the S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-Response) model and the information processing literature, this study aims to explore (1) how social media health information seeking (S) affects health misinformation sharing intention (R) through the channel of health misperceptions (O) and (2) whether the mediation process would be contingent upon different information processing predispositions.

Data were collected from a survey comprising 388 respondents from the Chinese middle-aged or above group, one of China's most susceptible populations to health misinformation. Standard multiple linear regression models and the PROCESS Macro were adopted to examine the direct effect and the moderated mediation model.

Results bolstered the S-O-R-based mechanism, in which health misperceptions mediated social media health information seeking's effect on health misinformation sharing intention. As an indicator of analytical information processing, need for cognition (NFC) failed to moderate the mediation process. Contrarily, faith in intuition (FI), an indicator reflecting intuitive information processing, served as a significant moderator. The positive association between social media health information seeking and misperceptions was stronger among respondents with low FI.

This study sheds light on health misinformation sharing research by bridging health information seeking, information internalization and information sharing. Moreover, the authors extended the S-O-R model by integrating information processing predispositions, which differs this study from previous literature and advances the extant understanding of how information processing styles work in the face of online health misinformation. The particular age group and the Chinese context further inform context-specific implications regarding online health misinformation regulation.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2023-0157.

This study has three main purposes: (1) to investigate the association between social media news use and misperceptions about COVID-19; (2) to explore the mediating role of homogeneous online discussion; (3) and to understand whether the extent to which one perceives themselves as media-literate could moderate the relationship.

The authors conducted an online survey and collected data through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A total of 797 participants aged 18 and above completed the survey. The average age of the respondents is 38.40 years (SD = 12.31), and 41.2% were female. In terms of party identification, 30.8% were reported leaning toward Republicans; 53.7% leaned toward Democrats, and 15.4% were reported neutral.

Results from a moderated mediation model show that social media news use is positively associated with misperceptions about the COVID-19. Moreover, homogeneous online discussion was a significant mediator of the relationship between social media news use and misperceptions about COVID-19. Further, self-perceived media literacy (SPML) significantly moderated the main and indirect effects between social media news use and COVID-19 misperceptions, such that the associations became weaker among those with higher SPML.

Findings provide insights into the significance of online information sources, discussion network heterogeneity and media literacy education. Although there have been many studies on misinformation, prior research has not examined these relationships, which may help provide solutions to cope with misinformation.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2021-0305

News consumption is critical in creating informed citizenry; however, in the current context of media convergence, news consumption becomes more complex as social media becomes a primary news source rather than news media. The current study seeks to answer three questions: why the shifted pattern of news seeking only happens to some but not all of the news consumers; whether the differentiated patterns of news seeking (news media vs social media) would result in different misinformation engagement behaviors; and whether misperceptions would moderate the relationship between news consumption and misinformation engagement.

A survey consisted of questions related to personality traits, news seeking, misperceptions and misinformation engagement was distributed to 551 individuals. Multiple standard regression and PROCESS Macro model 1 were used to examine the intricate relationships between personality, news use and misinformation engagement.

Results indicate that extroversion was positively associated with social media news consumption while openness was inversely related to it. Social media news consumption in turn positively predicted greater misinformation sharing and commenting. No association was found between Big Five personality traits and news media news seeking. News media news seeking predicted higher intention to reply to misinformation. Both relationships were further moderated by misperceptions that individuals with greater misperceptions were more likely to engage with misinformation.

The current study integrates personality traits, news consumption and misperceptions in understanding misinformation engagement behaviors. Findings suggest that news consumption via news media in the digital era merits in-depth examinations as it may associate with more complex background factors and also incur misinformation engagement. Social media news consumption deserves continuous scholarly attention. Specifically, extra attention should be devoted to extrovert and pragmatic individuals in future research and interventions. People with these characteristics are more prone to consume news on social media and at greater risk of falling prey to misinformation and becoming a driving force for misinformation distribution.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0520

The purpose of this paper is to fabricate and characterize the natural fibre (NF) reinforced epoxy composites containing flame retardants (FRs) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in terms of flammability, thermal properties and dynamic mechanical performances.

The FRs used in this study were ammonium polyphosphate and alumina trihydrate.

The results demonstrated that the addition of MCC particles into the flame retardant composite (control) further enhanced the self-extinguishing properties of composites, in particular, the burn length. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the mass residue improved with every addition of MCC particles at 700 °C. For instance, the residual weight enhanced from 28.4 Wt.% to 33 Wt.% for the control and the composite with 7 Wt.% MCCs, respectively. As obtained from the dynamic mechanical analysis, the glass transition temperature of composites increased upon increasing inclusion of MCC particles. For example, this parameter was 77.1 °C and 86.8 °C for the control and composite loaded with 7 Wt.% MCC, respectively.

Thus, the combination of MCC and FR had been proved to be a promising flame retardant system for NF reinforced epoxy.

This study aims to explore the influence of a region’s network location characteristics and indirect connections on its innovation capability. The aim is to assist regions in different network locations to use innovation resources to improve their innovation capabilities more efficiently.

This paper represents the Chinese regional innovation network using the gravity model. A theoretical framework is developed to explore the relationships between a region’s innovation capability and its network location. Hypotheses are tested using hierarchical regressions.

First, this paper finds that a region’s network centrality can promote its innovation capability. Second, a structural hole can positively adjust the relationship between a region’s centrality and innovation capability. Third, a region’s indirect connections can inhibit its innovation capability while exhibiting a U-shaped relationship in moderating centrality and innovation capability.

This study uses a multi-index system to construct an innovation network covering 29 regions in China. This network represents the innovation cooperation and overall situation of innovation in China. The paper is one of the first attempts at investigating the relationship between regional network locations and innovation capability. It is also the first attempt at testing the influence of indirect connections on a region’s innovation capability. The findings provide a new perspective on the factors influencing regional innovation capacity and a new way for regions to improve their innovation capability.