Information Exposure and Information Overload as Antecedents of Crisis Communicative Responses and Coping: A Cross-Country Comparison

Abstract

This study examines information exposure as the antecedent of different types of crisis response outcomes as well as the moderating influence of message quality and information overload in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that the pandemic has impacted the countries worldwide, we conducted a cross-country, two-wave survey in the United States and Taiwan. The results identified three types of media users based on their differential patterns of crisis information exposure—selective users, inclusive users, and cravers. Compared to selective users, inclusive users and cravers were more likely to engage in different types of communicative responses (i.e., information seeking and sharing, and information sharing without verification [ISWV]), which then helped them with support-seeking coping. In addition, information overload was the condition that influenced the extent to which inclusive users engaged in information seeking and sharing, and the subsequent coping. Cross-country differences were found such that information overload and ISWV played important roles in influencing crisis outcomes in the United States and Taiwan, respectively.