Effects of Social Media Comments on Attitude toward Vaccines: The Roles of Perceived Public Consensus and Perceived Vaccine Efficacy.
Effects of Social Media Comments on Attitude toward Vaccines: The Roles of Perceived Public Consensus and Perceived Vaccine Efficacy.
Abstract: Recognizing that social media has become an important place for individuals to acquire vaccine-related information, this study investigated if and how user-generated comments on social media platforms influence individuals’ perception of public consensus regarding and attitude toward vaccines. In addition, perceived vaccine efficacy was considered as a factor moderating the relationship between exposure to social media comments and perceived public consensus. The results of an experimental study showed that an opinion expressed by numerically dominant comments predicted participants’ attitude toward the flu vaccine through shaping perceived public consensus. Moreover, unlike participants with low and medium levels of perceived vaccine efficacy, those with high perceived vaccine efficacy were not influenced by comments when forming perceived public consensus.
Related Research
-
Navigating News-triggered Business Communication Challenges: Strategic Management of Media-Driven Brand RiskNaYoung Song and Jim Pierpoint (Grady MA alum), “Navigating News-triggered Business Communication Challenges: Strategic Management of Media-Driven Brand Risk”, presented at 2025 Association for Business Communication (ABC) Annual International Conference […]
-
Brand activism: the artificial and authentic future of social media and strategic communicationLance Porter (2025). “Brand activism: the artificial and authentic future of social media and strategic communication,” in Bowen, S. and Erzikova, E. (Eds.) Handbook of Innovations in Strategic Communication: AI, Futurism […]