“Cold and hot systems” during public health crises: Research on the mechanisms of emotion, information quality and information processing behaviour

Purpose This study aims to explore the influence of emotion and information quality on information processing during a public health crisis and to propose suggestions to improve the quality of governmental public information and online health information from the perspective of information clues. Design/methodology/approach Based on the heuristic-systematic model and risk information seeking and processing model, users’ positive and negative emotions were measured via the positive and negative affect schedule, and their heuristic and systematic information processing behaviours for different information quality levels were measured via eye movement indicators to reveal the relationships among emotion, information quality and information processing behaviour. Qualitative data were obtained via the gaze-cued retrospective think-aloud technique and interviews, and the content analysis method was used to reveal the internal reasons for the quantitative analysis results. Findings The results of this study indicated that the intensities of positive and negative emotions had positive impacts on heuristic and systematic information processing, respectively, and that the level of information quality positively affected heuristic information processing and negatively affected systematic information processing. Emotional valence and information quality level had interactive effects on heuristic and systematic information processing, and users with both positive and negative emotions were inclined to process high-quality heuristic information, especially users with positive emotions. Moreover, users with positive emotions were apt to process low-quality systematic information. Originality/value This study enriched and expanded the heuristic-systematic model and risk information seeking and processing theories and proposed suggestions for improving the quality of health information from the perspective of the government and social media.