Wear a Mask, Save a Life? Insights From COVID-19 on Shifting Digital Influence Amid High Epistemic Uncertainty During Crisis

IF 2.6 3区 管理学 Q3 MANAGEMENT
Yonggang Lu
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study examines opinion leadership and information diffusion on Twitter (X) during crisis periods with high epistemic uncertainty among the public. By analysing a tweet dataset captured during a unique COVID-19 period marked by conflicting face mask guidelines, we explore how crisis situations like this reshape social media influence dynamics. Our findings reveal complex and paradoxical relationships between traditional indicators of opinion leadership and actual influence, mediated through engagement metrics. Content relevance and engagement patterns can outweigh traditional user attributes in determining influence, with non-traditional opinion leaders emerging through creative, highly engaging crisis-related posts. A network structure of community clusters with limited cross-community flow further defines influence pathways. Our study highlights the importance of flexible, distributed models of online crisis information diffusion that consider the dynamic interplay between user attributes, network topology, engagement patterns and contextual factors. These insights also suggest potential benefits in exploring more adaptive, context-sensitive approaches to managing information flow in digital environments during crises.

戴口罩救命?2019冠状病毒病对危机期间认知高度不确定性下数字影响力转移的启示
本研究考察了公众在具有高度认知不确定性的危机时期在Twitter (X)上的意见领导和信息传播。通过分析在COVID-19期间捕获的推特数据集,该数据集以相互冲突的口罩指导方针为标志,我们探讨了此类危机情况如何重塑社交媒体影响动态。我们的研究结果揭示了意见领导力的传统指标与实际影响力之间复杂而矛盾的关系,并通过参与指标进行中介。内容相关性和参与模式在决定影响力方面可能超过传统的用户属性,非传统意见领袖通过创造性的、高度参与的危机相关帖子出现。有限跨社区流动的社区集群网络结构进一步定义了影响路径。我们的研究强调了灵活、分布式的在线危机信息扩散模型的重要性,该模型考虑了用户属性、网络拓扑、参与模式和上下文因素之间的动态相互作用。这些见解还表明,在危机期间探索更具适应性、对上下文敏感的方法来管理数字环境中的信息流,可能会带来好处。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
5.40
自引率
12.90%
发文量
51
期刊介绍: The Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management is an invaluable source of information on all aspects of contingency planning, scenario analysis and crisis management in both corporate and public sectors. It focuses on the opportunities and threats facing organizations and presents analysis and case studies of crisis prevention, crisis planning, recovery and turnaround management. With contributions from world-wide sources including corporations, governmental agencies, think tanks and influential academics, this publication provides a vital platform for the exchange of strategic and operational experience, information and knowledge.
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