Associations Between COVID-19 Information Acquisition and Vaccination Intention: The Roles of Anticipated Regret and Collective Responsibility

TLDR

The study examined how seeking, scanning, and discussing vaccine information influence COVID‑19 vaccination intention via mediation pathways. The authors modeled two mediators—anticipated regret for inaction and collective responsibility—to explain how information acquisition affects vaccination intention. Information seeking and discussing increased vaccination intention mainly through anticipated regret and collective responsibility, whereas scanning had weaker, non‑significant effects. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Abstract

While public health communication has been suggested to be a key for improving acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination, this study tested mediation pathways through which three types of vaccine information acquisition, i.e. seeking, scanning, and discussing, affect COVID-19 vaccination intention. The pathways comprise two mediators, i.e. anticipated regret due to inaction and collective responsibility. Results suggest that information seeking and discussing may have encouraged the intention to get vaccinated, but mainly indirectly through the two mediators. Information seeking and discussing may have elicited anticipated regret and collective responsibility, which in turn increased vaccination intention. The paths from information scanning were smaller in effect sizes and statistically unacknowledged. Implications and limitations are discussed.