Wang X, Zhao Y C. Understanding Older Adults’ Stickiness Intention of Health Information on Social Media: A Time and Gratification Perspective[C]//International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022: 432-447.

Abstract: With increasing concern about aging and its associated problems, China is taking measures to cope with its aging population. Improving geriatric health conditions is part of China’s effort to provide better lives for the elderly. The broad impact of social media can play a vital role in the control or reduction of the onset of potential diseases. The future time perspective (FTP) is a cardinal tenet of the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) that could explain older adults’ health information behavior. This study aims to identify the effects of FTP and the gratifications that contribute to older adults’ health-oriented stickiness on social media. Online survey data from 303 elderly Chinese users (above 55 years) were collected and analyzed using the structural equation modeling. This study indicates that both the open-ended time perspective and the limited time perspective have significant positive effects on hedonic, informational, emotional, and social gratification, and the open-ended time perspective has a more significant influence on gratification than the limited time perspective. The time perspectives affect different perceived gratifications, which in turn affect the health-oriented stickiness intention on social media. The results also prove the importance of informational, emotional, social gratification, and the irrelevance of hedonic gratification in examining older adults’ health-related stickiness intention.

Keywords: Social media;Health information;Older adults;Stickiness;Socioemotional selectivity theory;Gratification;Future time perspective