The Public’s Willingness to Act on Information in Emergency Publications for Science Popularization Under Emergencies

Emergency publications for science popularization are gradually becoming an important information source for responding to emergencies, and exploring the key factors influencing the public’s willingness to act on information in emergency publications can effectively improve their external communication effects. Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the Use and Gratification Theory, the two-path influencing factors of information quality and source credibility in the emergency event environment were studied. Questionnaire survey method was used to obtain 438 sample data of information behavior of users on emergency publications for science popularization, and a model of information environment characteristics, information cognitive experience and information behavior willingness was constructed. The research showed that, the content quality and source credibility of emergency publications for science popularization have a significant positive impact on the satisfaction of users’ cognitive and emotional needs; users’ cognitive and emotional needs significantly and positively influence their willingness to act on information. Emergency publications for science popularization should pay attention to the quality control of information and improve the credibility of sources to meet users’ cognitive and emotional needs in time, thus positively influencing users’ willingness to disseminate information.