Government communication has been playing an important role in mass vaccination to conduct the largest vaccination campaign of the world for COVID-19 and to counter vaccine hesitancy. This study employs the health belief model to examine the association between government communication and the COVID-19 vaccination intention. A survey of Chinese adults (N = 557) was conducted in March 2021, and partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed to estimate the multi-construct relationships. The findings indicate that government communication has both direct positive association with vaccination intention and indirect association with vaccination intention through the mediation of perceived severity, benefits, and barriers. Multi-group comparisons suggest that individuals from private sectors are more easily mobilized to receive COVID-19 vaccination by government communication than those from public sectors. Similarly, the correlation between government communication and the vaccination intention of individuals with a good health status was stronger than that of those with a poor health status. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are further discussed.
Different from the conventional content-survey result comparison approach in agenda-setting research, which compares media agenda and public agenda at the aggregated level, this study investigates the perceived agenda-setting effect of media at the individual level in an international context. A survey of American respondents (N = 848) identifies perceived agenda-setting effect from individuals’ cognitive process, and finds that the U.S. audience are aware that their perception of China is shaped by media coverage of China-related topics. The study finds that media use, political interest in China, and media trust positively predict perceived agenda-setting effect, while direct experience with China produces no effect. The study also confirms the effect of media use on perceived agenda-setting effect mediated by political interest.
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