Determinants of medical crowdfunding information sharing attitudes through integrated source credibility and technology acceptance models

Medical crowdfunding has emerged as an important alternative for financing healthcare expenses, enabling individuals to raise funds through donation-based campaigns. While social media facilitates campaign outreach, concerns regarding privacy, misinformation, and trust hinder information-sharing behaviors, limiting campaign effectiveness. This study contributes to this understanding by integrating Source Credibility Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model to examine how expertise, trustworthiness, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use influence attitudes toward sharing medical crowdfunding information. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 345 young social media users in China, with data analyzed using PLS-SEM. The findings reveal that expertise does not directly impact sharing attitudes but influences them through perceived usefulness, whereas trustworthiness exerts both significant direct and indirect effects on sharing attitudes. Additionally, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use positively predict sharing attitudes, highlighting the importance of practical value and platform usability in driving user engagement. The findings advance understanding of credibility-technology interactions in medical crowdfunding information sharing, though the youth-focused sample limits generalizability. This integrated approach offers promising directions for optimizing campaign engagement strategies through balanced credibility signaling and enhanced platform usability.