Linking need for cognitive closure to cyberchondria among health information seekers: Disentangling the roles of uncertainty discrepancy, health worry and information processing evaluations

Despite growing research on online health information seeking behaviors, the psychological factors through which dispositional characteristics are linked to maladaptive information outcomes such as cyberchondria remain underexplored. Drawing on the Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM), this study establishes a conceptual framework to examine how the need for cognitive closure is associated with cyberchondria through interpretive constructs (i.e., uncertainty discrepancy and health worry) and evaluative assessments (i.e., perceived health information overload and self-efficacy). The study examines the pattern of associations among these information management constructs as theorized by TMIM. Analysis of data from 581 adults using structural equation modeling demonstrates that the need for cognitive closure was directly associated with cyberchondria and was also positively associated with uncertainty discrepancy and health worry. Uncertainty discrepancy and health worry were associated with perceived information overload and self-efficacy, and perceived information overload and self-efficacy were associated with cyberchondria. This research offers insights into the information management constructs associated with cyberchondria by illustrating how dispositional factors are linked to maladaptive information management outcomes in a pattern consistent with the structure theorized by TMIM. Because the data are cross-sectional, this structure reflects a theoretical ordering assumed by the framework rather than an empirically established temporal sequence.