Steer Clear or Get Ready: How Coping Styles Moderate the Effect of Informational Utility

Abstract

A 2x3x2 between-subjects experiment tested the effect of informational utility on selective exposure to online news stories. Trait coping styles were tested as moderators of informational utility. Informational utility intensity, characterized by greater magnitude, likelihood, and immediacy, increased selective exposure. A fourth dimension, efficacy, did not yield a main effect or moderate other message factors. However, coping styles demonstrated the proposed interactions. Individuals low on avoidant coping browsed messages with high informational utility longer than messages with low utility. Those low on problem-focused coping spent more time with high-efficacy messages; those high on problem-focus spent more time with low-efficacy messages.

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