How Information Contributors Establish High-Credibility Online Health Information

Purpose – This study aims to explore the credibility establishment strategies utilized by health information contributors when creating content to guide them in establishing high-credibility and user-trusted health information. Design/methodology/approach – This study conducts in-depth interviews with 86 online health information contributors to investigate the creative strategies they adopt to establish credibility. This study also integrates mathematical models to assess the contribution of each strategy to enhancing the credibility of online health information. Findings – Results confirm the information contributors use credibility establishment strategies that can be broadly categorized into 13 types with 52 specific strategies. The most significant contributors are the focus, review, supportive information search, credibility enhancement awareness, and specific writing strategy types. When evaluating the contributions of these strategies, users tend to prioritize creative strategies that enhance the expression and attractiveness of articles, while experts lean toward strategies that emphasize the professionalism and authenticity of information content. Originality/value – From the perspective of health information contributors, conducting an exploratory analysis of their credibility establishment strategies can guide them in producing online health information that is highly credible and trusted by users.