Information Sources and the Health Information-Seeking Process: An Application and Extension of Channel Complementarity Theory
Abstract
Contemporary information seekers can acquire health information from an unprecedented variety of sources. The reported study applied and extended channel complementarity theory to explain the use of multiple information sources in the health-information-seeking process. Channel complementarity was extended to consider four characteristics (i.e., access to medical expertise, tailorability, anonymity, and convenience) of health-information sources. The information-seeking behavior of 3,392 respondents from the 2007–2008 Health Information National Trends Survey was analyzed to test study hypotheses. Results indicate that, sources were used complementarily based on tailorability and anonymity during health-information sources. Additionally, the likelihood of using complementary sources based on all four characteristics changed during the search process.
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Individuals, when seeking health information, strategically combine multiple sources based on their unique functional strengths, such as access to medical expertise, anonymity, tailorability, and convenience.
“Using national health survey data, Ruppel and Rains (2012) showed that individuals, when seeking health information, strategically combine multiple sources based on their unique functional strengths, such as access to medical expertise, anonymity, tailorability, and convenience.”
From Perceived Search Overload, Generative AI Credibility, and Comparative Usefulness: A Channel Complementarity Approach to Health Information Seeking (2025) · cites this paper as Ruppel & Rains, 2012
Channel complementarity suggests that individuals strategically use multiple sources to fulfill their health information needs rather than relying on one channel to replace another.
“The notion of channel complementarity suggests that individuals strategically use multiple sources to fulfill their health information needs, rather than relying on one channel to replace another (Rains & Ruppel, 2016; Ruppel & Rains, 2012).”
From Perceived Search Overload, Generative AI Credibility, and Comparative Usefulness: A Channel Complementarity Approach to Health Information Seeking (2025) · cites this paper as Ruppel & Rains, 2012
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“Acquiring health information from medical experts is a potentially important objective for many information seekers (Brashers, Hsieh, Neidig, & Reynolds, 2006; Freimuth, Stein, & Kean, 1989; Mishel, 1988).”
BackgroundCommunication and Uncertainty Management
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An Empirical Study of Older Adult’s Voice Assistant Use for Health Information Seeking
Brewer, R., Pierce, C., Upadhyay, P., & Park, L. (2022) · ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems · doi:10.1145/3484507 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
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Self-citationLim, J. S., & Hong, N. (2025) · Health & New Media Research · doi:10.22720/hnmr.2025.00115 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ruppel, E. K., & Rains, S. A.
- Affiliations
- SUNY Brockport (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ruppel, Erin K.
- Venue
- Communication Monographs
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-09
- Volume
- 79
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 385-405
- ISSN
- 0363-7751 (ISSN-L)
- 1479-5787
- OpenAlex
- W1985361046
- Cited by
- 124
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 10.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Communication Monographs (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Information Retrieval and Search Behavior
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
- Keywords
- health information seeking, multi-source data, tailorability, anonymity, convenience, Health Information National Trends Survey, health information sources
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