Organizations disseminating health messages: the roles of organizational identification and HITs

Research into the dissemination of health information now includes more focus on how various organizations (e.g., beauty shops, schools, workplaces, and churches) and health information technologies (HITs) reach and affect audiences. One relational feature of organizations is identification--the feeling of belongingness. Our study explores how it influences audiences, especially in combination with HITs such as e-mail, websites, and social media. We use social identity theory to predict how organizational identification and social media might function in health communication. Using a 3 × 2 experimental design, we find that people's identification with a message source mediates the effect of social media on outcomes. These findings improve our understanding of when organizations might be most helpful for disseminating health information.