A Replication of Channel Complementarity Theory among Internet Users in India

This article examined channel complementarity in health information seeking among Internet users in India. It posited that online users complementarily use different channels to search for health information. Based on the existing literature, it suggested that age is an important moderator of different channels as health information sources. Data regarding the consumption of 11 different channels were collected from nearly 1,000 Internet users. The results demonstrated complementary use of different channels as health information sources in relationship to the Internet as a health information source, except for newspapers and family members. Moreover, not supporting our hypothesis regarding the sources of health information among online users, the Internet was surprisingly not the primary source of health information, being shadowed by the predominant and significantly greater use of newspapers as sources of health information among online users in India. Extending the theory of channel complementarity, we found that age is an important moderator of complementary relationships among various channels as health information sources, demonstrating that younger users were more likely to use greater numbers of channels complementarily as compared to older users. Contributions to channel complementarity and implications of research are discussed on the basis of the findings.