This study explores the application of expectancy-value theory in the area of online parenting information seeking. Findings indicate that both operability and reliability are significant predictors of attitude and behaviors of online parenting information seeking, suggesting that the choice of media does not only depend on the intrinsic nature of media channels but also the quality of sources associated with selected media channels. Expectancy
values of online parenting information are significantly correlated with perceived importance of the Internet in seeking all types of parenting information except completeness and, to some degree, reliability, indicating that the Internet may not be perceived as a complete, updated, and accurate source of information. However, the easier to use, to understand, to operate, and to fit the needs, and the less difficult technical terms are, the more parents perceive that it is important to seek parenting information online.
Findings also confirm the theory of uses and gratifications by establishing the linkage between different needs and perceived importance of online parenting information.
The significance of psychological needs on the perceived importance of the Internet in seeking information on children’s health and development speaks for parents’ uncertain psychological status during their children’s developmental process for their lack of parenting experience or knowledge (Khoo et al., 2008). The significance of need for social networking on the time spending and perceived importance of online early education information indicates that parents tend to exchange this type of information with others. The Internet can act as a social medium for parents to strengthen their social group identity (Harwood, 1999).
Furthermore, parents tend to exchange information on early education since early education information is more general, completed, and easy to understand than information on health and children’s development. Internet connectedness is shown to be a significant predictor of perceived importance of the Internet in parental information seeking, which is in line with the common belief that parents who are more connected to the Internet in term of scope, intensity and centrality are more likely to look for online information. Such findings imply that the Internet has been influencing users’ habits of information seeking in such areas as childcare.
Our findings also indicate that the social and cultural context has an impact on the attitude and behavior of online parenting information seeking. On the one hand, respondents in Hong Kong generally spent more time in parenting information seeking than respondents in Mainland China. The possible reason may be the higher popularity of the Internet in Hong Kong as a more developed city than most cities in Mainland China. On the other hand,
perceived importance of online health information and children’s development information were higher in Mainland China than in Hong Kong. One possible reason accounts for this result is that public service (including professional guide and information for parents) is generally better in Hong Kong than in mainland cities, so parents in Hong Kong feel less important to seek online parenting information by themselves. The Chinese culture and parenting style may impact the findings, too. Results showed that Chinese parents from both Hong Kong and Mainland China had similar patterns in early education information seeking. Compared to Western counterparts, Chinese parents are usually more authoritarian, controlling, and restrictive (Chen & Luster, 2002). To Chinese parents, family training is critical in facilitating their children’s future achievement (Lau, Lee & Randell, 2007).
Chinese parents tend to view “training” children as an important parental task because helping children succeed in school is a way of expressing their intense concern for children (Chen & Luster, 2002). The collectivist Chinese culture may explain the need for social networking which significantly predicts perceived importance of online parenting information in early education. People from collectivist culture rely on social support (Triandis, Leung, Villareal, & Clack, 1985). Social support may be what parents seek on the Internet when they face keen academic competitions in the Chinese society.
Regarding to demographic differences, it is interesting to see the relationship between gender and perceived importance and time spent in seeking online parenting information is not significant. This can be understood for two reasons: firstly, though males are usually seen to spend more time on the Internet than females, mothers tend to be more responsible than fathers in terms of daily childcare. Many of the parental information online are still traditionally gender-biased and are more likely to deal with mothers’ needs, which make fathers feeling marginalized (Sarkadi & Bremberg, 2005). Secondly, the result that mothers and fathers did not differ in terms of perceived importance of the Internet in seeking parenting information speaks for their attitude rather than their behaviors, though they might undertake unequal parenting duties in real life.
In terms of the age of children, the results support previous research findings that
parents with less parenting experience or parents with younger children are more likely to seek online health information (Khoo et al., 2008). The possible reason might be that parents have to take the full responsibilities to take care of younger children while nursery schools or kindergartens will share part of the duty for caring older children. Moreover, more mothers choose to be full-time parents when their children are very young, so they have more time to seek parenting information.
Findings also confirmed our expectation that parents with higher education level tended to spend more time in seeking online parenting information, supporting previous research (e.g., Na & Chia, 2008; Roche & Skinner, 2009). It is not empirically supported that higher educated parents held higher perceived importance of online parenting information, which suggests that online parenting information may fit parents with varying education levels.