Drawing “digital nutrients”: A study on the impact mechanism of users' digital hoarding on information utilization

In the digital era, social media platforms provide users with continuously expanding storage spaces that facilitate digital hoarding. Although such affordances improve the efficiency of information acquisition and retention, they also increase information redundancy and hinder effective information utilization. This study aimed to elucidate the psychological mechanisms through which digital hoarding influences information utilization. Grounded in social cognitive theory, we proposed a dual-mediation model in which self-efficacy and fear of missing out (FoMO) mediated the relationship between digital hoarding and information utilization, with social search serving as a moderator. A questionnaire survey of Xiaohongshu users with extensive information-saving behavior was conducted, and 513 valid responses were analyzed using multiple regression and Bootstrap-based mediation methods. The results indicated that digital hoarding significantly promotes information utilization; this effect was mediated by enhanced self-efficacy and reduced FoMO. Moreover, social search strengthened the indirect effect via self-efficacy while attenuating the indirect effect via FoMO, constituting a moderated mediation mechanism. Theoretically, this study extends the explanatory framework linking digital hoarding and information utilization from a psychological mechanism perspective. Practically, the findings provide implications for social media platforms to optimize information management, search, and recommendation systems to facilitate information value realization. • A moderated mediation model was constructed and tested via hierarchical regression. • Digital hoarding positively influenced information utilization. • Self-efficacy mediated the relationship between digital hoarding and information utilization. • Fear of Missing Out mediated the relationship between digital hoarding and information utilization. • Social search moderated the relationship between digital hoarding and self-efficacy.