Compliance without fear: Individual‐level protective behaviour during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

Objectives. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic required rapid public compliance with advice from health authorities. Here, we ask who was most likely to do so during the first wave of the pandemic.Design. Quota-sampled cross-sectional and panel data from eight Western democracies (Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States).Methods. We fielded online public opinion surveys to 26,508 citizens between 19 March and 16 May. The surveys included questions about protective behaviour, perceptions of the pandemic (threat and self-efficacy), as well as broader attitudes towards society (institutional and interpersonal trust). We employ multilevel and fixedeffects regression models to analyse the relationship between these variables.Results. Consistent with prior research on epidemics, perceptions of threat turn out as culturally uniform determinants of both avoidant and preventive forms of protective behaviour. On this basis, authorities could foster compliance by appealing to fear of COVID-19, but there may be normative and practical limits to such a strategy. Instead, we find that another major source of compliance is a sense of self-efficacy. Using individual-level panel data, we find evidence that self-efficacy is amendable to change and exerts an effect on protective behaviour. Furthermore, the effects of fear are small among those who feel efficacious, creating a path to compliance without fear. In contrast, two other major candidates for facilitating compliance from the social sciences, interpersonal trust and institutional trust, have surprisingly little motivational power during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.Conclusions. To address future waves of the pandemic, health authorities should thus focus on facilitating self-efficacy in the public. Statement of contributionWhat is already known on this subject?Health-related fear correlates with protective behaviour during epidemics including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using the health action process approach to predict facemask use and hand washing in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in China

“…In addition, not only a belief that protection behaviors were effective to reduce risks was necessary, a belief in one’s capabilities to perform these behaviors was pivotal. It was found that self-efficacy was more important than fear appeals for engaging protective behaviors during the pandemic, such that it itself constituted a pathway to compliance (Jørgensen et al, 2021 ). The current study demonstrated the different effects of the motivational determinants during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Public support for government responses against COVID-19: assessing levels and predictors in eight Western democracies during 2020

“…Because diseases are typically viewed as random accidents, the victims are seen as morally deserving of public help (Jensen and Petersen 2017). In the context of COVID-19, for example, prior research suggest that individuals higher in empathy are more likely to follow the advice of health authorities (Pfattheicher et al 2020), as are those fearful of the virus (Jørgensen et al 2021). In tandem, this implies that government responses may be supported from two, rather different, motivations: a fear-based motivation to protect the self and a prosocial motivation to protect others.…”

“…Whereas previous research has sought to understand who supports stringent responses against COVID-19 or who are most motivated to comply with stringent restrictions (Jørgensen et al 2021; Van Bavel et al 2020), the present focus is instead on whether and from whom national governments during a massive crisis can foster support for the particular set of policies that each government promotes as necessary. Overall, the results show that this is indeed possible and we document relatively high support for each government's response against COVID-19.…”

Trajectories of compliance with COVID-19 related guidelines: longitudinal analyses of 50,000 UK adults

“…Existing evidence from the current and previous pandemics shows that trends in compliance can differ markedly across groups (Jørgensen et al, 2021;Petherick et al, 2021;van der Weerd et al, 2011;Wright & Fancourt, 2020). For instance, in the UK, compliance decreased faster among younger age groups over the first five months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK (Wright & Fancourt, 2020).…”