Emergence of and compliance with new social norms: The example of the COVID crisis in Germany

Diekmann, Andreas

doi:10.1177/10434631221092749

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Being infected can have adverse consequences on the agent’s own health in the short term and potentially in the mid- to long term, and it can potentially be transmitted to others. Because of the potential transmission, we can consider that agents contribute to public health as a public good when they decide to adopt protective behaviors because they can reduce transmissions [ 11 ].…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The adoption of each of these protective behaviors has different consequences for the agent. Indeed, as argued by Diekmann [ 11 ], some protective behaviors have an impact on the agent’s likelihood to be infected as well others (reduction of social contacts with family members of friends, maintaining distance and hands hygiene), while others are adopted to prevent the transmission to others only (covering cough). For mask wearing, it is ambiguous whether it perceived as a way to protect itself at the time of the survey because it was argued that being infected is possible even when wearing a mask.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, according to Diekmann [ 11 ], the willingness to adopt a protective behavior depends on whether its purpose is to protect the agent or to protect others (potentially shaped by how much adopting the behavior can generate discomfort). Therefore, we will test if there some heterogeneity in the predictive power of our main variable of interest by protective behavior.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Risk, time preferences, trustworthiness and COVID-19 preventive behavior: evidence from France

Bergeot

Jusot

2023

Eur J Health Econ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We analyze how far-sightedness and risk aversion as well as the perceived trustworthiness of others correlate with COVID-19-related protective behaviors in France. We leverage individual-level data from the corona survey of the Survey of Health Aging and Retirement in Europe linked with a paper questionnaire survey about preferences conducted in France just before the coronavirus outbreak. Our results suggest that far-sightedness and risk aversion are strong predictors of individuals’ protective behavior. More far-sighted individuals are more likely to not visit their family members anymore, wear a mask, and keep their distance from others when outside, wash their hands more regularly and cover their cough. Risk aversion increases the likelihood of not meeting more than 5 other people and not meeting with family members anymore. Concerning the perceived trustworthiness, we find that a higher level of trust in others reduces compliance with the recommendations about meeting with 5 or more people and family gatherings. We interpret this result as a sign that individuals with trust in others perceive a lower risk of being infected by friends and family members. Hence, they are more willing to take risks when they engage in social interactions when they perceive their relatives as trustworthy. The government should therefore consider individuals’ heterogeneity in preferences and beliefs when implementing a strategy to encourage people to comply with its COVID-19 protective recommendations. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10198-023-01573-y.

show abstract

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Risk, time preferences, trustworthiness and COVID-19 preventive behavior: evidence from France

Bergeot

Jusot

2023

Eur J Health Econ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Externalities. A demand for social norms arises because an action has similar externalities for a set of people but no market in rights of control of the action can easily be established (Coleman, 1994;Diekmann, 2022;Hechter and Opp, 2001). Most cases of online protest are clearly driven by externalities because the action of an out-group, for example an organization, has positive externalities for this group, for example higher profits, but negative externalities for another group, for example dismissals, the limited use of music, the deforestation of the rainforest, the violation of human or animal rights or the detriment of biodiversity (Einwiller et al, 2017(Einwiller et al, : 1181.…”

Section: Motives For Hostile Verbal Expression During Online Protestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hostile-emotional excess of zeal in public social media: A case study of an online firestorm against an organization

Rost

Stahel

2022

Rationality and Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Caused by perceived norm violations, online firestorms confront organizations with large volumes of hostile-emotional comments on public social media leading to a damage to reputation or the cancellation of products and projects. Relying on social norm theory we analyze how people express perceived norm violations in their online comments and how this relates to their use of hostile-emotional online sanctions. We distinguish negative externalities; propriety judgements; excess of zeal, which combines negative externalities with propriety judgements; and no justification, meaning no speculations about why norm violations occurred, as four types of motive for hostile verbal expression. Using hostile-emotional sanctioning is differently associated with these motives: (1) weak association with negative externalities to maintain credibility; (2) moderate association with propriety judgements as a result of altruistic punishments; (3) moderate association with no justification, triggered by arousal; and (4) strong association with an excess of zeal because norm enforcers believe that a latent group exists which rewards them with positive sanctions for working toward the common goal and punishes them with negative sanctions for shirking. We analyze one specific online protest signed by 305,122 people that led to a massive hostile-emotional firestorm against an organization. We find that 37% of the 44,173 individuals who additionally commented their protest participation were hostile and/or emotional. As predicted, we find that compared to the other motives, the excess of zeal is most likely to motivate hostile-emotional sanctions. Overall, our theory and findings explain why most online firestorms are hard to stop: with an excess of zeal, a latent group of norm enforcers must be appeased.

show abstract

“…Hence, in a changing context, the two core traits that make social norms successful drivers of behaviour—their predictability and the fear of sanctions—may be undermined. It is not evident that dynamic norms, established in settings characterized by change and uncertainty, invoke compliance to the same extent as stable social norms [ 21 , 22 ]. To leverage social norms for social dilemmas under risk and uncertainty we need to better understand how norms evolve.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk, sanctions and norm change: the formation and decay of social distancing norms

Vriens,

Andrighetto,

Tummolini

2024

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global challenges like the climate crisis and pandemic outbreaks require collective responses where people quickly adapt to changing circumstances. Social norms are potential solutions, but only if they themselves are flexible enough. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to study norm formation and decay in real-world contexts. We tracked empirical and normative expectations about social distancing and empirical and normative expectations of sanctioning from June 2021 to February 2022 to explore how norms and meta norms evolved as COVID-19 risk decreased and increased. We found that norms and meta norms partially coevolve with risk dynamics, although they recover with some delay. This implies that norms should be enforced as soon as risk increases. We therefore tested how sanctioning intentions vary for different hypothetical norms and find them to increase with a clear meta norm of sanctioning, yet decrease with a clear social norm of distance. In conclusion, social norms evolve spontaneously with changing risk, but might not be adaptive enough when the lack of meta norms of sanctioning introduce tolerance for norm violations. Moreover, norm nudges can potentially have negative externalities if strengthening the social norm increases tolerance for norm violations. These results put some limits to social norms as solutions to guide behaviour under risk. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Social norm change: drivers and consequences’.

show abstract

Emergence of and compliance with new social norms: The example of the COVID crisis in Germany

Cited by 7 publications

References 43 publications

Risk, time preferences, trustworthiness and COVID-19 preventive behavior: evidence from France

Risk, time preferences, trustworthiness and COVID-19 preventive behavior: evidence from France

Hostile-emotional excess of zeal in public social media: A case study of an online firestorm against an organization

Risk, sanctions and norm change: the formation and decay of social distancing norms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About