Exploring the impact of motivations on individual online and offline preventive actions against COVID-19

Abstract

Having accurate and sufficient information about the outbreak and actively adopting preventive actions are important to reduce the adverse effects of COVID-19 and control the spread of the epidemic. To this end, grounded in the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) and self-concern and other-orientation theory, this study aims to examine motivations of individuals to adopt online and offline preventive actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. We explored the effects of three motivations, i.e., situational motivation, concern-for-self and concern-for-others motivation, and their antecedents on individual online and offline preventive actions. We used PLS-SEM to analyze the results of 628 questionnaires and found that: first, individual online preventive actions have a positive predictive effect on offline actions; secondly, individual online preventive actions are positively affected by situational motivation and concern-for-others motivation, and individual offline preventive actions are positively affected by concern-for-self and concern-for-others motivation; finally, three situational perceptual factors including problem, involvement and constraint recognition have significant effects on the three motivations. The findings of this study enriched the research results on individual behaviors in the context of COVID-19, and provided a basis for making decisions on the guidance and management of the individuals’ COVID-19 preventive actions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04283-z.

Social media heterogeneity and preventive behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak: a survey on online shopping

“…Appropriate information delivery not only encourages residents to engage in preventive behaviours but also helps them engage in appropriate preventive behaviours. Zhang [ 25 ] found that social media plays an important role in the dissemination of risk information and the shaping of public risk perception. During the COVID-19 outbreak, residents actively acquired risk information on social media, and this information encouraged them to adopt preventive measures [ 26 ].…”