Human, Technologies and Quality of Education, 2023

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore social measurements and COVID-19 -related behavioral choices from a network structure perspective. We tested network models by comparing network structures in 46 countries by cultural dimensions (Hofstede et al., 2010). The pre-registered hypothesis was that the network structure of variables predicting COVID-19-related behavioral choices will be robust across countries, regardless of the mean differences of these variables between countries characterized by high vs low culture dimension indices. Behavioural choices toward COVID-19 situation were: physical hygiene, policy support, and physical contact. In network analysis we used several social/psychological constructs: social belonging, trait optimism, collective narcissism, moral identity, self-esteem, national identification, trait self-control, morality as cooperation, conspiracy beliefs, political ideology, and narcissism. We analysed twelve conditions based on dichotomized culture dimensions (high vs. low Power distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty avoidance, Long-term orientation, and Indulgence) across demographics (e.g., age, gender). We conducted network structure analysis using high-dimensional undirected graph estimation with glasso procedure splitting the data by culture dimensions in total with N = 40 795 individuals. The study findings indicated that the network models were fairly consistent across cultures with different scores on each of Hofstede's six cultural dimensions. This similarity reflects the previous studies in terms of the stability of associations between variables regardless of sex, age, and political beliefs.