Responses of the public towards the government in times of crisis

Abstract

We experimentally investigate how and when the public responds to government actions during times of crisis. Public reactions are shown to follow different processes, depending on whether government performs in exemplary or unsatisfactory ways to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 'how' the effects of government doing well on compliance with COVID-19 regulations, with political ideology moderating the experience of positive moral emotions and collective values moderating the effects of positive moral emotions. K E Y W O R D S attachment coping styles, conspiracy beliefs, moral emotions, political crises, political ideology, trust in government | 361 DOING BAD AND GOOD IN TIMES OF CRISIS

The link between anger and admiration toward governmental actions and self‐reported preventive behaviour in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Studies on the link between positive emotions and behaviour during the crisis are scarce (e.g., Krekel et al, 2023), and mostly focused on the overall emotional experience. Our study extends these findings by showing that admiration for the government's actions specifically was linked to greater engagement in preventive behaviour during the COVID‐19 crisis, supporting the evidence about the link between system‐based admiration and compliance with health policies during the pandemic (see also Bagozzi et al, 2023). However, admiration was positively linked to both types of preventive behaviour when felt toward restrictions, yet only to hygienic behaviour when felt toward the government's handling of the crisis.…”

“…Such positive system-based emotions can motivate individual and group behaviour within the system (e.g., Eibach et al, 2015). However, compared with anger, research on positive emotions in the context of a pandemic is scarce (but see, Krekel et al, 2023), and studies on the role of system-based admiration in explaining preventive behaviour in crises such as a pandemic are almost non-existent (but see Bagozzi et al, 2023).…”

“…In the context of a crisis, research showed that overall feeling of happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic was linked to the greater practice of physical distancing and staying at home to contain the virus's spread (Krekel et al, 2023). Looking specifically at system-based positive emotions, hope felt in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom was not related to preventive behaviour (Peitz et al, 2021), whereas admiration and gratitude were linked with compliance with preventive measures in a nation-wide sample of Norwegian citizens (Bagozzi et al, 2023).…”

“…System‐based emotions, emotions that are experienced in response to aspects of the social system or structural context, may motivate or demotivate specific system‐related behaviour (e.g., Jost et al, 2017; Solak et al, 2012), including adherence with preventive measures. Scarce studies have examined the role of system‐based affective reactions to the pandemic situation (Bagozzi et al, 2023; Peitz et al, 2021; Smith et al, 2021), and even less is known about the role of positive and negative system‐based emotions activated in response to governments responsible for the measures implemented to fight the pandemic (but see Abadi et al, 2021). The present research aimed to fill this gap by examining the link between two system‐based emotions (i.e., anger at and admiration for the government's actions during the pandemic), and self‐reported preventive behaviour (i.e., compliance with hygiene measures and social distancing).…”

A search for commonalities in defining the common good: Using folk theories to unlock shared conceptions

“…More recently, within the realm of research and scholarship, growing importance is accorded to the public good, as evidenced by the policy idea of ‘responsible research and innovation’ (Delgado & Åm, 2018) and the field of ‘public interest technology’ (Abbas et al., 2021). Achieving this is becoming increasingly challenging, however, given the growing complexities faced by leaders within social, political and economic domains, including the climate change, health crises and technological threats to name a few (Abrams & Travaglino, 2018; Bagozzi et al., 2023). Growing political fragmentation and clashing worldviews further compound these challenges (Iceland et al., 2023).…”