TY - JOUR

T1 - Lessons learned about willingness to adopt various protective measures during the early COVID-19 pandemic in three countries

AU - Santana, Ana Paula

AU - Korn, Lars

AU - Betsch, Cornelia

AU - Böhm, Robert

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright: © 2022 Santana et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2022/3

Y1 - 2022/3

N2 - Background Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, concerted efforts have been invested in research to investigate and communicate the importance of complying with protective behaviors, such as handwashing and mask wearing. Protective measures vary in how effective they are in protecting the individual against infection, how much experience people have with them, whether they provide individual or societal protection, and how they are perceived on these dimensions. Methods This study assessed the willingness to follow recommended measures, depending on these features, among participants from Germany (n = 333), Hong Kong (n = 367), and the U.S. (n = 495). From April 24th to May 1st, 2020, individuals completed an online survey that assessed the antecedents of interest. Results It was shown that assumed effectiveness, previous experience, and intended self- and other-protection positively predicted willingness to comply across countries. When measures were mainly perceived as protecting others (vs. the self), individuals were less prone to adopt them. When a measure’s effectiveness to protect the individual was perceived as lower, willingness to adopt the measure increased with higher levels of prior experience and collectivism. Moreover, protecting others was more strongly related to adoption when individuals had higher levels of collectivism and lower levels of individualism. Conclusions Emphasizing the benefit for others could be a means to lower the potential detrimental effects of low assumed effectiveness for individual protection.

AB - Background Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, concerted efforts have been invested in research to investigate and communicate the importance of complying with protective behaviors, such as handwashing and mask wearing. Protective measures vary in how effective they are in protecting the individual against infection, how much experience people have with them, whether they provide individual or societal protection, and how they are perceived on these dimensions. Methods This study assessed the willingness to follow recommended measures, depending on these features, among participants from Germany (n = 333), Hong Kong (n = 367), and the U.S. (n = 495). From April 24th to May 1st, 2020, individuals completed an online survey that assessed the antecedents of interest. Results It was shown that assumed effectiveness, previous experience, and intended self- and other-protection positively predicted willingness to comply across countries. When measures were mainly perceived as protecting others (vs. the self), individuals were less prone to adopt them. When a measure’s effectiveness to protect the individual was perceived as lower, willingness to adopt the measure increased with higher levels of prior experience and collectivism. Moreover, protecting others was more strongly related to adoption when individuals had higher levels of collectivism and lower levels of individualism. Conclusions Emphasizing the benefit for others could be a means to lower the potential detrimental effects of low assumed effectiveness for individual protection.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127238466&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0265892

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0265892

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35349583

AN - SCOPUS:85127238466

VL - 17

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 3

M1 - e0265892

ER -