Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 16, Issue 12, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260171
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Funding
- Austrian Science Fund [P33907-G]
- Vienna Science and Technology Fund [EI-COV20-006]
- University of Vienna
- Austrian Chamber of Labour
- Federation of Austrian Industries
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [P33907] Funding Source: Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
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Individuals are motivated to engage in preventive behaviors by their perceived health risks, social norms, and trust in political institutions. Strong social norms play a crucial role in achieving high rates of preventive behavior, especially when perceived levels of health risks are low.
A strategy frequently adopted to contain the COVID-19 pandemic involves three non-pharmaceutical interventions that depend on high levels of compliance in society: maintaining physical distance from others, minimizing social contacts, and wearing a face mask. These measures require substantial changes in established practices of social interaction, raising the question of which factors motivate individuals to comply with these preventive behaviours. Using Austrian panel survey data from April 2020 to April 2021, we show that perceived health risks, social norms, and trust in political institutions stimulate people to engage in preventive behaviour. A moderation analysis shows that the effectiveness of social norms in facilitating preventive behaviour increases when people's perceptions of health risks decrease. No such moderation effect is observed for trust in political institutions. These results suggest that strong social norms play a crucial role in achieving high rates of preventive behaviour, especially when perceived levels of health risks are low.
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