Peers for the Fearless: Social Norms Facilitate Preventive Behaviour when Individuals Perceive Low COVID-19 Health Risks

Author(s)
Bernhard Kittel, Fabian Kalleitner, David Wolfgang Schiestl
Abstract

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.

Organisation(s)
Department of Economic Sociology
Journal
PLoS ONE
Volume
16
No. of pages
20
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260171
Publication date
12-2021
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
504030 Economic sociology
Keywords
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/peers-for-the-fearless-social-norms-facilitate-preventive-behaviour-when-individuals-perceive-low-covid19-health-risks(5c15b22d-6ba9-4836-8709-a11ae5ab0cfa).html