Dynamic associations between temporal behavior changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and subjective assessments of policymaking: A case study in Japan

Hongxiang Ding and Junyi Zhang

Transport Policy, 2021, vol. 110, issue C, 58-70

Abstract: To design effective policies against COVID-19, there is a need for more evidence-based research. However, associations between actual policies and temporal behavior changes have remained underexplored. To fill this important research gap, a nationwide retrospective life-oriented panel survey on individuals' behavior changes from April to September 2020 was implemented in Japan. Reliability of information sources, risk perceptions, and attitudes toward policymaking were also investigated. Valid data were collected from 2643 respondents residing in different parts of the country. Risks were reported about general infections and public transport use. Attitudes toward policymaking were mainly about policymaking capacity and PASS-LASTING based policy measures. A dynamic structural equation model (DSEM) was developed to quantify dynamic associations between individuals’ behavior changes over time and subjective assessments (i.e., attitudes) of policymaking. Survey results revealed that behavior changes are mostly characterized by avoidance behaviors. Modeling estimation results showed a statistically-significant sequential cause-effect relationship between accumulated behavior changes in the past, subjective factors, and the most recent behavior changes. The most recent behavior changes are mostly affected by accumulated behavior changes in the past. Effects of subjective assessments of policymaking on the most recent behavior changes are significant but moderate. Among attitudes toward policymaking, attitudes toward policymaking capacity are more influential than willingness to follow PASS-LASTING based policy measures. High risks of using public transport are found to significantly influence the most recent behavior changes, together with other risk perception factors. Insights into effective COVID-19 policymaking are summarized.

Keywords: COVID-19; Policy assessment; PASS approach; LASTING approach; Dynamic structural equation model; Behavior change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X2100158X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:trapol:v:110:y:2021:i:c:p:58-70

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.05.014

Access Statistics for this article

Transport Policy is currently edited by Y. Hayashi

More articles in Transport Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().