Government Intervention, Risk Perception, and the Adoption of Protective Action Recommendations: Evidence from the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Experience of China

Taixiang Duan, Hechao Jiang, Xiangshu Deng, Qiongwen Zhang and Fang Wang
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Taixiang Duan: Department of Sociology, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu Province, China
Hechao Jiang: Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan Province, China
Xiangshu Deng: Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan Province, China
Qiongwen Zhang: Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan Province, China
Fang Wang: Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan Province, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: This study examines the relationships between government interventions, risk perception, and the public’s adoption of protective action recommendations (PARs) during the COVID-19 coronavirus disease emergency in mainland China. We conducted quota sampling based on the proportion of the population in each province and gender ratios in the Sixth Census and obtained a sample size of 3837. Government intervention was divided into government communication, government prevention and control, and government rescue. We used multiple regression and a bootstrap mediation effect test to study the mechanism of these three forms of government intervention on the public’s adoption of PARs. The results show that government prevention and control and government rescue significantly increased the likelihood of the public adopting PARs. Risk perception was significantly associated with the public’s adoption of PARs. The effects of government interventions and risk perception on the public’s adoption of PARs was not found to vary by region. Risk perception is identified as an important mediating factor between government intervention and the public’s adoption of PARs. These results indicate that increasing the public’s risk perception is an effective strategy for governments seeking to encourage the public to adopt PARs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; government intervention; risk perception; adoption of PARs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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