The effects of organizational climate on adherence to guidelines for COVID-19 prevention

Political affiliation as a moderator of the relationship between organizational climate and COVID-19 vaccine readiness

RATIONALE

Organizations have a significant influence on their employees' behavior and attitudes across a wide range of areas. A framework to bundle these effects is organizational climate. Here, we argue that in a highly polarized society, such as the United States, many types of organizational climate revolve around issues that are divided along partisan lines (e.g., diversity, sustainability, COVID-19). However, research on organizational climate has largely overlooked the idea that employees perceive these issues through a partisan lens.

OBJECTIVE

We aim to address this gap by arguing that political affiliation constitutes a boundary condition for those types of organizational climates addressing partisan cleavages. In particular, we focus on the interplay of organizational climate and the partisan gap in COVID-19. We predicted that the effect of organizational COVID-19 safety climate on employees' COVID-19 vaccine readiness is moderated by political affiliation.

METHODS

We conducted a survey with 1158 U.S. citizens. To strengthen the generalizability of our findings, we took care to ensure that the gender and ethnicity distribution of our sample reflected the distribution of both variables in the U.S.

POPULATION

RESULTS

As predicted, results showed that the effect of organizational COVID-19 safety climate on employees' COVID-19 vaccine readiness was moderated by political affiliation. Specifically, the relationship between organizational COVID-19 safety climate and COVID-19 vaccine readiness was more pronounced among Republicans than Democrats.

CONCLUSION

We provide a new perspective on the interactive effects of organizational climate and political partisanship on attitudes to vaccines. Our research suggests that, when it comes to vaccine readiness, it is precisely those who are most vaccine-hesitant who are most affected by the organizations for whom they work.

Organizations affect their employees' vaccine readiness: A self-perception theory perspective

Over the past 3 years, employees have constantly witnessed how their organizations have responded to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we hypothesize that employees' perceptions of the COVID-19 safety climate of their organization positively affect their vaccine readiness. To examine the underlying mechanisms of this effect, we use a self-perception theory lens. Thus, we hypothesize that an organization's COVID-19 safety climate affects employees' COVID-19 vaccine readiness through employees' adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. We conducted a time-lagged study over the time span of 1 year (N = 351) to test our hypotheses. In general, results support our hypotheses. In particular, results showed that perceived COVID-19 safety climate assessed at an early stage of the pandemic (April 2020, when no vaccines were available) predicted employees' COVID-19 vaccine readiness more than a year later. In line with self-perception theory, this effect was mediated by employees' adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. The present study provides theoretical insight into the underlying mechanisms of organizational climate on employees' attitudes. From a practical perspective, our results suggest that organizations are a powerful lever for promoting vaccine readiness.

How health beliefs and sense of control predict adherence to COVID-19 prevention guidelines among young adults in South Korea

This study defined adherence to COVID-19 prevention guidelines as health behavior and examined whether the two constructs of the health belief model (i.e., perceived susceptibility and perceived severity) and sense of control predict the level of adherence among young adults in South Korea. An online survey (N = 200) conducted in June 2021, showed that perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and sense of control positively predict adherence behavior. Sense of control significantly moderated the relationship between perceived susceptibility and adherence even after controlling for depression and perceived health status. Specifically, individuals with a lower level of perceived susceptibility still adhered to COVID-19 prevention guidelines if they had a higher level of sense of control. The finding demonstrates the key role of sense of control in promoting adherence to COVID-19 prevention guidelines and the relationship between sense of control and two constructs of the health belief model. Implication for public messaging targeted at young adults during pandemic situations is also discussed.

Knowledge-based normative safety measure approach: systematic assessment of capabilities to conquer COVID-19

In this research article, we have introduced a knowledge-based approach to regional/national security measures. Proposed Knowledge-based Normative Safety Measure algorithm for safety measures helps to take practical actions to conquer COVID-19. We analyzed based on five dimensions: the correlation between detected cases and confirmed cases, social distance, the speed of detected cases, the correlation between imported cases and inbound cases, and the proportion of masks worn. It prompts actions based on the security level of the region. Through the use of our proposed algorithm, the government has accelerated the implementation of social distancing, accelerated test cases, and policies, etc., to prevent people from contracting COVID-19. This idea can be a very effective way to realize the impending danger and take action in advance. Help speed up the process of controlling the COVID-19. In pandemic times, it can be helpful to understand better. Holding the normative safety measure at a high level leads nations to perform excellently on triple T's (testing, tracking, and treatment) policy and other safety acts. The proposed NSM approach facilitates for improve the governance of cities and communities.