Effect of Information Framing on Wearing Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Interaction With Social Norms and Information Credibility

On the adoption of nonpharmaceutical interventions during the pandemic: An evolutionary game model

The adoption of behavioral nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) among the public is essential for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, yet presents challenges due to the complexity of human behaviors. A large body of literature has utilized classic game theory to investigate the population's decisions regarding the adoption of interventions, where the static solution concept such as the Nash equilibrium is studied. However, individual adoption behavior is not static, instead it is a dynamic process that involves the strategic interactions with other counterparts over time. The study of quantitatively analyzing the dynamics on precautionary behavior during an outbreak is rather scarce. This article fills the research gap by developing an evolutionary game-theoretic framework to model the dynamics of population behavior on the adoption of NPI. We construct the two-group asymmetric game, where behavioral change for each group is characterized by replicator equations. Sensitivity analyses are performed to examine the long-term stability of equilibrium points with respect to perturbation of model parameters. We found that the limiting behavior of intervention adoption in the population consists of only pure strategies in a game setting, indicating that the evolutionary outcome is that everyone either takes up the preventive measure or not. We also applied the framework to examine the mask-wearing behavior, and validated with actual data. Overall, this article provides insights into population dynamics on the adoption of intervention strategy during the outbreak, which can be beneficial for policy makers to better understand the evolutionary trajectory of population behavior.

The influence of social conformity on mask-wearing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to vaccination, health authorities have strongly advocated the wearing of face masks as a crucial measure in combating the virus. Nevertheless, the recommendation or legal requirement to wear a face mask is no guarantee of adherence to the rules. A person's decision to wear a mask may also be based on their beliefs and is likely to be influenced by their observation of the mask-wearing behavior of other people. This study aims to explore the role of conformity on the wearing of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that there is little evidence on how the mask-wearing behavior of others and demographic factors affect people's decisions to wear face masks in public settings, we performed a large-scale observational study in the Czech Republic during a period of rapidly increasing COVID-19 related cases and deaths. We observed a total of 1753 customers and 472 employees in 67 highly frequented shopping venues. The data were collected by trained observers and analyzed using multilevel logistic regression modeling. The results indicate that the mask-wearing behavior of new customers was influenced by the proportion of other customers wearing masks and the behavior differed according to the demographics of age and sex. A notable finding was that the greater the presence of customers wearing masks in a store, the lower the propensity of new visitors to wear masks. Which may be evidence of problematic free-riding behavior. These findings therefore have policy implications and can aid the formulation of specific (communication) strategies to promote mask-wearing behavior.

The effect of partitioned framing vs. all-inclusive framing of donation amount on prosocial behavior: focus on the moderation effect of psychological characteristics

Despite numerous studies on individual charitable donations and cause-related marketing have been conducted, the framing of the donation amount has not been studied. This research suggests that people's intention to donate to charity differs depending on whether the donation amount is framed as all-inclusive or partitioned. The main effect of partitioned framing was moderated by individual differences in the need for cognition and regulatory focus. The results of our research are threefold. First, people responded more positively to engage in prosocial behavior in the partitioned donation amount condition than in the all-inclusive condition, even when the total amounts were the same. Second, the framing effect of the donation amount differed according to the need for cognition. Individuals with a high need for cognition (NFC) had a higher intention to donate in the partitioned donation amount condition than in the all-inclusive condition, while individuals with low NFC did not show differences in either condition. Third, the framing effect of the donation amount differed according to regulatory focus. Prevention-focused individuals were more willing to donate in the partitioned condition than in the all-inclusive condition, while promotion-focused individuals did not show differences in either condition. In addition, the interaction of framing and regulatory focus on donation intention was mediated by the perceived authenticity of the donation organization. This research has several academic and practical implications for effective corporate social responsibility activities.

Research on the influencing factors of users’ information processing in online health communities based on heuristic-systematic model

With the rapid development of the Internet and the normalization of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, Online health communities (OHCs) have gradually become one of the important ways for people to obtain health information, and users have to go through a series of information processing when facing the massive amount of data. Understanding the factors influencing user information processing is necessary to promote users’ health literacy, health knowledge popularization and health behavior shaping. Based on the Heuristic-Systematic Model (HSM), Information Ecology Theory, Privacy Trade-Off and Self-Efficacy Theory, we constructed a model of factors influencing user information processing in online health communities. We found that information quality and emotional support had indirect effects on heuristic and systematic information processing, and these effects were mediated by privacy concerns and self-efficacy. In our research model, systematic information processing was most positively influenced directly by self-efficacy. Privacy concerns had a direct negative correlation with both dual information processing pathways. Therefore, OHCs managers should develop relevant regulations to ensure the information quality in OHCs and improve privacy protection services to promote user information processing by improving users’ self-efficacy and reducing their privacy concerns. Providing a user-friendly and interactive environment for users is also recommended to create more emotional support, thus facilitating more systematic information processing.