| Literature DB >> 33916631 |
Chengzhe Fu1, Liao Liao1, Weijun Huang1.
Abstract
Different countries have introduced different urgent policies to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. The compliance behavior of these anti-epidemic policies has always been an important concern to governments, and its effects need to be tested. In recent years, many scholars have paid attention to the mechanism and intervention of policy compliance behavior, which helps to explain the mechanism of anti-epidemic compliance behavior, and to improve the effectiveness of anti-epidemic policy. Therefore, considering the characters of youth groups in the context of the novel coronavirus, this study takes campus anti-epidemic compliance behavior as the research topic, based on 680 effective samples of college students in China, in order to examine the effectiveness of these policies using an investigation experiment. This study revealed that the 'Nudge' policy instrument was the most effective way to guide individuals' behavior during the coronavirus outbreak, the 'Sermon' instrument was the least recognized, and the 'Whip' instrument (a traditional and classical policy instrument) had its normal effect on individuals' behavior. Additionally, it found that high accessibility in policy implementation results in more significant policy behavior. By taking the effects of different policy behaviors into consideration, governments may produce better and more effective policy implementation and compliance during the anti-epidemic period.Entities:
Keywords: anti-epidemic policy; behavior effects of policy; policy implementation and compliance; policy instruments
Year: 2021 PMID: 33916631 PMCID: PMC8038609 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18073776
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health ISSN: 1660-4601 Impact factor: 3.390
Eight experimental conditions.
| Accessibility Degree | Policy Instruments | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whip | Sermon | Nudge | Control Group | |
| High level | H1 | H2 | H3 | H7 |
| Low level | H4 | H5 | H6 | H8 |
Descriptive statistics of the samples.
| Variable | Variable Value | Mean | Std. Dev. | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sex | 1 = male; 0 = female | 0.56 | 0.50 | 1 | 2 |
| age | 1 = 19 years old; 2 = 20–24 years old; 3 = 25 years old or older; | 1.75 | 0.50 | 1 | 3 |
| education | 1 = College; 2 = University; 3 = Master or above | 2.04 | 0.43 | 1 | 3 |
| political status | 1 = CCP member; 0 = Non CCP member | 0.11 | 0.31 | 0 | 1 |
| monthly income | 1 = 1000 RMB or less; 2 = 1001–3000 RMB; 3 = 3000 RMB or plus | 1.49 | 0.61 | 1 | 3 |
| province | 1 = Guangdong; 0 = other provinces | 0.73 | 0.45 | 0 | 1 |
| living area | 1 = city; 0 = village | 0.68 | 0.47 | 0 | 1 |
| confirmed cases of COVID-19 | 1 = 0–20 cases; 2 = 21–80 cases; 3 = 81 cases or more; 4 = no idea | 1.91 | 0.92 | 1 | 4 |
| anti-epidemic policy period | 1 = 20200109; 2 = 20200119; 3 = 20200120; 4 = 20200123; 5 = 20200124 | 3.54 | 1.42 | 1 | 5 |
Descriptive statistics of the variables.
| Aspect | Variable | Variable Type | Mean | Std. Dev. | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
| Individual psychology | mood instability | continuous variable | 2.48 | 0.85 | 1.00 | 5.00 |
| psychological pressure | continuous variable | 3.50 | 0.51 | 1.63 | 5.00 | |
| estimation about COVID-19 | ordinal variable | 1.83 | 0.59 | 1.00 | 3.00 | |
| Individual behavior | level of updates about COVID-19 | ordinal variable | 1.56 | 0.62 | 1.00 | 3.00 |
| off-line participations in social activities | nominal variable | 0.20 | 0.40 | 0.00 | 1.00 | |
| Any donation during the COVID-19 | nominal variable | 0.45 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 1.00 | |
| Trust in government | trust in central government | continuous variable | 4.35 | 0.73 | 1.00 | 5.00 |
| trust in local government | continuous variable | 4.11 | 0.82 | 1.00 | 5.00 | |
|
| ||||||
| Behavior effect of policy | epidemic prevention effect | continuous variable | 3.09 | 0.52 | 1.25 | 5.00 |
| university epidemic prevention effect | continuous variable | 3.09 | 0.43 | 1.00 | 4.17 | |
Note: estimation about COVID-19: 1 = within 1 month, 2 = 2–3 months, 3 = 3 months or more; level of updates about COVID-19: 1 = non or within 1 h per day, 2 = 1–2 h per day, 3 = 3 h or more per day; off-line participations in social activities: 1 = Yes; 0 = No; any donation during the COVID-19: 1 = Yes; 0 = No.
Figure 1Effects of policy behavior.
Regression results of the effectiveness of the policy implementation.
| (4) | (5) | (6) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| University Policy | University Policy | University Policy | |
| Instrument (Reference Group = control group) | |||
| whip | 0.16 *** | 0.16 ** | |
| (0.06) | (0.08) | ||
| sermon | 0.09 | 0.01 | |
| (0.05) | (0.08) | ||
| nudge | 0.13 ** | 0.07 | |
| (0.05) | (0.08) | ||
| Accessibility (Reference Group = low accessibility) | |||
| high accessibility | 0.12 *** | ||
| (0.04) | |||
| Interaction Effect (Reference Group = control group × low accessibility) | |||
| control group × high accessibility | 0.04 | ||
| (0.08) | |||
| whip × high accessibility | 0.05 | ||
| (0.09) | |||
| sermon × high accessibility | 0.2 *** | ||
| (0.07) | |||
| nudge × high accessibility | 0.17 ** | ||
| (0.08) | |||
| _cons | 2.94 *** | 2.97 *** | 2.98 *** |
| (0.04) | (0.04) | (0.05) | |
| Observations | 680 | 680 | 680 |
| R-squared | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.03 |
Note: *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05.
Figure 2The effectiveness of the policy implementation.
Cronbach’s test.
| Variable | Items | Average Interitem Covariance | Cronbach’s Alpha |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epidemic prevention effect | 4 | 0.11 | 0.61 |
| University epidemic prevention effect | 4 | 0.18 | 0.62 |
Balance Check.
| H1 | H2 | H3 | H4 | H5 | H6 | H7 | H8 |
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||||||
| sex | 0.52 | 0.59 | 0.56 | 0.7 | 0.57 | 0.56 | 0.45 | 0.57 | 0.161 |
| age | 1.77 | 1.67 | 1.81 | 1.8 | 1.73 | 1.74 | 1.76 | 1.75 | 0.809 |
| education | 2.06 | 2 | 2.04 | 2.06 | 2.01 | 2.06 | 2.06 | 2.05 | 0.935 |
| political status | 0.08 | 0.05 | 0.14 | 0.13 | 0.06 | 0.11 | 0.14 | 0.15 | 0.331 |
| monthly income | 1.52 | 1.48 | 1.54 | 1.51 | 1.42 | 1.49 | 1.49 | 1.42 | 0.906 |
| province | 0.77 | 0.71 | 0.69 | 0.73 | 0.77 | 0.8 | 0.66 | 0.67 | 0.274 |
| living area | 0.7 | 0.75 | 0.65 | 0.65 | 0.63 | 0.72 | 0.66 | 0.66 | 0.750 |
| confirmed cases of COVID-19 | 1.82 | 2.01 | 1.82 | 1.88 | 2.08 | 1.9 | 2.07 | 1.74 | 0.100 |
| anti-epidemic policy period | 3.65 | 3.64 | 3.54 | 3.51 | 3.46 | 3.57 | 3.51 | 3.47 | 0.982 |
|
| |||||||||
| reading time(s) | 21.64 | 23.23 | 39.49 | 22.3 | 25.15 | 30.06 | 26.1 | 20.95 | 0.053 |
| click count(times) | 1.76 | 1.36 | 1.88 | 1.13 | 1.31 | 1.52 | 1.31 | 1.24 | 0.548 |
Multiple Regression Analysis of Variables.
| Model | Model | Model | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | (2) | (3) | |
| mood instability | −0.1 *** | −0.1 *** | −0.07 *** |
| (0.02) | (0.02) | (0.02) | |
| psychological pressure | 0.07 | 0.06 | 0.03 |
| (0.04) | (0.04) | (0.03) | |
| estimation about COVID-19 | 0 | −0.01 | 0.01 |
| (0.03) | (0.03) | (0.03) | |
| level of updates about COVID-19 | 0.01 | 0.02 | |
| (0.03) | (0.03) | ||
| off-line participations in social activities | −0.08 * | −0.06 * | |
| (0.04) | (0.04) | ||
| any donation during COVID-19 | 0.09 *** | 0.07 ** | |
| (0.03) | (0.03) | ||
| trust in central government | 0.12 *** | ||
| (0.03) | |||
| trust in local government | 0.15 *** | ||
| (0.03) | |||
| demographic variables | controlled | controlled | controlled |
| _cons | 3.25 *** | 3.26 *** | 1.97 *** |
| (0.21) | (0.22) | (0.21) | |
| Observations | 645 | 636 | 636 |
| R-squared | 0.06 | 0.07 | 0.26 |
Robust standard errors are in parentheses; *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.