It's Politics, Isn't It? Investigating Direct and Indirect Influences of Political Orientation on Risk Perception of COVID‐19

Abstract

Public response to the COVID‐19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to study risk perception in relation to political orientation. We tested a risk perception model of how political orientation influences risk perception of an emerging infectious disease and how it moderates other influences. Two nationwide online surveys in South Korea (N = 2,000) revealed that conservatives showed a higher risk perception regarding an emerging infectious disease, and political orientation can even moderate the influence of perceived risk characteristics on risk perception such as how a liberal orientation exhibited a greater outrage effect of perceived unfairness on COVID‐19 risk perception. Also, the frequency of media use is positively related to higher risk perception. The implications of the direct and moderating effects of political orientation are discussed in the context of the studies of political orientation as well as risk perception.

Analyzing Risk Communication, Trust, Risk Perception, Negative Emotions, and Behavioral Coping Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China Using a Structural Equation Model

“…The massively developing social network phenomenon has become the main dissemination platform for COVID-19 information and has attracted significant attention from emergency management agencies. One survey showed that the frequency of media use was positively associated with higher RP ( 13 ). Social media has become an important channel by which public could seek and share a staggering amount of health-related information and more so during the outbreak of COVID-19 ( 14 ).…”

An application of the extended parallel process model to protective behaviors against COVID-19 in South Korea

“…Although many studies have been conducted to analyze the preventive behavior of COVID-19 by applying EPPM in Europe [ 7 ], the United States [ 19 ], Canada [ 23 ], and Asia [ 19 , 21 ], to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate social distancing participation factors through the EPPM framework in Korea; specifically, this is evaluated as successfully coping with the spread of COVID-19 [ 36 ]. This study demonstrates that EPPM can explain an individual’s behavior in coping with infectious diseases as an emotional and cognitive dynamic process, even in culturally and politically different contexts.…”

“…The sociodemographic variables included in the analysis were sex (0 = men, 1 = women), age (in years), education (0 = high school or below, 1 = college or above), monthly household equivalence income (values ranging from 1 (under 1,724 US dollars(USD)) to 4 (5,143 USD or above), and employment status (0 = unemployed, 1 = employed)). People with chronic diseases are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection [ 34 ]; research suggests that an individual’s health status is associated with performing COVID-19 preventive measures, COVID-19 pandemic fear, and risk perception [ 35 , 36 ]. Therefore, we asked participants about their health status.…”

Social cognition theories and behavior change in COVID-19: A conceptual review

“…As in the mediation analyses reported previously, political orientation would be expected to impact individuals’ decision making in the context of COVID-19 preventive behaviors. As an illustration, political orientation has been shown to moderate effects of perceived determining factors like catastrophic potential, dread, and moral nature on risk perceptions, a social cognition construct ( Ju & You, 2022 ). However, there has been few investigations examining political orientation as a moderator within social cognition models, particularly its role as a moderator of the intention-behavior relationship.…”