Nudges for COVID-19 Voluntary Vaccination: How to Explain Peer Information?

Sasaki, Shusaku; Saito, Tomoya; Ohtake, Fumio

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3866284

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

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“…Using a similar manipulation, Sasaki et al. ( 67 ) find no effect among Japanese respondents. Directly informing people of the vaccination status of their close ties, as Gerber et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of social norms varies with “others” groups: Evidence from COVID-19 vaccination intentions

Rabb

Bowers

Glick

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The theory that health behaviors spread through social groups implies that efforts to control COVID-19 through vaccination will succeed if people believe that others in their groups are getting vaccinated. But “others” can refer to many groups, including one’s family, neighbors, fellow city or state dwellers, or copartisans. One challenge to examining these understudied distinctions is that many factors may confound observed relationships between perceived social norms (what people believe others do) and intended behaviors (what people themselves will do), as there are plausible common causes for both. We address these issues using survey data collected in the United States during late fall 2020 ( n = 824) and spring 2021 ( n = 996) and a matched design that approximates pair-randomized experiments. We find a strong relationship between perceived vaccination social norms and vaccination intentions when controlling for real risk factors (e.g., age), as well as dimensions known to predict COVID-19 preventive behaviors (e.g., trust in scientists). The strength of the relationship declines as the queried social group grows larger and more heterogeneous. The relationship for copartisans is second in magnitude to that of family and friends among Republicans but undetectable for Democrats. Sensitivity analysis shows that these relationships could be explained away only by an unmeasured variable with large effects (odds ratios between 2 and 15) on social norms perceptions and vaccination intentions. In addition, a prediction from the “false consensus” view that intentions cause perceived social norms is not supported. We discuss the implications for public health policy and understanding social norms.

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“…Using a similar manipulation, Sasaki et al. ( 67 ) find no effect among Japanese respondents. Directly informing people of the vaccination status of their close ties, as Gerber et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of social norms varies with “others” groups: Evidence from COVID-19 vaccination intentions

Rabb

Bowers

Glick

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Can nudges save lives?

Ohtake

2021

JER

Self Cite

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To assess the promotion of life saving behaviors and determine the sustainability of nudge message effects, this paper examines nudges that promote evacuation during heavy rainfall, preventative COVID-19 infection behaviors, and COVID-19 vaccination. The results showed that altruistic gain messages may have more sustained effects than others in promoting both evacuation during heavy rainfall and contact reduction behaviors as a measure against COVID-19 infection. Specifically, social influence nudges that use a gain frame to convey that a person’s behavior promotes the behavior of others are effective for both heavy rainfall evacuations and encouraging COVID-19 vaccination.

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Can vaccination intentions against COVID-19 be nudged?

Kantorowicz‐Reznichenko

Kantorowicz

Wells

2022

Behav. Public Policy

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Once vaccines against COVID-19 became available in many countries, a new challenge has emerged – how to increase the number of people who vaccinate? Different policies are being considered and implemented, including behaviourally informed interventions (i.e., nudges). In this study, we have experimentally examined two types of nudges on representative samples of two countries – descriptive social norms (Israel) and saliency of either the death experience from COVID-19 or its symptoms (UK). To increase the legitimacy of nudges, we have also examined the effectiveness of transparent nudges, where the goal of the nudge and the reasons of its implementation (expected effectiveness) were disclosed. We did not find evidence that informing people that the vast majority of their country-people intend to vaccinate enhanced vaccination intentions in Israel. We also did not find evidence that making the death experience from COVID-19, or its hard symptoms, salient enhanced vaccination intentions in the UK. Finally, transparent nudges as well did not change the results. We further provide evidence for the reasons why people choose not to vaccinate, and whether different factors such as gender, belief in conspiracy theories, political ideology, and risk perception, play a role in people's intentions to vaccinate or susceptibility to nudges.

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Nudges for COVID-19 Voluntary Vaccination: How to Explain Peer Information?

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

The influence of social norms varies with “others” groups: Evidence from COVID-19 vaccination intentions

The influence of social norms varies with “others” groups: Evidence from COVID-19 vaccination intentions

Can nudges save lives?

Can vaccination intentions against COVID-19 be nudged?

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