Predicting Behavioral Intentions to Prevent or Mitigate COVID-19: A Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis of Attitudes, Norms, and Perceived Behavioral Control Effects

Abstract

We examined the effectiveness of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) of the theory of planned behavior on COVID-19 relevant behavioral intentions and behaviors. We conducted a meta-analysis of 335 effect sizes from 83 samples across 31 countries ( N = 68,592). We found strongest effects for PBC, but contrary to previous research also moderately strong effects of subjective norms. Focusing on systematic context effects: (a) norm–behavior associations at individual level were strengthened if population norms were stronger; (b) collectivism strengthened norm effects in line with cultural theories, but also attitude and PBC associations, suggesting that COVID-relevant behaviors show collective action properties; (c) in line with cultural theory, tightness–looseness strengthened normative effects on behaviors; and (d) contrary to post-modernization theory, national wealth weakened attitude and PBC associations. These analyses provide new theoretical and practical insights into behavioral dynamics during an acute public health crisis.

Testing the Effectiveness of the Health Belief Model in Predicting Preventive Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Romania and Italy

“…Older individuals are typically more strongly acculturated ( Taras et al, 2010 ), suggesting that cultural dynamics on behaviors via salient health perceptions may more strongly operate in Romania vs. Italy. This is in line with recent evidence of differential norm strength in the context of the pandemic ( Fischer and Karl, 2021 ; Gelfand et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Related to this point, our approach was focused on beliefs by individuals in two specific contexts, which does not allow a differentiation of individual vs. group-level normative processes within the context of these behaviors. Future research clearly needs to start examining the intersection between individual and group-level processes (for one possible example using sample level processes, see Fischer and Karl, 2021 ). Finally, in our current study we focus on cognitive factors as part of the HBM, it is nevertheless likely that emotional and affective responses to COVID-19 shape individuals prevention behavior which could be examined as potential moderators or mediators in future studies ( Daniel et al, 2021 ; Fischer et al, 2021 ).…”

“…This is particularly true in the current environment where public health officials need insights into effective COVID – 19 responses ( Bavel et al, 2020 ), which has severely impacted many aspects of individuals lives across the globe ( Osei-Tutu et al, 2021b ). At the same time, there is increasing evidence that protective behaviors are culturally molded, requiring a focused examination of perceptions and behaviors within their respective contexts ( Fischer and Karl, 2021 ). We focus on one of the most successful frameworks in the literature, the Health Belief Model (HBM) ( Rosenstock, 1974b ) and use a cultural psychology perspective ( Fontaine, 2011 ; Wang, 2016 ) to examine how individuals in two European contexts perceive core constructs within the theory and how well this model works for COVID-19 relevant health behaviors across two cultural contexts.…”

“…Our first goal is therefore to explore whether the HBM can be applied in such an acute pandemic context that has collective action properties ( Fontaine, 2011 ; Templeton et al, 2020 ; Fischer and Karl, 2021 ). To the best of our knowledge, there is relatively little work that takes a cultural psychology perspective to examine how perceptions within the HBM operate within and across cultural contexts.…”

The interactional production and breach of new norms in the time of COVID‐19: Achieving physical distancing in public spaces

“…Norms have typically been investigated using retrospective research designs including questionnaire surveys (e.g., Fischer & Karl, 2020;Tunçgenç et al, 2021). While these approaches can capture patterns of response and are typically high in reliability, they lack depth and detail.…”