An extended health belief model for COVID-19: understanding the media-based processes leading to social distancing and panic buying

Hita, MLR (通讯作者),HEC Montreal RBC Grp Financier, 3000 Chemin Cote St Catherine, Montreal, PQ H3T 2A7, Canada.
2023-1
Building on the health belief model (HBM), this research tests, over six months, how the exposure to COVID-related information in the media affects fear, which in turn conditions beliefs about the severity of the virus, susceptibility of getting the virus, and benefits of safety measures. These health beliefs ultimately lead to social distancing and panic buying. As a first contribution, we find that fear is not directly triggered by the objective severity of a crisis, but rather formed over time by the way individuals are exposed to media. Second, we show that fear affects behaviors through the components of the HBM which relate to the risks/benefits of a situation. Last, we find that critical thinking about media content amplifies the adaptive responses of our model (e.g., health beliefs, social distancing) and reduces its maladaptive responses (e.g., panic buying). Interestingly, we note that the beneficial effect of critical thinking about media content disappears as the level of fear increases over time. The implications of these findings for policymakers, media companies, and theory are further discussed.
JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE
卷号:51|期号:1|页码:132-152
ISSN:0092-0703|收录类别:SSCI
语种
英语
来源机构
Universite de Montreal; HEC Montreal
被引频次(WOS)
3
被引频次(其他)
3
180天使用计数
25
2013以来使用计数
36
EISSN
1552-7824
出版年
2023-1
DOI
10.1007/s11747-022-00865-8
WOS学科分类
Business
学科领域
循证经济学
关键词
Crisis severity Media exposure Critical thinking about media content Fear appeals Social distancing Panic buying Health belief model Public policy Mixed linear model Longitudinal analyses