Explaining the COVID-19 Vaccination Intention and Authorities' Support for Limiting the Spread of the Disease - A Comparative Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47040/sd/sdpsych.v13i2.151Keywords:
vaccination to COVID-19, TPB, irrational beliefs, conspiracy theory, risk perception, support of authoritiesAbstract
This study investigates intentions to vaccinate against Coronavirus and to support the authorities in limiting the pandemic's effects from the theory of planned behavior perspective in a Romanian adult sample. We intend to improve this model by adding additional variables such as irrational beliefs, past behavior, and risk perception. Hierarchical regression analyses show that the model based on demographic variables such as age and education and the theory of planned behavior constructs best explain the vaccination intention (75%) and support for authorities (29%). The results obtained indicate that a high level of education, favorable subjective norms inside the population, a positive attitude towards vaccination, lack of pressure/obligation to vaccinate, and low perception of the risk associated with this medical procedure led to an individual decision in favor of vaccination. Increased values of normative beliefs and perceived behavior control (from the TPB model) lead to increased support given to the authorities and, the low values of irrational beliefs, in the case of beliefs in conspiracy theories and pseudo-religious beliefs, also increase the support given to the authorities.
References
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
Asefa, A., Qanche, Q., Hailemariam, S., Dhuguma, T., & Nigussie, T. (2020). Risk Perception Towards COVID-19 and Its Associated Factors Among Waiters in Selected Towns of Southwest Ethiopia. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, Volume 13, 2601–2610. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S276257
Barattucci, M., Chirico, A., Kuvačić, G., & De Giorgio, A. (2020). Rethinking the Role of Affect in Risk Judgment: What We Have Learned From COVID-19 During the First Week of Quarantine in Italy. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 554561. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.554561
Betsch, C., Schmid, P., Heinemeier, D., Korn, L., Holtmann, C., & Böhm, R. (2018). Beyond confidence: Development of a measure assessing the 5C psychological antecedents of vaccination. PLOS ONE, 13(12), e0208601. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208601
Bogart, L. M., & Bird, S. T. (2003). Exploring the relationship of conspiracy beliefs about HIV/AIDS to sexual behaviors and attitudes among African-American adults. Journal of the National Medical Association, 95, 1057–1065.
Bornstein, M. H., Jager, J., & Putnick, D. L. (2013). Sampling in developmental science: Situations, shortcomings, solutions, and standards. Developmental Review, 33(4), 357–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2013.08.003
Bowyer, H. L., Forster, A. S., Marlow, L. A. V., & Waller, J. (2014). Predicting human papillomavirus vaccination behaviour among adolescent girls in England: Results from a prospective survey. Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, 40(1), 14–22. https://doi.org/10.1136/jfprhc-2013-100583
Cai, C., Jiang, W., & Tang, N. (2022). Campaign-style crisis regime: How China responded to the shock of COVID-19. Policy Studies, 43(3), 599–619. https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2021.1883576
Castanier, C., Deroche, T., & Woodman, T. (2013). Theory of planned behaviour and road violations: The moderating influence of perceived behavioural control. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 18, 148–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2012.12.014
Cheng, C. Y., Zhang, W. J., & Zhang, Q. (2022). Authority led conspiracy theories in China during the COVID-19 pandemic – Exploring the thematic features and rhetoric
strategies. Convergence, 28(4), 1172–1197. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221102592
Convenience Sampling. (2008). În P. Lavrakas, Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods. Sage Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412963947.n105
Ding, Y., Du, X., Li, Q., Zhang, M., Zhang, Q., Tan, X., & Liu, Q. (2020). Risk perception of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its related factors among college students in China during quarantine. PLOS ONE, 15(8), e0237626. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237626
Douglas, K. M., Sutton, R. M., & Cichocka, A. (2017). The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 538–542. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417718261
Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S., & Deravi, F. (2019). Understanding Conspiracy Theories. Political Psychology, 40(S1), 3–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12568
Gerend, M. A., & Shepherd, J. E. (2012). Predicting Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Uptake in Young Adult Women: Comparing the Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behavior. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 44(2), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-012-9366-5
Glöckner, A., Dorrough, A., Wingen, T., & Dohle, S. (2020). The Perception of Infection Risks during the Early and Later Outbreak of COVID-19 in Germany: Consequences and Recommendations. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wdbgc
Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., & Anderson, R. (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis: A Global Perspective. Hines, T. (2003). Pseudoscience and the paranormal (2nd ed). Prometheus Books.
IBM Corp. (2019). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp (26.0). IBM Corp. https://hadoop.apache.org
IPSOS. (2020, octombrie 23). Românii, pe ultimele locuri în lume în ceea ce privește intenția de vaccinare anti-COVID- 19, dacă vaccinul ar fi disponibil. Ipsos. https://www.ipsos.com/ro-ro/romanii-pe-ultimele-locurilume-ceea-ce-priveste-intentia-de-vaccinare-anti-covid-19-daca-vaccinul
Karlsson, L. C., Soveri, A., Lewandowsky, S., Karlsson, L., Karlsson, H., Nolvi, S., Karukivi, M., Lindfelt, M., & Antfolk, J. (2021). Fearing the disease or the vaccine: The case of COVID-19. Personality and Individual Differences, 172, 110590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110590
Kidwell, B., & Jewell, R. (2008). The Influence of Past Behavior on Behavioral Intent: An Information-Processing Explanation. Psychology and Marketing, 25, 1151–1166.
https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20258
Lazarus, J. V., Ratzan, S. C., Palayew, A., Gostin, L. O., Larson, H. J., Rabin, K., Kimball, S., & El-Mohandes, A. (2021). A global survey of potential acceptance of a COVID- 19 vaccine. Nature Medicine, 27(2), 225–228. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-1124-9
Mihai, C. (2020, iunie 1). Biserica în vremea pandemiei. EurActiv | Știri, politici europene & Actori UE online. https://www.euractiv.ro/coronavirus-covid19/biserica-invremea-pandemiei-19304
Orbell, S., Hodgkins, S., & Sheeran, P. (1997). Implementation Intentions and the Theory of Planned Behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(9), 945–954. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167297239004
Ouellette, J. A., & Wood, W. (1998). Habit and intention in everyday life: The multiple processes by which past behavior predicts future behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 124(1), 54–74. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.124.1.54
Paul, E., Steptoe, A., & Fancourt, D. (2021). Attitudes towards vaccines and intention to vaccinate against COVID-19: Implications for public health communications. The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, 1, 100012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2020.100012
Rosseel, Y. (2012). Structural Equation Modeling with categorical variables. 96.
Schiele, A. (2020). Pseudoscience as media effect. Journal of Science Communication, 19(2), L01.
https://doi.org/10.22323/2.19020101
Shahsavari, S., Holur, P., Wang, T., Tangherlini, T. R., & Roychowdhury, V. (2020). Conspiracy in the time of corona: Automatic detection of emerging COVID-19 conspiracy theories in social media and the news. Journal of Computational Social Science, 3(2), 279–317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42001-020-00086-5
Sherman, S. M., Smith, L. E., Sim, J., Amlôt, R., Cutts, M., Dasch, H., Rubin, G. J., & Sevdalis, N. (2021). COVID-19 vaccination intention in the UK: Results from the COVID-19 vaccination acceptability study (CoVAccS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 17(6), 1612–1621. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2020.1846397
Shmueli, L. (2020). Predicting intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine among the general population using the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior Model [Preprint]. Infectious Diseases (except HIV/AIDS). https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.20.20248587
Shmueli, L. (2021). Predicting intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine among the general population using the health belief model and the theory of planned behavior model. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 804. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10816-7
Teovanović, P., Lukić, P., Zupan, Z., Lazić, A., Ninković, M., & Žeželj, I. (2020). Irrational beliefs differentially predict adherence to guidelines and pseudoscientific practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Applied Cognitive Psychology, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3770
Vlăsceanu, L., Duşa, A., & Rughiniş, C. (Ed.). (2010). STISOC - Ştiință şi societate. Interese şi percepții ale publicului privind cercetarea ştiințifică şi rezultatele cercetării. 84.
Wiemken, T. L., Carrico, R. M., Kelley, R. R., Binford, L. E., Peyrani, P., Ford, K. D., Welch, V., & Ramirez, J. A. (2015). Understanding why low-risk patients accept vaccines: A socio-behavioral approach. BMC Research Notes, 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-015-1816-2
Wolff, K., Nordin, K., Brun, W., Berglund, G., & Kvale, G. (2011). Affective and cognitive attitudes, uncertainty avoidance and intention to obtain genetic testing: An extension of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Psychology & Health, 26(9), 1143–1155. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870441003763253
World Health Organization. (2020). Behavioural considerations for acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines: WHO Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Constantin Roanghesi, Pantilimon-Alexandru Găianu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
