Fear, trust, and compliance with COVID-19 measures: a study of the mediating effect of trust in government on the relationship between fear and compliance

0584939 - SOÚ 2025 GB eng J - Journal Article
Hrbková, L. - Kudrnáč, Aleš
Fear, trust, and compliance with COVID-19 measures: a study of the mediating effect of trust in government on the relationship between fear and compliance.
Journal of Public Policy. Online first 11 March 2024 (2024). ISSN 0143-814X. E-ISSN 1469-7815
Institutional support: RVO:68378025
Keywords : COVID-19 * fear * public policy compliance * rally-round-the-flag * trust in government
OECD category: Sociology
Impact factor: 2.4, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access

As the COVID-19 pandemic became an unprecedented global threat, it was accompanied by an increase in trust in governments as well as fear among the public. Previous research suggests that both institutional trust and fear contribute to the willingness of citizens to comply with anti-pandemic measures. Moreover, fear during the contagion also increases trust in government. This article presents a test of the mediation of the effects of fear on compliance through trust. In addition, it differentiates between three different facets of COVID-19-related fear: fear of the disease, fear of economic consequences, and fear of political consequences. The results suggest that while fear of the disease increases compliance, fear of political consequences decreases compliance. Moreover, the effects of fear are mediated through trust in government. The negative impact of fear of political consequences on compliance increased between April and December 2020.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0352718


Research data: Harward Dataverse