PUBLIC COMPLIANCE WITH HEALTH MEASURES DURING FLU PANDEMICS: A BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

Public compliance with health measures during flu pandemics is explained, how it emerges through social behaviour, and how it is influenced at different social levels. Supporting public compliance at the personal level is as important as at the state level. Effective compliance strategies are more likely to be successful if measures are already adopted as social rules. There are three levels at which collective behaviour can be influenced: the individual level, the social network level, and the group level. At the individual level, compliance is influenced by personal beliefs, norms, and habits. At the social network level, compliance is influenced by the approval of social contacts. At the group level, compliance as social behaviour is influenced by group identification, group norms, and shared humour as a strategy to deal with difficult situations. In addition, where at the individual level compliance is influenced through persuasion and legitimisation, at the social network level it is influenced by social approval, and at the group level it is influenced through the construction of a shared identity, the establishment of group norms, and humour. Future research can advance the knowledge regarding public compliance with health measures, and how compliance can be enhanced. It enhances the understanding of compliance with health measures by revealing how compliance as social behaviour emerges. Outlining how compliance can be influenced at the three different social levels provides an investigation agenda on how compliance can be enhanced. Lastly, this paper can be a source for epidemiologists, social scientists, public health experts, and the government who are interested in influencing public compliance with health measures, as it contains insights on how compliance can be influenced. Research on this topic can provide important insights on how health measures can be effectively adopted as desired behaviour and are therefore, necessary. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has had to impose extraordinary health measures, such as social distancing, wearing mouth caps, and smart working. The extent to which the public accepted and complied with these measures was not only dependent on the consistency and time of information provided but also on the perceived extent to which the measures were helpful to control the disease, and the social atmosphere surrounding the measures. Compliance with health measures is important as widespread compliance is necessary to effectively combat the disease. (Kok et al., 2010)