scholarly journals The Influence of COVID-19 on Irrational Consumption Behavior in a Chinese Sample: Based on a Serial Mediating Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hu Yue-Qian ◽  
Xie Piao ◽  
Wang Ying ◽  
Huang Zhi-Xin ◽  
Wu Yi-Ting ◽  
...  

Based on the scarcity theory, this study focuses on exploring the relationship between the severity of public health emergencies (i.e., COVID-19) and individual irrational consumer behaviors through the serial mediating variables of perceived scarcity (PS) and negative mentality (NM). An online questionnaire was used to collect data from participants in China and we obtained 466 effective (115 male and 351 female) questionnaires in total. The findings showed that the relationship between each pair of factors – perceived pandemic severity, PS, NM, and irrational consumption behaviors – was significantly positive. Although the perception of the severity of this public health emergency did not directly predict irrational consumer behavior, the effect was mediated by PS and NM independently and serially. These findings reveal that people who strongly perceive scarcity and are prone to negative attitudes are more likely to demonstrate irrational consumer behaviors (such as rushing to buy and hoard living supplies) once the public perceives a public health emergency as severe. This effect occurs because the PS that results from the epidemic affects people’s cognition, emotion, and behavior.

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  

Abstract Evidence-based decision-making is central to public health. Implementing evidence-informed actions is most challenging during a public health emergency as in an epidemic, when time is limited, scientific uncertainties and political pressures tend to be high, and irrefutable evidence may be lacking. The process of including evidence in public health decision-making and for evidence-informed policy, in preparation, and during public health emergencies, is not systematic and is complicated by many barriers as the absences of shared tools and approaches for evidence-based preparedness and response planning. Many of today's public health crises are also cross-border, and countries need to collaborate in a systematic and standardized way in order to enhance interoperability and to implement coordinated evidence-based response plans. To strengthen the impact of scientific evidence on decision-making for public health emergency preparedness and response, it is necessary to better define mechanisms through which interdisciplinary evidence feeds into decision-making processes during public health emergencies and the context in which these mechanisms operate. As a multidisciplinary, standardized and evidence-based decision-making tool, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) represents and approach that can inform public health emergency preparedness and response planning processes; it can also provide meaningful insights on existing preparedness structures, working as bridge between scientists and decision-makers, easing knowledge transition and translation to ensure that evidence is effectively integrated into decision-making contexts. HTA can address the link between scientific evidence and decision-making in public health emergencies, and overcome the key challenges faced by public health experts when advising decision makers, including strengthening and accelerating knowledge transfer through rapid HTA, improving networking between actors and disciplines. It may allow a 360° perspective, providing a comprehensive view to decision-making in preparation and during public health emergencies. The objective of the workshop is to explore and present how HTA can be used as a shared and systematic evidence-based tool for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, in order to enable stakeholders and decision makers taking actions based on the best available evidence through a process which is systematic and transparent. Key messages There are many barriers and no shared mechanisms to bring evidence in decision-making during public health emergencies. HTA can represent the tool to bring evidence-informed actions in public health emergency preparedness and response.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
C E Chronaki ◽  
A Miglietta

Abstract Evidence-based decision-making is central to public health. Implementing evidence-informed actions is most challenging during a public health emergency as in an epidemic, when time is limited, scientific uncertainties and political pressures tend to be high, and reliable data is typically lacking. The process of including data for preparedness and training for evidence-based decision making in public health emergencies is not systematic and is complicated by many barriers as the absence of common digital tools and approaches for resource planning and update of response plans. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is used with the aim to improve the quality and efficiency of public health interventions and to make healthcare systems more sustainable. Many of today's public health crises are also cross-border, and countries need to collaborate in a systematic and standardized way in order to enhance interoperability to share data and to plan coordinated response. Digital health tools have an important role to play in this setting, facilitating use of knowledge about the population that can potentially affected by the crisis within and across regional and national borders. To strengthen the impact of scientific evidence on decision-making for public health emergency preparedness and response, it is necessary to better define and align mechanisms through which interdisciplinary evidence feeds into decision-making processes during public health emergencies and the context in which these mechanisms operate. Activities and policy development in the HTA network could inform this process. The objective of this presentation is to identify barriers for evidence-based decision making during public health emergencies and discuss how standardization in digital health and HTA processes may help overcome these barriers leading to more effective coordinated and evidence-based public health emergency response.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Zhiqi Xu ◽  
Yukun Cheng ◽  
Shuangliang Yao

Public health emergencies are more related to the safety and health of the public. For the management of the public health emergencies, all parties’ cooperation is the key to preventing and controlling the emergencies. Based on the assumption of bounded rationality, we formulate a tripartite evolutionary game model, involving the local government, the enterprises, and the public, for the public health emergency, e.g., COVID-19. The evolutionary stable strategies under different conditions of the tripartite evolutionary game are explored, and the effect from different factors on the decision-makings of participants for public health emergencies is also analyzed. Numerical analysis results show that formulating reasonable subsidy measures, encouraging the participation of the public, and enforcing the punishment to enterprises for their negative behaviors can prompt three parties to cooperate in fighting against the epidemic. Our work enriches an understanding of the governance for the public health emergency and provides theoretical support for the local government and related participants to make proper decisions in public health emergencies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhichao Yin ◽  
Xiaoxu Chen ◽  
Zongshu Wang ◽  
Lijin Xiang

This paper constructs a partial equilibrium model under public health emergency shocks based on economic growth theory, and investigates the relationship between government intervention and virus transmission and economic growth path. We found that both close contacts tracing measures and isolation measures are beneficial to human capital stock and economic output per capita, and the effect of close contact tracing measures is better than that of isolation measures. For infectious diseases of different intensities, economic growth pathways differed across interventions. For low contagious public health emergencies, the focus should be on the coordination of isolation and tracing measures. For highly contagious public health emergencies, strict isolation, and tracing measures have limited effect in repairing the negative economic impact of the outbreak. The theoretical model provides a basic paradigm for the future researches to study economic growth under health emergencies, with good scalability and robustness.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1020
Author(s):  
Yuxi He ◽  
Maorui Li ◽  
Qixi Zhong ◽  
Qi Li ◽  
Ruishi Yang ◽  
...  

(1) Background: The governance measures that governments deploy vary substantially across countries and even within countries; there is, however, limited knowledge of the responses of local governments or from different areas in the same country. (2) Methods: By using grounded theory and an automatic text processing method, this study analyses the pandemic governance measures, the pandemic governance pattern, and possible factors across 28 provinces in mainland China based on the text of 28 official provincial government Sina microblogs dating from 20 January to 1 July 2020. (3) Results and discussion: The provincial pandemic governance patterns in China are divided into a pathogen-control pattern, a diagnosis and treatment consolidation pattern, a balanced promotion pattern, a quick-adjustment response pattern, and a recovery-oriented pattern. The pandemic severity, economic development, public health service, and population structure may all have an impact on pandemic governance measures. (4) Conclusions: The conclusions of this study may help us to reconstruct governance systems related to global public health emergencies from the perspective of normalisation, as well as providing important clarification for management and a reference for countries seeking to curb the global spread of a pandemic.


Author(s):  
Michella Hill ◽  
Erin Smith ◽  
Brennen Mills

Abstract Objectives The majority of research investigating healthcare workers’ (HCWs) willingness to work during public health emergencies asks participants to forecast their perceptions based on hypothetical emergencies, rather than in response to actual public health emergencies they have experienced. This research explored frontline HCWs willingness to work during Australia’s first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic among frontline HCWs. Methods Participants (n=580) completed an online questionnaire regarding their willingness to work during the pandemic. Results Forty-two percent of participants reported being less willing to work during the pandemic compared to before. Availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), concern expressed by family members, and viral exposure were significant barriers. One-third of participants disagreed that some level of occupational risk for exposure to infectious disease was acceptable. One-quarter of participants had received communications from their workplace concerning obligations to work during COVID-19. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Australian frontline HCWs’ willingness to work. Scarcity of PPE and exposure to the virus were the most cited reasons impacting on willingness to work. Appropriate policies and practices should be implemented and communicated efficiently to frontline HCW’s. This research provides insight into the lived experiences of Australian healthcare professionals’ willingness to work during a pandemic.


Author(s):  
Mo Li ◽  
Taiyang Zhao ◽  
Ershuai Huang ◽  
Jianan Li

Impulsive consumption is a typical behavior that people often present during public health emergencies, which usually leads to negative outcomes. This study investigates how public health emergencies, such as COVID-19, affect people’s impulsive consumption behavior. Data from 1548 individuals in China during the COVID-19 outbreak was collected. The sample covered 297 prefecture-level cities in 31 provincial administrative regions. The research method included the use of a structural equation model to test multiple research hypotheses. The study finds that the severity of a pandemic positively affects people’s impulsive consumption. Specifically, the more severe the pandemic, the more likely people are to make impulsive consumption choices. The results indicate that both perceived control and materialism play mediating roles between the severity of a pandemic and impulsive consumption. As conclusions, people’s impulsive consumption during public health emergencies can be weakened either by enhancing their perceived control or by reducing their materialistic tendency. These conclusions are valuable and useful for a government’s crisis response and disaster risk management.


Author(s):  
Yuxiang Hong ◽  
Taesam Lee ◽  
Jong-Suk Kim

Recent environmental disasters have revealed the government’s limitations in real-time response and mobilization to help the public, especially when disasters occur in large areas at the same time. Therefore, enhancing the ability to prepare for public health emergencies at the grassroots level and extend public health emergency response mechanisms to communities, and even to individual families, is a research question that is of practical significance. This study aimed to investigate mechanisms to determine how media exposure affects individual public health emergency preparedness (PHEP) to environmental disasters; specifically, we examined the mediating role of knowledge and trust in government. The results were as follows: (1) knowledge had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between media exposure and PHEP; (2) trust in government had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between media exposure and PHEP; (3) knowledge and trust in government had significant multiple mediating effects on the relationship between media exposure and PHEP.


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