Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 2022
  • Article
  • Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

Global Behaviors, Perceptions, and the Emergence of Social Norms at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Lukas Hensel, Marc Witte, Stefano Caria, Thiemo Fetzer, Stefano Fiorin, Friedrich M. Goetz, Margarita Gomez, Johannes Haushofer, Andriy Ivchenko, Gordon T. Kraft-Todd, Elena Reutskaja, Christopher Roth, Erez Yoeli and Jon M. Jachimowicz
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

We conducted a large-scale survey covering 58 countries and over 100,000 respondents between late March and early April 2020 to study beliefs and attitudes towards citizens' and governments' responses at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most respondents reported holding normative beliefs in support of COVID-19 containment measures, as well as high rates of adherence to these measures. They also believed that their government and their country's citizens were not doing enough and underestimated the degree to which others in their country supported strong behavioral and policy responses to the pandemic. Normative beliefs were strongly associated with adherence, as well as beliefs about others' and the government's response. Lockdowns were associated with greater optimism about others' and the government's response, and improvements in measures of perceived mental well-being; these effects tended to be larger for those with stronger normative beliefs. Our findings highlight how social norms can arise quickly and effectively to support cooperation at a global scale.

Keywords

COVID-19; Government Regulation; Social Norms; Health Pandemics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Behavior; Perception; Global Range; Surveys

Citation

Hensel, Lukas, Marc Witte, Stefano Caria, Thiemo Fetzer, Stefano Fiorin, Friedrich M. Goetz, Margarita Gomez, Johannes Haushofer, Andriy Ivchenko, Gordon T. Kraft-Todd, Elena Reutskaja, Christopher Roth, Erez Yoeli, and Jon M. Jachimowicz. "Global Behaviors, Perceptions, and the Emergence of Social Norms at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 193 (January 2022): 473–496.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Jon M. Jachimowicz

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Kwame Owusu-Kesse at the Harlem Children's Zone 'Navigating Careers'

    By: Jon M. Jachimowicz
    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Kwame Owusu-Kesse at the Harlem Children's Zone 'Going for It'

    By: Jon M. Jachimowicz
    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Kwame Owusu-Kesse at the Harlem Children's Zone 'On the Decision'

    By: Jon M. Jachimowicz
More from the Authors
  • Kwame Owusu-Kesse at the Harlem Children's Zone 'Navigating Careers' By: Jon M. Jachimowicz
  • Kwame Owusu-Kesse at the Harlem Children's Zone 'Going for It' By: Jon M. Jachimowicz
  • Kwame Owusu-Kesse at the Harlem Children's Zone 'On the Decision' By: Jon M. Jachimowicz
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College