A guilt-free strategy increases self-reported non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures

Experimental evidence from 12 countries

authored by: Jean François Daoust, Éric Bélanger, Ruth Dassonneville, Erick Lachapelle, Richard Nadeau, Michael Becher, Sylvain Brouard, Christoph Hönnige, Daniel Stegmueller, Martial Foucault
Abstract: Studies of citizens’ compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures routinely rely on survey data. While such data are essential, public health restrictions provide clear signals of what is socially desirable in this context, creating a potential source of response bias in self-reported measures of compliance. In this research, we examine whether the results of a guilt-free strategy recently proposed to lessen this constraint are generalizable across twelve countries, and whether the treatment effect varies across subgroups. Our findings show that the guilt-free strategy is a useful tool in every country included, increasing respondents’ proclivity to report non-compliance by 9 to 16 percentage points. This effect holds for different subgroups based on gender, age and education. We conclude that the inclusion of this strategy should be the new standard for survey research that aims to provide crucial data on the current pandemic.
Organisation(s): Institute of Political Science
External Organisation(s): University of Edinburgh
McGill University
University of Montreal
Duke University
IE University
Sciences Po
Type: Article
Journal: PLOS ONE
Volume: 16
No. of pages: 10
ISSN: 1932-6203
Publication date: 21.04.2021
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: General
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249914 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{b6b68cd07c4940d29d9928ecb46893ed,
title = "A guilt-free strategy increases self-reported non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures: Experimental evidence from 12 countries",
abstract = "Studies of citizens{\textquoteright} compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures routinely rely on survey data. While such data are essential, public health restrictions provide clear signals of what is socially desirable in this context, creating a potential source of response bias in self-reported measures of compliance. In this research, we examine whether the results of a guilt-free strategy recently proposed to lessen this constraint are generalizable across twelve countries, and whether the treatment effect varies across subgroups. Our findings show that the guilt-free strategy is a useful tool in every country included, increasing respondents{\textquoteright} proclivity to report non-compliance by 9 to 16 percentage points. This effect holds for different subgroups based on gender, age and education. We conclude that the inclusion of this strategy should be the new standard for survey research that aims to provide crucial data on the current pandemic.",
keywords = "Public and occupational health, Pandemics, Surveys, COVID 19, Canada, Social distancing, Decision making, Survey research",
author = "Daoust, {Jean Fran{\c c}ois} and {\'E}ric B{\'e}langer and Ruth Dassonneville and Erick Lachapelle and Richard Nadeau and Michael Becher and Sylvain Brouard and Christoph H{\"o}nnige and Daniel Stegmueller and Martial Foucault",
note = "Publisher Copyright: Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Daoust et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",
year = "2021",
month = apr,
day = "21",
doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0249914",
language = "English",
volume = "16",
journal = "PLOS ONE",
issn = "1932-6203",
publisher = "Public Library of Science",
number = "4",
}