Publication date: Jan 20, 2025

Previous studies on public compliance with policies during pandemics have primarily explained it from the perspectives of motivation theory, focusing on normative motivation (trust in policy-making institutions) and calculative motivation (fear of contracting the disease). However, the social amplification of a risk framework highlights that the media plays a key role in this process. This study aims to integrate the motivation theory of compliance behavior and the social amplification of risk framework to uncover the “black boxes” of the mechanisms by which normative motivation and calculative motivation influence public policy compliance behavior through the use of media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a web-based survey of 2309 Chinese citizens from December 4, 2022, to March 21, 2023. We treated the public’s policy compliance behavior during the pandemic as the dependent variable. Media use, specifically the use of authoritative media and “we-media,” that is, personal social media accounts and media platforms operated by individuals, was set as the independent variable. Trust in government, representing normative motivation, and risk perception, representing calculative motivation, were included as mediating variables. A structural equation model was constructed and analyzed using Stata. First, the mediation effect of trust in government indicates that the use of authoritative media can enhance trust in government, which significantly increases individuals’ policy compliance behavior (β coefficient=0. 108, 95% CI 0. 080-0. 135; P

Open Access PDF

Semantics

Original Article