Unearthing mask waste separation behavior in COVID-19 pandemic period: An empirical evidence from Ghana using an integrated theory of planned behavior and norm activation model.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated a surge in mask usage around the world. This situation could spur environmental consequences which when not well managed, may compound waste and waste management, and further drive the spread of viral infections. Therefore, this study explores the antecedents of mask waste separation behavior in Ghana using an integrated model composed of the theory of planned behavior and the norm activation model. With the use of the questionnaire survey approach, data was drawn from 570 respondents, and further analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique. Results revealed that the relationship between awareness of consequences and other constructs, except attitude, and the relationship between ascription of responsibility and other constructs, except attitude, are significant. Moreover, significant relationships between subjective norm and attitude, subjective norm and personal norm, and subjective norm and perceived behavior control were validated. However, no significant relationship exists between awareness of consequences and attitude, and between awareness of responsibility and attitude. On the basis of the study findings, insightful implications for policy and suggestions for future research are presented.

Antecedents of Booster Vaccine Intention for Domestic and International Travel

Herd immunity through vaccination has been a major technique for long-term COVID-19 infection management, with significant consequences for travel willingness and the recovery of the hospitality and tourism industries. However, indications that vaccine-induced immunity declines over time imply the need for booster vaccines. This could minimize the perceived health hazards of travel while enhancing travel propensity. This study integrated the theory of basic human values, the norm activation model, and the theory of planned behavior to investigate the role of cognitive aspects of individuals' booster vaccine intention on domestic and international travel intention. More importantly, the study examined the role of value in activating moral responsibility and individuals' beliefs to take the booster vaccine before traveling. A total of 315 Korean samples were collected to test the proposed conceptual model using structural equation modeling. In general, the results supported the proposed hypotheses. Notably, the intention to take the booster vaccine has a substantial impact on the intention to travel internationally. Furthermore, the communal values accept benevolence have an influence on personal morals and beliefs about receiving booster vaccines before international traveling.

Examining transportation mode changes during COVID-19 in Toyama, Japan

Although the coronavirus disease of 2019 arguably changed citizens' transportation mode choices, how these choices changed and what factors influenced them, especially during the soft intervention period, remains ambiguous. To clarify this phenomenon, this study examined how citizens' socio-demographic and psychological factors contributed to their transportation mode changes (public transportation, active transportation: walking and cycling, and cars) between 2019 and 2020. We employed the extended theory of the norm activation model and the value–attitude–behaviour hierarchy, surveyed 973 citizens in Toyama City, Japan, and applied a confirmatory factor analysis and a multinomial logistic regression model. Regarding psychological characteristics, the findings showed that those with positive attitudes toward public transportation tended to shift to public transportation;those with high personal norms for car use tended to shift to public transportation;those with perceived behavioural control over car use tended not to change to public transportation;and those with positive attitudes toward car use tended not to shift to active transportation. Socio-demographically, respondents who were female, highly educated and/or whose income decreased from the previous year tended to shift to active transportation. Age was not significantly associated with transportation mode changes. No significant variable was found between respondents' shift to cars and socio-demographic and psychological factors. Our study provides implications, suggesting that policymakers focus on adopting measures to retain female or highly educated individuals in the active transportation mode use even beyond the pandemic period, while raising awareness among men, informing them of the health benefits of the active transportation mode and establishing active transportation mode-friendly infrastructure. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Linking Cultural Tightness, Components of Norm Activation and COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors among University Students: Evidence from Beijing, China.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has imposed greater challenges and more stringent requirements on higher education institutions (HEIs). However, limited empirical research has been devoted to identifying external and internal factors that may promote individual preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic within the higher education context. This study proposed and examined an extended norm activation model (NAM) concerning the relationships among cultural tightness, original NAM components, and COVID-19 preventive behaviors. An online survey was conducted with a sample of 3693 university students from 18 universities in Beijing, China. The results showed that cultural tightness was positively associated with respondents' COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Three original NAM variables, namely, awareness of consequences, the ascription of responsibility, and personal norms, played a chain mediating role in the relationship between cultural tightness and COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications regarding the findings of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Factors Contributing to Citizens' Participation in COVID-19 Prevention and Control in China: An Integrated Model Based on Theory of Planned Behavior, Norm Activation Model, and Political Opportunity Structure Theory.

Chinese citizens' participation in COVID-19 prevention and control has made great contributions to the successful fight against the pandemic. The factors that have impacted citizens' participation have rarely been reported based on both social-psychological and political environmental theories. This paper presented a study to explore the determinants of Chinese citizens' participation in COVID-19 prevention and control based on a combined model of the theory of planned behavior, the norm activation model, and political opportunity structure theory. A dataset involving 463 respondents from Harbin in northeast China was acquired and analyzed. The results showed that the comprehensive model explained 62.9% of the total variance in citizens' participation behavior. The openness to public participation not only significantly directly influenced citizens' participation but also indirectly affected participation behaviors through attitude and perceived behavioral control, both of which were important mediators and had the greatest overall impacts. The awareness of consequences and subjective norms were crucial antecedents to the activation of other influencing factors. Personal norms indirectly affected participation behavior through the mediation of attitude. The empirical results showed the comprehensiveness, effectiveness, and high explanatory power of the postulated model. The study also provides both new theoretical perspectives for explaining public participation and useful practical implications for future policy development in promoting citizens' participation in public health emergency management.

Prosocial behavior in the time of COVID-19: The effect of private and public role models.

In public good provision and other collective action problems, people are uncertain about how to balance self-interest and prosociality. Actions of others may inform this decision. We conduct an experiment to test the effect of watching private citizens and public officials acting in ways that either increase or decrease the spread of the coronavirus. For private role models, positive examples lead to a 34% increase in donations to the CDC Emergency Fund and a 20% increase in learning about COVID-19-related volunteering compared to negative examples. For public role models these effects are reversed. Negative examples lead to a 29% and 53% increase in donations and volunteering, respectively, compared to positive examples.

Traveler Pro-social Behaviors at Heritage Tourism Sites.

This study aimed to explain the development of tourists' pro-social intentions during heritage tourism within the pandemic context by combining the norm activation model (NAM) and two significant variables in the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The quantitative data analysis results indicated that the proposed hypotheses have been partially supported, which resonated and enriched the existing studies on COVID-19-related pro-social tourism and tourist behaviors from a theoretical angle. Based on the research outcomes, the corresponding managerial implications for heritage tourism practitioners and meaningful references for future researchers to promote sustainable and pro-social heritage tourism products have been discussed.

Process of forming tourists’ pro-social tourism behavior intentions that affect willingness to pay for safety tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative analysis of South Korea and China

During the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea implemented relatively flexible quarantine measures such as recommending social distancing. In contrast, China strictly controlled the pandemic, enforcing a ban on going out. This study examined the process of forming people’s pro-social tourism behavioral intention in both countries considering the differing disciplinary techniques in response to COVID-19. We employed a framework combining the Norm Activation Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior. This study contributes to creating a safe tourism environment, proposals for revitalizing tourism activities, and measures to ensure that tourism services are in line with public health. © 2022 Asia Pacific Tourism Association.

Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Norm Activation Model to Investigate Organic Food Purchase Intention: Evidence from Vietnam

Ample research has been conducted in the organic food market and researchers have investigated factors affecting the purchase behavior of consumers in many countries. However, the studies on organic food that integrate the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Norm Activation Model (NAM) in a transition country like Vietnam are limited. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate factors affecting the organic food purchase intention in the Vietnamese context. We combined the TPB and the NAM to propose an integrated research framework with attitude and personal norms as two mediators. Through a self-administered questionnaire survey, we collected 611 valid responses from the three biggest cities in Vietnam. Data were put into SPSS 22.0 and SmartPLS 3.0 for analysis. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was employed to test both direct and indirect relationships among factors of TPB and NAM in the research model. Our findings indicated that attitude plays the most critical role in explaining the organic food purchase intention of Vietnamese consumers, followed by social norms and personal norms. Notably, attitude also remarkably mediated the impact of environmental awareness and knowledge of organic food on purchase intention. Meanwhile, personal norms played the mediating role in the NAM that intervene the connection between social norms and purchase intention. Based on our analysis, we suggested policymakers, manufacturers, marketers, and sellers of organic food change their actions for the growth of the organic food market in Vietnam.

COVID-19 social distancing compliance mechanisms: UK evidence.

Non-compliance with social distancing (SD) measures clearly has negative effects on both public health and post-pandemic economic recovery. However, little is as yet known about people's views on and factors influencing their behavioral intentions toward SD measures. This study draws on moral disengagement theory and the norm-activation model to investigate mechanisms that promote or hinder compliance with SD measures. A longitudinal research approach was adopted to compare changes in the main factors over three periods of the COVID-19 pandemic in England (UK). The results reveal significant differences between the three periods regarding intentions to comply with SD measures, altruistic value, moral obligation and moral disengagement, with no significant change in ascription of responsibility. Residents showed the strongest intentions to comply with SD measures during the first national lockdown, with the highest moral obligation and lowest moral disengagement levels, compared with the lowest intention to comply during the first re-opening period. Altruistic value is important in promoting moral obligation and compliance with SD measures, whereas the predictive powers of ascription of responsibility and moral disengagement were weaker than expected. These findings offer guidance to policymakers and researchers in developing more effective policies and public communication strategies. The results suggest that communication is key to normalizing SD compliance, which can be achieved most effectively by fostering residents' altruistic value and moral considerations. Particular attention must be paid to re-opening periods between lockdowns, with clear messages to remind residents of prosocial aspects of SD compliance and public health. In addition to appropriate communication and education, technologies such as apps, QR codes and contactless shopping settings may also be used to facilitate compliance with SD measures.

Motivating COVID-19 mitigation actions via personal norm: An extension of the norm activation model.

OBJECTIVE: Given the prosocial nature of COVID-19 mitigation actions, the norm activation model (NAM) provides a theoretical framework to understand how these mitigation behaviors may be driven by activating personal norms. Aimed at delineating the relationship between awareness of consequences and ascription of responsibility, two key variables in the model, the present study examined to what extent this relationship was moderated by political ideology, individual efficacy, and collective efficacy. METHOD: A cross-sectional online survey (N = 560) was implemented with a sample that matched the demographics of the national population in the U.S. RESULTS: The relationship between awareness of consequences and ascription of responsibility was stronger among liberals and those reporting low levels of individual efficacy and collective efficacy. CONCLUSION: Health behaviors such as COVID-19 mitigation actions can be motivated by activating individuals' sense of moral obligation, but the effectiveness of this approach depends on their political ideology and efficacy beliefs. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Campaigns can promote health behaviors by triggering the moral responsibility of the target audience through emphasizing severity of the consequences. This approach can be more effective for liberals and those that lack confidence in individual and collective abilities to avert the threat.

Structural equation modeling of public transport use with COVID-19 precautions: An extension of the norm activation model.

This study aims to identify the travelers' attitudes and preferences towards the use of public transport during COVID-19 through the Norm-Activation Model (NAM). A questionnaire survey was designed to assess the traveler's awareness, sense of responsibility, and moral obligations to comply with safety norms or guidelines while using public transport in Lahore, Pakistan. The Structural Equation Modeling method was applied to analyze the collected 1516 complete responses. The survey results and measurement equations confirmed the association between observed and corresponding latent variables. The results of SEM revealed that the travelers' Awareness of Consequences (AC) and Ascription of Responsibility (AR) are positively correlated with Personal Norms (PN), whereas attitudes towards public transport are negatively related to the PN. The perceived behavioral control (PBC) and PN have negative structural correlations with public transport use. However, the attitudes towards public transport are strong predictors of travelers' behavior towards public transport. The current motorcycle users and high-income people have low preferences, whereas current users of public transport modes and middle-income people have high preferences to choose public transport during a pandemic. The travelers' perceived difficulty of complying with safety guidelines while traveling, such as wearing a facemask, use of sanitizers, and maintaining a social distance, have a significant impact on their public transport use. The travelers' better awareness, responsibility, and trust in using public transport may have a strong influence on their preferences towards public transport during a pandemic situation.

Intention to Take COVID-19 Vaccine as a Precondition for International Travel: Application of Extended Norm-Activation Model.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious threat to human health, the global economy, and the social fabrics of contemporary societies as many aspects of modern everyday life, including travel and leisure, have been shattered to pieces. Hence, a COVID-19 mandatory vaccination as a precondition for international travel is being debated in many countries. Thus, the present research aimed to study the intention to take the COVID-19 vaccine as a precondition for international travel using an extended Norm-Activation Model. The study model integrates a new construct, namely mass media coverage on COVID-19 vaccination as additional predictor of intention to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The survey data were collected from 1221 international travelers. Structural equation modelling shows a very good fit of the final model to the data; the conceptual model based on extended Norm-Activation Model was strongly supported. Awareness of consequences related to the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals' health has shown a positive effect on individuals' ascribed responsibility to adopt emotionally driven (anticipated pride and anticipated guilt) pro-social behaviors that activate a personal norm towards altruistic and pro-mandatory vaccination-friendly behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.