Support and trust in the government and COVID-19 experts during the pandemic

Support in government and trust in COVID-19 experts are important for pandemic preparedness. Based on the salient value similarity (SVS) model, which holds that "salient values" are important for trust in risk management, we measured ruling and opposition party supporters' support and trust in the government and COVID-19 experts. Comparing the results from 2020 to 2022, supporters of the ruling party maintained their support for the government, while supporters of the opposition party changed from disapproval to support. Trust in experts was higher among ruling party supporters and lower among opposition party supporters. Trust in university researchers did not differ between the ruling and opposition parties. This reveals that it is possible for a government to gain support from opposition party supporters and that achieving trust in experts who advise the government is more difficult than fostering trust in ordinary scientists.

Building Restaurant Customers’ Trust Amidst Covid-19 Crisis Through Value-and Performance-based Information: Risk Perception as a Moderator

Purpose: To weather the Covid-19 crisis and remain sustainable, restaurants need the trust of their customers. This study tested the impact of value similarity and preventive measures on customer trust and examined the impact of customer trust on customer cooperation. This study investigated the moderating effect of risk perception between study constructs. Design/methodology/approach: A web-based survey was administered to U.S. restaurant customers. For the main study, among the 240 surveys obtained, 218 usable responses remained after screening. Multiple regression and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test the research hypotheses. Findings: The results indicated that value similarity and preventive measures were significant predictors in under-standing customer trust in restaurants during Covid-19. It also demonstrated that restaurants’ preventive measures were a stronger determinant than value similarity in predicting customer trust, which significantly influenced customer cooperation behavior. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that risk perception moderated the relationship between preventive measures and customer trust. The effect of preventive measures on customer trust was greater for customers with a high level of risk perception than with those with a lower one. Research limitations/implications: The measurements of two antecedents of trust― value similarity and preventive measures― require further testing to confirm their validity and reliability in future research due to incomplete examination in prior hospitality studies. Originality/value: This study contributes to the existing knowledge by elucidating the strong impacts of both fac-tors, value similarity and preventive measures, which were found to be contributory factors of customer trust during the crisis. The findings have meaningful implications for restaurant managers who take actions against the Covid-19 crisis to achieve sustainable business growth. © 2021 People and Global Business Association.

The importance of (shared) human values for containing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses an exceptional challenge for humanity. Because public behaviour is key to curbing the pandemic at an early stage, it is important for social psychological researchers to use their knowledge to promote behaviours that help manage the crisis. Here, we identify human values as particularly important in driving both behavioural compliance to government guidelines and promoting prosocial behaviours to alleviate the strains arising from a prolonged pandemic. Existing evidence demonstrates the importance of human values, and the extent to which they are shared by fellow citizens, for tackling the COVID-19 crisis. Individuals who attach higher importance to self-transcendence (e.g., responsibility) and conservation (e.g., security) values are likely to be more compliant with COVID-19 behavioural guidelines and to help others who are struggling with the crisis. Further, believing that fellow citizens share one's values has been found to elicit a sense of connectedness that may be crucial in promoting collective efforts to contain the pandemic. The abstract nature of values, and cross-cultural agreement on their importance, suggests that they are ideally suited to developing and tailoring effective, global interventions to combat this pandemic.