An examination and extension of the Peltzman effect during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Germany, the German government has introduced various measures to counteract the pandemic. The implementation of safety measures can have counterproductive effects: people engage in risk compensatory behavior (fewer safety behaviors) after regulations are introduced and obligated by the government, which is known as the Peltzman effect (Peltzman, 1975). Based on the Peltzman effect, the researchers of this study hypothesized that people complied less with safety behaviors and took more health risks (e.g. keep less distance) after the implementation of more stringent COVID-19-related regulations (quarantine obligation and face mask duty) between the two measurement periods of this study. They also extended the Peltzman model by hypothesizing moderating roles of age, gender, and perceived COVID-19 threat. Results of the longitudinal survey study (N = 989, T1: 26 March - 31 March 2020 and T2: 27 April - 4 May 2020) confirm that people indeed complied less with safety recommendations over time associated with strengthened COVID-19-related regulations. Perceived COVID-19 threat to those in a person's surroundings (e.g. family, neighbors) had a positive impact on compliance, but age and gender had no effect. This extends the literature on the Peltzman effect by adding perceived COVID-19 threat as a new relevant construct, enabling the development of more effective safety preventions in the future.

When timing is key: How autocratic and democratic leadership relate to follower trust in emergency contexts.

In emergency contexts, leaders' ability to develop others' trust in them is critical to leadership effectiveness. By integrating functional leadership and team process theories, we argue that democratic and autocratic leadership can create trust in the leader depending on the performance phase of the action team. We further argue that action and transition phases produce different task demands for leadership behavior to enhance trust in the leader, and different leader characteristics (i.e., leader benevolence and leader ability) mediate these effects. The results of a scenario experiment (N = 125) and field survey (N = 165) among firefighters revealed that autocratic rather than democratic leadership elevates trust in the leader during the action phase by increasing leader ability. In contrast, democratic rather than autocratic leadership enhances trust in the leader during the transition phase by elevating leader benevolence. These findings highlight the importance of leader characteristics in emergencies, demonstrating the value of mixing autocratic and democratic leadership behaviors across different team performance phases to build trust in the leader.