The impact of national culture on COVID-19 pandemic outcomes

PurposeThis study aims to uncover the extent to which cultural traits may explain the puzzling international divergence in COVID-19 outcomes, and how those traits interact with state action to produce compliance with pandemic health policy.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical framework illustrat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of social economics 2022-02, Vol.49 (3), p.313-335
Main Authors: He, Zhaochen, Jiang, Yixiao, Chakraborti, Rik, Berry, Thomas D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collectivism
Compliance
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Culture
Egalitarianism
Epidemics
Hypotheses
Individualism
Morbidity
Pandemics
Public health
Social distancing
Specification
State intervention
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Summary:PurposeThis study aims to uncover the extent to which cultural traits may explain the puzzling international divergence in COVID-19 outcomes, and how those traits interact with state action to produce compliance with pandemic health policy.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical framework illustrates the surprising possibility that culture and state action may not reinforce each other but rather act as substitutes in eliciting anti-pandemic behavior. This possibility is tested empirically in two specifications: a cross-sectional regression that includes several novel COVID-related measures, and a panel model that controls for contemporaneous disease burden. Across these models, we use the measures of national culture developed by Hofstede (1984) and a newer metric developed by Schwartz (1990).FindingsIndividualism and egalitarianism have a positive effect on disease prevalence, while cultural heterogeneity was associated with a more robust public health response. Consistent with our model, we find that culture and state action served as substitutes in motivating compliance with COVID-19 policy.Practical implicationsThe results of this study imply that culture and state interact in determining the effectiveness of public health measures aimed at combating COVID-19; these results recommend culturally aware state intervention when combating pandemics.Originality/valueThis study offers several new contributions. First, it proposes a model to help contextualize the empirical analysis. Second, it examines a wider range of traits than previous studies, including cultural homogeneity and the Schwartz variables. Third, it employs a richer econometric specification that explores the interaction between state and culture in a panel context.
ISSN:0306-8293
1758-6712
DOI:10.1108/IJSE-07-2021-0424