An extended health belief model for COVID-19: understanding the media-based processes leading to social distancing and panic buying

Building on the health belief model (HBM), this research tests, over six months, how the exposure to COVID-related information in the media affects fear, which in turn conditions beliefs about the severity of the virus, susceptibility of getting the virus, and benefits of safety measures. These heal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 2023-01, Vol.51 (1), p.132-152
Main Authors: Hita, Marie Louise Radanielina, Grégoire, Yany, Lussier, Bruno, Boissonneault, Simon, Vandenberghe, Christian, Sénécal, Sylvain
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Business
Business and Management
Canada
Consumer behavior
COVID-19
Critical thinking
Epidemics
Health behavior
Influence
Marketing
News media
Original Empirical Research
Pandemics
Panic
Public health
Social aspects
Social distancing
Social Sciences
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Summary:Building on the health belief model (HBM), this research tests, over six months, how the exposure to COVID-related information in the media affects fear, which in turn conditions beliefs about the severity of the virus, susceptibility of getting the virus, and benefits of safety measures. These health beliefs ultimately lead to social distancing and panic buying. As a first contribution, we find that fear is not directly triggered by the objective severity of a crisis, but rather formed over time by the way individuals are exposed to media. Second, we show that fear affects behaviors through the components of the HBM which relate to the risks/benefits of a situation. Last, we find that critical thinking about media content amplifies the “adaptive” responses of our model (e.g., health beliefs, social distancing) and reduces its “maladaptive” responses (e.g., panic buying). Interestingly, we note that the beneficial effect of critical thinking about media content disappears as the level of fear increases over time. The implications of these findings for policymakers, media companies, and theory are further discussed.
ISSN:0092-0703
1552-7824
DOI:10.1007/s11747-022-00865-8