Cross-national benchmarking and acceptance of pandemic mitigation policies: human value approach

Purpose This study analyzes the reasons for satisfaction or dissatisfaction among people with public health mitigation policies, particularly with focus on human values. Recent studies reveal that the citizenry of various nations reacted to government policy measures differently when asked if they are satisfied with government handling of COVID-19. Human values such as openness-to-change and conservation might influence the acceptance of pandemic mitigation measures. Design/methodology/approach A structural equation model (SEM) is proposed, which incorporates mitigation strategies and human value variables. National health survey data of the COVID-19 pandemic in Great Britain and Italy is used to test several hypotheses. Findings The model analysis suggests that prioritizing public health, monitoring and tracking people, border closures and restricting people’s movement played important roles in the satisfaction of government handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals with a high conservation value are more likely to have a higher probability of dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of COVID-19 pandemic. During a pandemic, the citizens are more willing to trade a good economy for public health. They are also more willing to sacrifice privacy in the government’s efforts to track the spread. Originality/value This is a unique study which combines human value variables and mitigation policies in determining acceptance of government policies among citizenry during national health crisis. A SEM modeling framework is presented to analyze empirically several hypotheses.