The imperative of institutional trust and individualistic culture on early <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 policy responses: A necessary condition analysis

Abstract COVID‐19 sparked a global public health crisis, to which countries around the world responded differently. However, the critical reasons behind governments' slow or stringent responses to COVID‐19 remain understudied. Leveraging multiple global databases on COVID‐19 policies, trust, and national cultural orientation, this study spotlights the crucial roles of institutional trust and individualism in shaping the speed and stringency of early COVID‐19 policy responses across 120 countries. Using necessary condition analysis (NCA), the study unveils that low institutional trust is necessary for high first‐response delay, while both low institutional trust and low individualism are necessary for high first‐response stringency. A mediating necessity relationship is established: “low institutional trust—high first‐response delay—high first‐response stringency.” These findings underscore the critical need to improve institutional trust, enabling a crisis response policy of “responding quickly with low stringency,” thus minimizing early‐phase health and socioeconomic repercussions. By highlighting the imperative of institutional trust and individualistic culture in crisis policymaking, this study provides new insights into how and why informal institutions matter most for early crisis responses.