IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/bpubpo/v5y2021i2p153-179_2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When behavioural science can make a difference in times of COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • KRPAN, DARIO
  • MAKKI, FADI
  • SALEH, NABIL
  • BRINK, SUZANNE IRIS
  • KLAUZNICER, HELENA VLAHINJA

Abstract

In a large study that involved 2637 participants recruited from a representative UK and US sample, we tested the influence of four behavioural interventions (versus control) on a range of behaviours important for reducing the spread of COVID-19 a day after the interventions were administered. Even if people largely complied with social distancing measures, our analyses showed that for certain subgroups of the population the interventions made a positive difference. More specifically, for those who started practising social distancing relatively recently, an information-based intervention increased general compliance with social distancing and reduced both the number of times people went out and the number of hours they spent outside. However, for people who started practising social distancing relatively early, the interventions tended to backfire and, in some cases, reduced compliance with social distancing. Overall, this research has various policy implications and shows that, although behavioural interventions can positively impact compliance with social distancing, their effect may depend on personal circumstances.

Suggested Citation

  • Krpan, Dario & Makki, Fadi & Saleh, Nabil & Brink, Suzanne Iris & Klauznicer, Helena Vlahinja, 2021. "When behavioural science can make a difference in times of COVID-19," Behavioural Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(2), pages 153-179, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bpubpo:v:5:y:2021:i:2:p:153-179_2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2398063X20000482/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shusaku Sasaki & Hirofumi Kurokawa & Fumio Ohtake, 2021. "Effective but fragile? Responses to repeated nudge-based messages for preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 371-408, July.
    2. S. Mills & S. Costa & C. R. Sunstein, 2023. "AI, Behavioural Science, and Consumer Welfare," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 387-400, September.
    3. Stojetz, Wolfgang & Ferguson, Neil T.N. & Baliki, Ghassan & Díaz, Oscar & Elfes, Jan & Esenaliev, Damir & Freudenreich, Hanna & Koebach, Anke & Abreu, Liliana & Peitz, Laura & Todua, Ani & Schreiner, , 2022. "The Life with Corona survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    4. Fumio Ohtake, 2022. "Can nudges save lives?," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 245-268, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:bpubpo:v:5:y:2021:i:2:p:153-179_2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/bpp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.