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Viral Social Media Videos Can Raise Pro-Social Behaviours When an Epidemic Arises

Author

Listed:
  • Youting Guo

    (School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, China)

  • Jason Shachat

    (School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, China
    Department of Economics and Finance, Durham University Business School, United Kingdom)

  • Matthew J. Walker

    (Department of Economics and Finance, Durham University Business School, United Kingdom)

  • Lijia Wei

    (School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, China)

Abstract

At the onset of an epidemic, can viral social media videos induce the high levels of trust and pro-sociality required for a successful community response? Shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in Wuhan, China, we conducted an experiment assessing the impact of viral videos on individual preferences and pro-social behaviour. Prior to the experiment, participants viewed one of three videos culled from Chinese social media: a central government leader visiting a local hospital and supermarket, health care volunteers transiting to Wuhan, or an emotionally neutral video unrelated to the emergency. Viewing one of the first two videos leads to higher levels of prosociality and increased ambiguity aversion relative to the third video. The leadership video, however, induces lower levels of trust. Our results suggest ways to craft more effective crisis response efforts and provide insights into how the direction of information in hierarchies influences trust in community members.

Suggested Citation

  • Youting Guo & Jason Shachat & Matthew J. Walker & Lijia Wei, 2020. "Viral Social Media Videos Can Raise Pro-Social Behaviours When an Epidemic Arises," Working Papers 20-15, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:chu:wpaper:20-15
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    File URL: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_papers/310/
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. 42. Selected Data of Coronavirus in Spain, United States, Europe, America and other areas, year 2020: Statistics of Cases and Hospital beds
      by MCG Blogs de Economía in Euro-American Association: World Development on 2020-05-12 09:25:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Blanco, Esther & Baier, Alexandra & Holzmeister, Felix & Jaber-Lopez, Tarek & Struwe, Natalie, 2022. "Substitution of social sustainability concerns under the Covid-19 pandemic," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Hamza Umer, 2024. "Covid-19 and altruism: a meta-analysis of dictator games," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 35-60, February.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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