The Role of Collaboration in Complying With COVID-19 Health Protective Behaviors: A Cross-National Study

Abstract

On March 11, 2020 COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. As the virus spread, governments called on citizens to comply with handwashing and social distancing behaviors. We use survey data from Finland and the United States to examine whether collaborative dimensions help predict compliance with health protective behaviors related to combatting COVID-19. We also investigate whether these factors’ influence on compliance varies between a market regime such as the United States and a more statist regime such as Finland. Our findings provide important insight for public administrators in crafting messages to the public that emphasize citizens’ collaborative role in combatting a pandemic.