ArticlePloS one2021
Peers for the fearless: Social norms facilitate preventive behaviour when individuals perceive low COVID-19 health risks.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- A new experimental approach to manipulate social identity and social norms about protective behaviors in a virtual social environment.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Paying in public: Peer effects, impression management, and willingness to pay on digital payment platforms.PloS one · 2026Article
- Emphasizing the understanding of social norms for cross-cultural public health behavioral interventions.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Psychosocial determinants of handwashing and physical distancing behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands: A longitudinal analysis.British journal of health psychology · 2025Article
- Compliance with social norms in the face of risks: Delineating the roles of uncertainty about risk perceptions versus risk perceptions.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2025Article
- Article
- Association Between Risk Perceptions of COVID-19, Political Ideology, and Mask-Wearing Behavior After the Outbreak: A Cross-Sectional Survey in South Korea.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- The contribution of risk perception and social norms to reported preventive behaviour against selected vector-borne diseases in Guyana.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- From delta to omicron: The role of individual factors and social context in self-reported compliance with pandemic regulations and recommendations.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2023Article
- Satisfaction With Governmental Risk Communication Both Increases and Decreases COVID-19 Mitigation Behaviours.International journal of public health · 2023Article
- Predictors for adherent behavior in the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional telephone survey.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Descriptive, injunctive, or the synergy of both? Experimenting normative information on behavioral changes under the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Varieties of Mobility Measures: Comparing Survey and Mobile Phone Data during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Public opinion quarterly · 2022Article
- Changes in Mental Health and Views on Communication and Activities of Public Institutions among Swedes during the COVID-19 Pandemic-A Cross-Sectional Repeated Measures Design.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A strategy frequently adopted to contain the COVID-19 pandemic involves three non-pharmaceutical interventions that depend on high levels of compliance in society: maintaining physical distance from others, minimizing social contacts, and wearing a face mask. These measures require substantial changes in established practices of social interaction, raising the question of which factors motivate individuals to comply with these preventive behaviours. Using Austrian panel survey data from April 2020 to April 2021, we show that perceived health risks, social norms, and trust in political institutions stimulate people to engage in preventive behaviour. A moderation analysis shows that the effectiveness of social norms in facilitating preventive behaviour increases when people's perceptions of health risks decrease. No such moderation effect is observed for trust in political institutions. These results suggest that strong social norms play a crucial role in achieving high rates of preventive behaviour, especially when perceived levels of health risks are low.
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