Individualism and the fight against COVID-19

• Published in: Humanities & social sciences communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 1 - 20
• Main Authors: Huang, Li, Li, Oliver Zhen, Wang, Baiqiang, Zhang, Zilong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan 01.12.2022; Springer Nature
• Subjects: Collectivism; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Individualism; Pandemics
• ISSN: 2662-9992; 2662-9992
• DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01124-5

Abstract What is the role of societal culture in the individualism-collectivism paradigm in pandemic containment? In the prolonged fight against COVID-19, government-initiated non-pharmaceutical interventions critically hinges on citizens’ adherence to these restrictive policies. Using an international setting, this research shows that countries scoring high on individualism generally have a more severe COVID-19 situation throughout the trajectory of the pandemic. This link between individualism and the severity of the virus situation is plausibly due to social non-cooperativeness in individualistic countries which reduces the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions aimed at mitigating the virus situation. Exploiting cultural disparity in the individualism-collectivism paradigm between former East and West German districts, this research further demonstrates that, after controlling for local characteristics that can affect the pandemic outcome, former East German districts have a less severe COVID-19 situation than former West German districts. Evidence collectively suggests that a greater reluctance among people in more individualistic cultures to heed virus-fighting policies impose a negative public health externality in a pandemic.