What drives public support for health policies ? The protection-motivated mediating model of institutional trust and risk paradox
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4600428 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yi-Hui Christine Huang (0000-0002-2621-9700, City University of Hong Kong), Qinxian Cai (0000-0001-7358-9416, City University of Hong Kong), Xiaohui Wang (0000-0003-2126-1712, City University of Hong Kong), Jie Sun (0000-0003-1213-6696, City University of Hong Kong) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 383 |
| Pages | 118310 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Science & Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118310 |
| PMID | 40680480 |
| OpenAlex | W4411919674 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 49 |
This study examined how institutional trustworthiness shapes public attitudes toward the health policy across Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Using stratified quota sampling to recruit participants from each region (Ntotal = 4812), we applied Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to explore the roles of threat appraisal (perceived probability and unfamiliarity) and coping appraisal (self-efficacy and response efficacy). Our findings showed that response efficacy was the strongest mediator in promoting favorable attitudes across all regions. Perceived probability was positively related to policy attitudes in all regions, while perceived unfamiliarity was negatively associated with attitudes in Mainland China only. Self-efficacy was not a significant mediator, suggesting that beliefs in personal ability were less impactful than the perceived effectiveness of the policy. These findings underscore the pivotal role of institutional trustworthiness and perceived effectiveness of health measures in public health communication. They also highlight the importance of addressing region-specific differences in risk perception to enhance public support for health policies. Furthermore, the results support PMT and shed light on the paradoxical effects of different dimensions of risk perception on policy attitudes
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Actuarial science · Business · Compliance (psychology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Disease · Economics · Law and economics · Political science · Public policy · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Zero (linguistics · Zero tolerance · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Disaster Management and Resilience · Law · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology · Risk Perception and Management · Social Psychology · Virology
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| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |