Drivers of public responses toward Coronavirus outbreak and implications of social dynamics – COSD

Project summary

The purpose of this project is to study how crisis communication and social countermeasures taken by government authorities and other major actors influence public responses under a pandemic.

This project will study public response toward countermeasures taken by three major actors: government authorities, business, and individuals. The purpose is to reveal to what extent communication and countermeasures can elicit or reduce public responses such as anxiety and fear. Researchers also want to examine how communication and countermeasures taken will trigger negative reactions from the public, such as complaints, spreading misinformation, and not to follow recommendations from authorities. Positive reactions from the public, such as support for vulnerable groups and trust toward the government, will also be examined. Another purpose of this project is to study broadly public responses toward the outbreak of coronavirus and social countermeasures taken in Norway. It is important to understand consequences of communication and countermeasures taken by authorities and other major actors on the public. Such an understanding can guide policy makers to implement countermeasures and communications that work best in case of a future pandemic outbreak.This project will carry out field experiments in four countries, Norway, Italy, China, and USA. In addition, multiple-wave surveys will be conducted in Norway within the project period. Researchers want to get answers to how public responses toward the Corona-outbreak and countermeasures change over time. The project will be conducted in collaboration with researchers from USA, Italy, and China.