This paper examines the impact that the salience of the threat of contagious diseases has on Dutch citizens’ support for non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) aimed at battling this threat....Show moreThis paper examines the impact that the salience of the threat of contagious diseases has on Dutch citizens’ support for non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) aimed at battling this threat. During the COVID-19 pandemic, populations in Western countries where the salience of the threat of the coronavirus was elevated, reported high support for preventive measures. This level of support did vary between countries which led to the question of whether the outcomes would be the same for previously excluded countries, like the Netherlands. Analysing how salience influences the support for NPIs can help governments with creating the best and most supported approach to battle contagious diseases in the future. For this research, the emphasis will be on the so far understudied Dutch population. Taking previous literature on the Netherlands and its neighbouring countries, this study argues that the salience of the threat of contagious diseases will increase Dutch citizens’ support for NPIs aimed at alleviating this threat. After conducting a survey experiment, no support was found for this hypothesis since both groups, with salience and without salience of the threat, reported an equal level of support for the implementation of NPIs. Overall, as expected from previous literature, the lowest support was found for implementing a complete lockdown. Unfortunately, these findings were not generalisable to the whole Dutch population. Future research should focus on either sampling a bigger group for a similar study, or on researching what does influence the support for NPIs in the Netherlands if it is not the salience of the threat of contagious diseases.Show less
Governments worldwide are faced with unique challenges during the current COVID-19 pandemic. To limit the threats that this virus causes to public safety, governments need to ensure that their...Show moreGovernments worldwide are faced with unique challenges during the current COVID-19 pandemic. To limit the threats that this virus causes to public safety, governments need to ensure that their citizens follow the measures set out by them. Previous research has shown that information that contains specific types of messages can have an influence on the extent to which people are willing to adhere to government measures. The current study builds on these strategies and theories and investigates the extent to which the communication of either fear or hope has an influence on (1) people’s understanding of COVID-19 related information and (2) people’s willingness to adhere to government measures. In a survey experiment participants read a scenario in which the government issued a statement regarding the measures that they had put in place previously. Results show that the communication of hope increases people’s understanding of COVID-19 related information but does not have an effect on people’s willingness to adhere to government measures. These findings suggest that when governments want to increase people’s understanding of the pandemic situation during future pandemics they need to communicate hopeful messages, but these findings also suggests that more research needs to be done into ways in which actual willingness to adhere to government measures can be increased.Show less
