Understanding compliance intention of SNS users during the COVID-19 pandemic: a theory of appraisal and coping
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-09-2021-0543 |
| Published date | 25 May 2022 |
| Date | 25 May 2022 |
| Pages | 1560-1591 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
| Author | Ping Li,Younghoon Chang,Shan Wang,Siew Fan Wong |
Understanding compliance
intention of SNS users during the
COVID-19 pandemic: a theory of
appraisal and coping
Ping Li
Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
Younghoon Chang
School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology,
Beijing, China
Shan Wang
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, and
Siew Fan Wong
Taylor’s Business School, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors affecting the intention of social networking sites
(SNS) users to comply with government policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach –Based on the theory of appraisal and coping, the research model is tested
using survey data collected from 326 SNS users. Structural equation modeling is used to test the
research model.
Findings –The results show that social support has a positive effect on outbreak self-efficacy but has no
significant effect on perceived avoidability. Government information transparency positively affects outbreak
self-efficacy and perceived avoidability. Outbreak self-efficacy and perceived avoidability have a strong
positive impact on policy compliance intention through problem-focused coping.
Practical implications –The results suggest that both government and policymakers could deliver reliable
pandemic information to the citizens via social media.
Originality/value –This study brings novel insights into citizen coping behavior, showing that policy
compliance intention is driven by the ability to cope with problems. Moreover, this study enhances the
theoretical understanding of the role of social support, outbreak self-efficacy and problem-focused coping.
Keywords Social support, Information transparency, Outbreak self-efficacy, Perceived avoidability,
Appraisal and coping theory, Policy compliance intention
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019 has brought tremendous challenges to the global society.
As of early August 2021, it has infected nearly 197 million and killed 4.2 million people
globally (World Health Organization, 2021), far exceeding the death toll of SARS in 2003
(Hawryluck et al., 2004). To prevent the spread of COVID-19, many countries announced
policies to combat the pandemic. In China, all citizens must wear masks outdoors and present
electronic certifications showing they have not been to high-risk areas when taking public
transportation (Anderson et al., 2020;Feng et al., 2020). In South Korea, infected people and
regions are isolated and citizens’movement are restricted through social distancing
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Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
No: 72172013, 72110107003).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0263-5577.htm
Received 11 September 2021
Revised 27 February 2022
25 April 2022
Accepted 28 April 2022
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 122 No. 7, 2022
pp. 1560-1591
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-09-2021-0543
(Her, 2020). In addition, various countries are also conducting contact tracing to stop COVID-
19 transmission. Clearly, countries are taking serious measures to contain COVID-19.
However, the virus war against COVID-19 is full of challenges. To win this war, citizens’
compliance with government policies and effort is of utmost importance. Citizen compliance,
especially in times of crisis, will require them to have updated information in hand for
decision-making. During the pandemic, citizens are very sensitive to all the information such
as local cases and treatment surrounding themselves (i.e. how many cases in their
community), a number of cases nation-wide/world-wide and the strategies adopted by
governments to combat COVID-19. All this information may shape their attitude toward the
pandemic and life, thereby affecting their ability to respond to COVID-19.
To facilitatethe process, some governments usesocial media to actively and transparently
deliverpandemic-relatedinformation such as the numberof infected cases (Pan, 2020),personal
hygiene rules (Chenet al., 2020b) and standard operatingprocedures to their people (Goel and
Gupta, 2020). This helps to address people’s concerns and reduce uncertainty. Social
networking sites (SNS) users, being the frontiers in receiving government’s instant COVID
updates, will have updated information in theirdecision to comply with government policies.
In addition, SNS users can also continue to receive online social support including
informational support, emotional support and companionship support (Zhong et al., 2021)
despite not being able to have physical meetings with family and friends. This helps to
alleviate worry and anxiety and strengthen one’s ability to cope with difficulties (Zhao et al.,
2021) to ensure a healthy state of mind (Yan and Tan, 2014).
While the literature (Escobar-Viera et al., 2018;Hunt et al., 2018;Lin et al., 2020b;Keles
et al., 2020;Lee and Goldstein, 2016) has examined the benefits of SNS, it is still not clear how
SNS users will behave in time of crisis, such as that of COVID-19. The current coping
framework does not explain people’s behavior in dealing with emergency events such as
pandemics or natural disasters. It only describes how people respond to general risk
situations (Carver and Scheier, 1994;Folkman and Lazarus, 1985). Therefore, there is a need
to test the theory in emergency events because special skills and information are needed when
people face urgent epidemic diseases (Harandi et al., 2017).
Moreover, existing IS research only focuses on the effects of general and computer self-
efficacy on people’s behavior and intentions; it has not emphasized how the perception of self-
competency manifests itself in emergency situations (Bandura, 1982). Most SNS literature
also focuses on the role and impact of SNS on people’s daily lives (Hunt et al., 2018;Keles et al.,
2020). It is still not clear how SNS users will form their appraisal based on the information
received from the governments. In particular, research on how SNS support and information
transparency affect citizens’intentions to comply with government policy is still limited. Only
a few studies have explored the motivations affecting citizens’safety policies (Johnston and
Warkentin, 2010;Li et al., 2014), while a few others focus on citizens’trust in social media and
government policies (Dillon, 2020;Gold, 2020).
To fill the research gap, this study will explore the factors affecting the intention of SNS
users to comply with government policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. It builds on
appraisal and coping theory to explain how social support and government information
transparency affect citizens’perceived threat avoidability and self-efficacy, which in turn
leads to the intention to comply with government policies. Appraisal and coping theory has
been widely used in studies on online user behaviors (Kim and Lee, 2014;Maroney et al., 2019)
and thus will be helpful in explaining the behavior of SNS users in policy compliance.
The structure of this article is as follows. Section 2 provides the theoretical background.
Section 3 develops the research models and hypotheses. Section 4 describes the research
methods and results. Section 5 discusses the findings, contributions, limitations and
implications for future research. Section 6 concludes the paper.
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2. Literature review
2.1 Government information transparency and citizen’s policy compliance
As the central regulatory agency and management agency for citizens, the government plays an
essential role in the entire social network (M€
ohlmann and Geissinger, 2018). Various government-
related organizations use intervention methods to convey the latest news to society in order to
make correct decisions about life, health and other conditions (Garfin et al., 2020). When a public
crisis occurs, government departments improve the accessibility of citizens to the Internet,
enhance information transparency and encourage citizens to comply with relevant policies.
Extensivestudies have discussed howgovernments use social mediato participate in crisis
management. Governments have participated in publiccrisis management through theuse of
social media due tothe several advantages that come withit, including faster speeds and the
ease with which information can be spread on a large scale (Chatfield and Reddick, 2018;
G
alvez-Rodr
ıguez et al.,2019). Many governments use news media and other media forms to
deliver relevant information to the public, helping to reduce citizens’fear and uncertainty
(Depoux et al.,2020).For example, the Indonesiangovernment used social mediato collaborate
with the public in order to produce products during a tsunami, thereby improving public
informationservices’efficiency(Chatfield et al.,2013). The USA used Twitter to keepits citizens
informedabout Hurricane Sandyto help them stay on top of Hurricaneactivity and, thus,out of
danger (Hugheset al.,2014). In China, the governmentcommunicates the latest news to citizens
through WeChat and Weibo platforms’official accounts. In India, the government censored
various social media to identify and organize false information.
Some studies have focused on government policies and citizen’s behavior during the pandemic.
Scholars are concerned about citizens’satisfaction with government policy dissemination
efficiency (Erikson, 2020;Terpstra et al., 2009). Other researchers have examined the degree of
citizens’trust in government policy (Bangerter et al., 2012;Paek et al., 2008). Chen et al. (2020b)
systematically investigated how the Chinese government used social media to promote citizen
participation during the COVID-19 crisis. The governance of this pandemic relies heavily on the
actions of individual citizens (Pennycook et al., 2020). Citizens’active compliance with policy will
help maintain market order and further promote governance and policy implementation.
Individuals and communities need to trust and abide by the government’s policy and law
enforcement agencies (Charoensukmongkol, 2014). However, these studies have not yet addressed
citizens’intentions to comply with government policy during the pandemic.
2.2 Social media usage during pandemic
With the development of web 2.0 technology, social media has gained tremendous popularity
worldwide and has become an inseparable part of people’s lives with its unique technology. It
is an internet-based mass communication channel wherein its content is mainly generated by
its userbase, greatly promoting interaction between users (Carr and Hayes, 2015). Most social
media information is spread through SNS, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube
and various virtual communities. In China, common SNS mainly include Sina Weibo, WeChat
and Zhihu. Nearly 90% of young people use social media (Perrin, 2015). Social media provides
people with an essential information source and enables them to receive help (Park et al., 2009;
Rains and Keating, 2011;Rozzell et al., 2014).
Nowadays, with the emergence of e-health, an increasing number of people are realizing
the importance of health and use of social media to find health-related information (Fergie
et al., 2016). When people face possible disease threats, they usually search for relevant
information and seek social support first on SNS (Harandi et al., 2017). During the pandemic
period, the use of social media has increased significantly. Global Facebook and Instagram
users have increased by more than 40%; messaging on social media software, such as
WhatsApp and Instagram, has increased by 70%; and the number of real-time views has
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