Publication: A guilt-free strategy increases self-reported non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures: Experimental evidence from 12 countries
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Date
2021-04-21
Authors
Daoust, Jean François
Bélanger, Éric
Dassonneville, Ruth
Lachapelle, Erick
Nadeau, Richard
Advisor
Court
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PLOS
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Abstract
Studies of citizens’ compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures routinely rely on survey
data. While such data are essential, public health restrictions provide clear signals of what is
socially desirable in this context, creating a potential source of response bias in self-reported
measures of compliance. In this research, we examine whether the results of a guilt-free
strategy recently proposed to lessen this constraint are generalizable across twelve countries,
and whether the treatment effect varies across subgroups. Our findings show that the
guilt-free strategy is a useful tool in every country included, increasing respondents’ proclivity
to report non-compliance by 9 to 16 percentage points. This effect holds for different subgroups
based on gender, age and education. We conclude that the inclusion of this strategy
should be the new standard for survey research that aims to provide crucial data on the current
pandemic.
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Attribution 4.0 International
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IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs
Center
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Citation
Daoust J-F, Be´langerE´ , Dassonneville R, Lachapelle E, Nadeau R, Becher M, et al. (2021) A guilt-free strategy increases self-reported noncompliance with COVID-19 preventive measures: Experimental evidence from 12 countries. PLoS ONE 16(4): e0249914. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0249914