Wearing a mask-For yourself or for others? Behavioral correlates of mask wearing among COVID-19 frontline workers.
Human behavior can have effects on oneself and externalities on others. Mask wearing is such a behavior in the current pandemic. What motivates people to wear face masks in public when mask wearing is voluntary or not enforced? Which benefits should the policy makers rather emphasize in information...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253621 |
| _version_ | 1818928685902725120 |
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| author | Ankush Asri Viola Asri Baiba Renerte Franziska Föllmi-Heusi Joerg D Leuppi Juergen Muser Reto Nüesch Dominik Schuler Urs Fischbacher |
| author_facet | Ankush Asri Viola Asri Baiba Renerte Franziska Föllmi-Heusi Joerg D Leuppi Juergen Muser Reto Nüesch Dominik Schuler Urs Fischbacher |
| author_sort | Ankush Asri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human behavior can have effects on oneself and externalities on others. Mask wearing is such a behavior in the current pandemic. What motivates people to wear face masks in public when mask wearing is voluntary or not enforced? Which benefits should the policy makers rather emphasize in information campaigns-the reduced chances of getting the SARS-CoV-2 virus (benefits for oneself) or the reduced chances of transmitting the virus (benefits for others in the society)? In this paper, we link measured risk preferences and other-regarding preferences to mask wearing habits among 840 surveyed employees of two large Swiss hospitals. We find that the leading mask-wearing motivations change with age: While for older people, mask wearing habits are best explained by their self-regarding risk preferences, younger people are also motivated by other-regarding concerns. Our results are robust to different specifications including linear probability models, probit models and Lasso covariate selection models. Our findings thus allow drawing policy implications for effectively communicating public-health recommendations to frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T03:32:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a61f5bbd09e049f8b8b0f8b59b48a7ee |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T03:32:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-a61f5bbd09e049f8b8b0f8b59b48a7ee2022-12-21T19:54:57ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01167e025362110.1371/journal.pone.0253621Wearing a mask-For yourself or for others? Behavioral correlates of mask wearing among COVID-19 frontline workers.Ankush AsriViola AsriBaiba RenerteFranziska Föllmi-HeusiJoerg D LeuppiJuergen MuserReto NüeschDominik SchulerUrs FischbacherHuman behavior can have effects on oneself and externalities on others. Mask wearing is such a behavior in the current pandemic. What motivates people to wear face masks in public when mask wearing is voluntary or not enforced? Which benefits should the policy makers rather emphasize in information campaigns-the reduced chances of getting the SARS-CoV-2 virus (benefits for oneself) or the reduced chances of transmitting the virus (benefits for others in the society)? In this paper, we link measured risk preferences and other-regarding preferences to mask wearing habits among 840 surveyed employees of two large Swiss hospitals. We find that the leading mask-wearing motivations change with age: While for older people, mask wearing habits are best explained by their self-regarding risk preferences, younger people are also motivated by other-regarding concerns. Our results are robust to different specifications including linear probability models, probit models and Lasso covariate selection models. Our findings thus allow drawing policy implications for effectively communicating public-health recommendations to frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253621 |
| spellingShingle | Ankush Asri Viola Asri Baiba Renerte Franziska Föllmi-Heusi Joerg D Leuppi Juergen Muser Reto Nüesch Dominik Schuler Urs Fischbacher Wearing a mask-For yourself or for others? Behavioral correlates of mask wearing among COVID-19 frontline workers. PLoS ONE |
| title | Wearing a mask-For yourself or for others? Behavioral correlates of mask wearing among COVID-19 frontline workers. |
| title_full | Wearing a mask-For yourself or for others? Behavioral correlates of mask wearing among COVID-19 frontline workers. |
| title_fullStr | Wearing a mask-For yourself or for others? Behavioral correlates of mask wearing among COVID-19 frontline workers. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wearing a mask-For yourself or for others? Behavioral correlates of mask wearing among COVID-19 frontline workers. |
| title_short | Wearing a mask-For yourself or for others? Behavioral correlates of mask wearing among COVID-19 frontline workers. |
| title_sort | wearing a mask for yourself or for others behavioral correlates of mask wearing among covid 19 frontline workers |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253621 |
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