AUTHOR=Li Jianghong , Akaliyski Plamen , Heisig Jan Paul , Löbl Simon , Minkov Michael 

TITLE=Flexible societies excelled in saving lives in the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.924385

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.924385

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Previous studies have shown that national cultural traits, such as collectivism-individualism and tightness-looseness are associated with COVID infection and mortality rates. However, no studies to date have examined flexibility-monumentalism, a cultural trait that uniquely distinguishes East Asia from the rest of the world. East Asian countries have out-performed other countries in containing COVID infections and lowering mortality in the first pandemic waves. Moreover, none of the previous studies have explored mechanisms underpinning the association between national culture and COVID mortality.
Our study fills in these gaps by examining the association between flexibility-monumentalism and COVID-19 mortality in 37 countries, adjusting for important covariates and by analyzing plausible mechanisms underpinning this association. The results show that flexibility is associated with a significant reduction in COVID-19 mortality as of 31 October 2020, independent of the level of democracy, per capita GDP, urbanization, population density and hospital beds. This association is also independent of two other prominent national cultural traits (individualism-collectivism and tightness-looseness) which have received much attention. We also found tentative evidence that the flexibility- COVID mortality is mediated through mask wearing.