AUTHOR=Yao Yujiao , Liu Shanshan , Chen Gaoyu , Yang Yang , Yang Jiaxin 

TITLE=Conformity behavior in crises: evidence from the COVID-19 epidemic in China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1428075

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1428075

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Once a mass health crisis breaks out, it causes concern among whole societies. Thus, understanding the individual’s behavior in response to such events is key in government crisis management. The purpose of this empirical study was to comprehensively characterize the individuals' conformity behavior during the COVID-19 outbreak in China, from perspective the social influence theory. Data were collected in February 2020 using an online survey. The individual’s conformity behavior and new influencing factors were identified. The results revealed that affective risk perception, cognitive risk perception, and individual risk knowledge had a positive significant impact on normative influence. Affective risk perception and individual risk knowledge had a positive significant on informative influence. Cognitive risk perception did not significantly impact informative influence. Informative influence and normative influence had a positive effect on conformity behavior. These results have significant implications for the management behavior of the government.