Publications by authors named "Kenneth Mori McElwain"
Rationale: Mobile technology has been widely utilized as an effective healthcare tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, over 50 countries have released contact-tracing apps to trace and contain infection chains. While earlier studies have examined obstacles to app uptake and usage, whether and how this uptake affects users' behavioral patterns is not well understood.
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- This study investigates how altruism and the fear of public shame influence people's willingness to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine.
- Researchers applied expected utility theory and conducted an online survey with 1,686 participants in Japan aged 30-49 to gather data.
- Results showed that individuals who are more altruistic and sensitive to public shame were more likely to pay for the vaccine, suggesting potential interventions may be necessary to encourage vaccine uptake among less socially-minded individuals.
Article Synopsis
- During the early stages of pandemics, individual behaviors like social distancing can significantly slow down infection rates, but these behaviors often stem from a lack of reliable information and coordinated policies.
- An analysis of data from January to March 2020 shows that as confirmed COVID-19 cases increased, people were less likely to engage in activities like dining out or having face-to-face conversations, with high school graduates showing less response to risk than university graduates.
- The study suggests that interventions aimed at increasing awareness of infection risks, especially at the start of a pandemic, could help improve protective behaviors and discusses how these strategies may remain useful in later pandemic phases.
This debate examines the impact of infodemics - an over-abundance of information - on social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of its external effects, social distancing behavior (SDB) shares fundamental properties with public goods, whose potential for undersupply has been examined extensively in the social sciences. Although the negative effects of infodemics have been emphasized by governments and international organizations, theoretical models suggest that infodemics may work as a mitigation mechanism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To control the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential to trace and contain infection chains; for this reason, policymakers have endorsed the usage of contact tracing apps. To date, over 50 countries have released such apps officially or semiofficially, but those that rely on citizens' voluntary uptake suffer from low adoption rates, reducing their effectiveness. Early studies suggest that the low uptake is driven by citizens' concerns about security and privacy, as well as low perceptions of infection risk and benefits from the usage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe spread of misinformation on the internet regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, such as unproven or fake cures, has been a serious concern. However, the extent to which social media usage affects individuals' health behavior, particularly when reliable information is scarce, is not well understood. This study evaluates the impact of social media usage on individuals' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as demand for necessities and social distancing.
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