What Explains Natives and Sojourners Preventive Health Behavior in a Pandemic: Role of Media and Scientific Self-Efficacy

Fang Keren; Ahmad Nabeel Siddiquei; Muhammad Azfar Anwar; Fahad Asmi; Qing Ye

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.664399

What Explains Natives and Sojourners Preventive Health Behavior in a Pandemic: Role of Media and Scientific Self-Efficacy

Front Psychol. 2021 Jun 29:12:664399. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.664399. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Fang Keren¹, Ahmad Nabeel Siddiquei², Muhammad Azfar Anwar³, Fahad Asmi^{4

5}, Qing Ye^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ School of Journalism and Communication, Anhui University, Hefei, China.
² Bond Business School, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
³ School of Management, University of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
⁴ Department of Science and Technology of Communication, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Immersive Media Technology (Anhui Xinhua Media Co, Ltd.), Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Hefei, China.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a severe global public health emergency. The current research investigated and compared "Natives and Sojourners" health-protective behavior in Mainland China during the pandemic. We adopted a unified view to propose our theoretical model by adapting the Health Belief Model (HBM) and Institutional Theory (IT). The data obtained through an online survey questionnaire from 435 respondents during the second and third quarters of were analyzed. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to empirically analyze the proposed model. The media self-efficacy (MSE), scientific self-efficacy (SSE), perceived health risks (PHRs), and the perceived benefits of being protected have positive and significant effects on the definition of health-protective behavioral intentions among natives and sojourners in mainland China. Media and SSE can play a strategic role in formulating public health-protective behavior. The current research recommends an effective communication with sojourners during crisis for them to be a part of the national crisis management plan (i.e., infectious disease).

Keywords: COVID-19; China; health belief model; media self-efficacy; scientific self-efficacy; sojourners.