How national leaders keep 'us' safe: A longitudinal, four-nation study exploring the role of identity leadership as a predictor of adherence to COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions

Svenja B Frenzel; S Alexander Haslam; Nina M Junker; Aidos Bolatov; Valerie A Erkens; Jan A Häusser; Ronit Kark; Ines Meyer; Andreas Mojzisch; Lucas Monzani; Stephen D Reicher; Adil Samekin; Sebastian C Schuh; Niklas K Steffens; Liliya Sultanova; Dina Van Dijk; Llewellyn E van Zyl; Rolf van Dick

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054980

How national leaders keep 'us' safe: A longitudinal, four-nation study exploring the role of identity leadership as a predictor of adherence to COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions

BMJ Open. 2022 May 10;12(5):e054980. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054980.

Authors

Svenja B Frenzel¹, S Alexander Haslam², Nina M Junker^{3

4}, Aidos Bolatov⁵, Valerie A Erkens⁶, Jan A Häusser⁶, Ronit Kark^{7

8}, Ines Meyer⁹, Andreas Mojzisch¹⁰, Lucas Monzani¹¹, Stephen D Reicher¹², Adil Samekin¹³, Sebastian C Schuh¹⁴, Niklas K Steffens², Liliya Sultanova¹⁵, Dina Van Dijk¹⁶, Llewellyn E van Zyl^{3

17

18

19}, Rolf van Dick³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany frenzel@psych.uni-frankfurt.de.
² School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
³ Department of Social Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, Astana Medical University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
⁶ Department of Social Psychology, Justus Liebig University Gießen, Gießen, Germany.
⁷ Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
⁸ Business School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
⁹ School of Management Studies, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Western Cape, South Africa.
¹⁰ Psychology Department, University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany.
¹¹ Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
¹² School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK.
¹³ School of Liberal Arts, M Narikbayev KAZGUU University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
¹⁴ Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, China Europe International Business School, Shanghai, China.
¹⁵ Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Branch in Tashkent, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
¹⁶ Department of Health Systems Management, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
¹⁷ Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, University of Eindhoven, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
¹⁸ Optentia Research Unit, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa.
¹⁹ Department of Human Resource Management, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate whether citizens' adherence to health-protective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted by identity leadership, wherein leaders are perceived to create a sense of shared national identity.

Design: Observational two-wave study. Hypotheses testing was conducted with structural equation modelling.

Setting: Data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, Germany, Israel and the USA in April/May 2020 and four weeks later.

Participants: Adults in China (n=548, 66.6% women), Germany (n=182, 78% women), Israel (n=198, 51.0% women) and the USA (n=108, 58.3% women).

Measures: Identity leadership (assessed by the four-item Identity Leadership Inventory Short-Form) at Time 1, perceived shared national identification (PSNI; assessed with four items) and adherence to health-protective NPIs (assessed with 10 items that describe different health-protective interventions; for example, wearing face masks) at Time 2.

Results: Identity leadership was positively associated with PSNI (95% CI 0.11 to 0.30, p<0.001) in all countries. This, in turn, was related to more adherence to health-protective NPIs in all countries (95% CI 0.03 to 0.36, 0.001≤p≤0.017) except Israel (95% CI -0.03 to 0.27, p=0.119). In Germany, the more people saw Chancellor Merkel as engaging in identity leadership, the more they adhered to health-protective NPIs (95% CI 0.04 to 0.18, p=0.002). In the USA, in contrast, the more people perceived President Trump as engaging in identity leadership, the less they adhered to health-protective NPIs (95% CI -0.17 to -0.04, p=0.002).

Conclusions: National leaders can make a difference by promoting a sense of shared identity among their citizens because people are more inclined to follow health-protective NPIs to the extent that they feel part of a united 'us'. However, the content of identity leadership (perceptions of what it means to be a nation's citizen) is essential, because this can also encourage people to disregard such recommendations.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health policy; Public health.

Publication types

Observational Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Female
Humans
Leadership
Male
Masks
Pandemics / prevention & control
SARS-CoV-2