Understanding the Pivotal Role of the Perceived Legitimacy of Health Authorities during a Global Pandemic Restricted; Files Only
Hawks, Cynthia Kate (Summer 2023)
Published
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of perceptions of the legitimacy of health authorities. Legitimate authorities are perceived as appropriate, taken-for-granted, and widely accepted, which engenders feelings of deference and an obligation to comply with authority mandates. Thus, legitimacy is crucial for the effectiveness of authorities. During the pandemic, the success of public health authorities’ strategies to curb the spread of the virus hinged on individuals’ voluntary compliance with their directives. In Chapter 1 of this dissertation, I investigate how individuals’ perceptions of public health officials as legitimate impacted adoption of recommended health behaviors. Alongside legitimacy, I examine the role of values, what people deem desirable and important in life, in shaping behavioral compliance, as values constitute another source of internal motivation to comply with authorities.
In Chapters 2 and 3, I examine different bases by which individuals assess the legitimacy of health authorities during the pandemic and consider the implications of such assessments for intentions to comply with their directives in a future health crisis. I test the assumption that the COVID-19 pandemic, as an environmental jolt, created a context in which individuals more actively evaluated their views of health authorities’ propriety. In Chapter 2, I argue that public health values (that people have good health, fewer illnesses, and longer lives) both aligned and clashed with other basic values in the pandemic context and investigate how such values enhance or detract from views of them as legitimate. In Chapter 3, I test an integrative model of legitimacy by examining the relative impact of instrumental, relational, moral, and collective factors on individuals’ assessments of the propriety of two distinct authorities: public health officials and doctors/healthcare providers. Analyses in Chapters 2 and 3 also consider how the bases of legitimacy evaluations impact future compliance intentions. Each chapter of my dissertation draws on data from an original survey, collected online from 1,517 U.S. adults in spring 2022. Patterns of results across the three analyses highlight how perceived legitimacy matters for compliance (and intended compliance) and how authorities must attend to multiple aspects of their relationships with subordinates to gain and maintain legitimacy.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1:
Introduction
Legitimacy And Compliance
Values And Compliance
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Tables And Figures
Appendix
Chapter 2:
Introduction
Legitimacy & Legitimacy Change
Public Health Values & Basic Values During The Pandemic
Values, Legitimacy, And Compliance Intentions
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Table And Figures
Appendix
Chapter 3:
Introduction
Legitimacy After An Exogenous Jolt
Bases Shaping The Propriety Of Health Authorities During The Covid-19 Pandemic
The Role Of Perceived Endorsement In Shaping Propriety Assessments
Legitimacy Of Health Authorities And Compliance Intentions In A Future Health Crisis
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Tables And Figures
Conclusion
About this Dissertation
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File download under embargo until 16 August 2024 | 2023-06-25 19:44:07 -0400 | File download under embargo until 16 August 2024 |
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