Perceived Social Influence on Vaccination Decisions: A COVID-19 Case Study

Autor:	Yewell, Denise, Bentley, R. Alexander, Horne, Benjamin D.
Rok vydání:	2024
Předmět:	Computer Science - Social and Information Networks Computer Science - Computers and Society Physics - Physics and Society
Druh dokumentu:	Working Paper
Popis:	In this study, we examine the perceived influence of others, across both strong and weak social ties, on COVID-19 vaccination decisions in the United States. We add context to social influence by measuring related concepts, such as perceived agreement of others and perceived danger of COVID-19 to others. We find that vaccinated populations perceived more influence from their social circles than unvaccinated populations. This finding holds true across various social groups, including family, close friends, and neighbors. Vaccinated participants perceived that others agreed with their decision to get vaccinated more than unvaccinated participants perceived others to agree with their decision to not get vaccinated. Despite the clear differences in perceived social influence and agreement across the groups, the majority of participants across both vaccinated and unvaccinated populations perceived no social influence from all social group in their decisions. Aligning with this result, we find through open-ended responses that both vaccinated and unvaccinated participants frequently cited fear as a motivating factor in their decision, rather than social influence: vaccinated participants feared COVID-19, while unvaccinated participants feared the vaccine itself. Comment: Preprint of paper currently under review
Databáze:	arXiv
Externí odkaz:	http://arxiv.org/abs/2404.01489 Zobrazit plný text záznamu View this record from Arxiv