Purpose

Governments around the world have used social distancing methods to slow the spread of COVID-19. Some people, however, have ignored repeated warnings about the need to maintain social distance. The purpose of this study was to segment individuals based on their perceptions of social distancing with respect to shared constructs, such as attitudes and demographic profiles. The findings can assist social marketing efforts to target specific groups for health campaigns.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a priori methods, meaning that the type and number of segments were determined in advance. Amazon’s Mturk was used to collect data from an online sample of US residents (n = 759) in May 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings

Individuals’ perceptions of social distancing were segmented as follows: Segment 1 = majority social distancing followers; Segment 2 = social distancing inbetweeners; and Segment 3 = minority social distancing rebels. Interestingly, some of these segments were strongly affiliated with political parties. In addition, the results show attitudes toward social distancing appear to be influenced by individuals’ beliefs regarding their susceptibility to coronavirus and the potential severity of the symptoms or disease’s impact on their lives.

Research limitations/implications

This study makes several theoretical and practical contributions to the literature on these issues. In particular, it involved the application of the health belief model to the context of attitudes toward social distancing, which were found to be influenced by individuals’ beliefs regarding whether they are susceptible to coronavirus infection and whether the symptoms or disease could have a significant effect on their lives.

Practical implications

The results of this study will assist public health researchers, social marketers and policymakers in efforts to improve the effectiveness of health campaigns. Public health campaigns in the USA need to be bi-partisan. The finding that the social distancing rebels were mostly Republicans is consistent with an earlier report that those who identify with this party were less convinced than those who identified with the Democratic party regarding the efficacy of maintaining social distancing measures and more concerned about the adverse effects of these measures on the economy.

Originality/value

Only a few studies have segmented populations based on their perceptions of social distancing. This study was designed to understand the distinguishing features of such segments to enhance health messaging and content and convince those reluctant to engage in social distancing to view the issue from the perspective of marketing and medical practitioners.

中文翻译：

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为什么有些人在COVID-19期间没有社交距离？细分研究

目的

世界各地的政府已使用社会隔离方法来减缓COVID-19的传播。但是，有些人却忽略了有关保持社交距离的一再警告。这项研究的目的是根据个人对社会建构与共享结构（如态度和人口统计资料）之间的距离认知来对他们进行细分。这些发现可以帮助社会营销工作针对健康运动的特定人群。

设计/方法/方法

这项研究使用先验方法，这意味着段的类型和数量是预先确定的。到2020年5月COVID-19大流行期间，使用亚马逊的Mturk从美国居民的在线样本（n = 759）中收集数据。

发现

个人对社会疏远的看法分为以下几类：第1部分=多数社会疏远追随者；第2部分=中间人与社会之间的距离；第三部分=少数族裔远离社会的叛军。有趣的是，其中一些细分市场与政党有很强的联系。此外，研究结果表明，人们对社交距离的态度似乎受到个人对冠状病毒敏感性以及症状或疾病对他们生活影响的潜在严重性的信念的影响。

研究局限/意义

这项研究为有关这些问题的文献做出了一些理论上和实践上的贡献。特别是，它涉及将健康信念模型应用于对社会疏远的态度的背景下，人们认为这种态度受个人信念的影响，这些信念涉及他们是否易受冠状病毒感染以及症状或疾病是否可能产生重大影响。在他们的生活上。

实际影响

这项研究的结果将帮助公共卫生研究人员，社会营销人员和政策制定者努力提高卫生运动的有效性。美国的公共卫生运动需要两党合作。社会疏远叛乱者主要是共和党人的发现与早期报告一致，即与该党认同的人比那些与民主党认同的人在维持社会疏远措施的效力方面不那么相信，而更多地关注民主派的不利影响。这些对经济的措施。

创意/价值

只有少数研究根据对社会距离的感知对人群进行了细分。本研究旨在了解此类细分市场的显着特征，以增强健康信息和内容，并说服那些不愿参加社会疏散的人们从营销和医疗从业者的角度来看待该问题。