Purpose

The outbreak of the new coronavirus has caused tremendous concerns to public health, which are impacting human lives both physically and psychologically. The rise in coronavirus cases has led to the propagation of control measures for its prevention. This study aims to investigate the factors enhancing the coronavirus preventive behavior among the respondents.

Design/methodology/approach

To understand the coronavirus preventive behavior, the study is based on the value–belief–norm (VBN) theory. Data for the study has been collected through a survey of 319 respondents in New Delhi, India. The study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to understand the factors impacting preventive behavior. For analysis, the study uses SEM to examine direct and indirect relationships and Hayes’ PROCESS macro SPSS module for moderating effects.

Findings

The results show that egoistic values have a negative impact on belief while altruistic values have a positive impact on the belief about the coronavirus outbreak. Belief is recorded to have a positive and significant impact on preventive behavior. Also, personal norms positively mediate the relationship between belief and preventive behavior. Additionally, the impact of awareness of preventive behavior is positively moderated by the symptomatic profile. Furthermore, the interaction effect is found to be conditioned positively with age and level of education.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other work in the existing literature was found to apply the VBN theory to determine coronavirus preventive behavior. Further, the extensive moderation analysis done in this study is expected to be a significant contribution to the literature.

中文翻译：

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社会经济差异对印度在职成年人中COVID-19预防行为的影响

目的

新的冠状病毒的爆发引起了公众健康的极大关注，从身体和心理上都影响着人类的生活。冠状病毒病例的增加导致了对其预防的控制措施的传播。这项研究旨在调查受访者中增强冠状病毒预防行为的因素。

设计/方法/方法

为了了解冠状病毒的预防行为，该研究基于价值-信念-规范（VBN）理论。该研究的数据是通过对印度新德里的319名受访者进行的调查而收集的。该研究使用结构方程模型（SEM）来了解影响预防行为的因素。为了进行分析，该研究使用SEM来检查直接和间接关系，并使用Hayes的PROCESS宏SPSS模块来调节效果。

发现

结果表明，利己主义价值观对信念具有负面影响，而利他主义价值观对有关冠状病毒爆发的信念具有积极影响。记录的信念对预防行为有积极而重大的影响。此外，个人规范积极地调解了信念与预防行为之间的关系。另外，对症状预防的认识积极地减轻了人们对预防行为的认识。此外，发现交互作用与年龄和受教育程度成正比。

创意/价值

据作者所知，在现有文献中没有发现其他工作可将VBN理论用于确定冠状病毒的预防行为。此外，在这项研究中进行的广泛的适度分析有望为文献做出重大贡献。