Expert authority and support for COVID-19 measures in Germany and the UK
- During COVID-19, various public institutions tried to shape citizens’ behaviour to slow the spread of the pandemic. How did their authority affect citizens’ support of public measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19? The article makes two contributions. First, it presents a novel conceptualisation of authority as a source heuristic. Second, it analyses the authority of four types of public institutions (health ministries, universities, public health agencies, the WHO) in two countries (Germany and the UK), drawing on novel data from a survey experiment conducted in May 2020. On average, institutional endorsements seem to have mattered little. However, there is an observable polarisation effect where citizens who ascribe much expertise to public institutions support COVID-19 measures more than the control group. Furthermore, those who ascribe little expertise support them less than the control group. Finally, neither perception of biases nor exposure to institutions in public debates seems consistently to affect theirDuring COVID-19, various public institutions tried to shape citizens’ behaviour to slow the spread of the pandemic. How did their authority affect citizens’ support of public measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19? The article makes two contributions. First, it presents a novel conceptualisation of authority as a source heuristic. Second, it analyses the authority of four types of public institutions (health ministries, universities, public health agencies, the WHO) in two countries (Germany and the UK), drawing on novel data from a survey experiment conducted in May 2020. On average, institutional endorsements seem to have mattered little. However, there is an observable polarisation effect where citizens who ascribe much expertise to public institutions support COVID-19 measures more than the control group. Furthermore, those who ascribe little expertise support them less than the control group. Finally, neither perception of biases nor exposure to institutions in public debates seems consistently to affect their authority.…
| Author details: | Mirko Noa HeinzelORCiDGND, Andrea LieseORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2021.1873630 |
| ISSN: | 0140-2382 |
| ISSN: | 1743-9655 |
| Title of parent work (English): | West European politics |
| Subtitle (English): | a survey experiment |
| Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
| Place of publishing: | Abingdon |
| Publication type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Year of first publication: | 2021 |
| Publication year: | 2021 |
| Release date: | 2023/03/09 |
| Tag: | COVID-19; authority; crises; expertise; governance; institutions; survey experiment |
| Number of pages: | 25 |
| First page: | 1258 |
| Last Page: | 1282 |
| Funding institution: | German Research Foundation (DFG)German Research Foundation (DFG) |
| Funding number: | 1745 TP 02 LI 1947/4-1 |
| Organizational units: | Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Sozialwissenschaften / Fachgruppe Politik- & Verwaltungswissenschaft |
| DDC classification: | 3 Sozialwissenschaften / 32 Politikwissenschaft / 320 Politikwissenschaft |
| License (German): |  CC-BY-NC-ND - Namensnennung, nicht kommerziell, keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International |
