How National Culture Influences the Speed of COVID-19 Spread: Three Cross-Cultural Studies

Cross-Cultural Research Vol/Iss. 57(2-3) Sage Journals Published In Pages: 193-238
By Huang, Xiaoyu, Gupta, Vipin, Feng, Cailing, Yang, Fu, Zhang, Lihua, Zheng, Jiaming, Van Wart, Montgomery

Hypothesis

In-group collectivism is positively related to the speed of COVID-19 spread.

Note

In-group collectivism is defined as "the degree to which individuals express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families" (199). In-group collectivism is tested against the length (in days) of each phase, the average daily cases of each phase, and the average daily case growth rate for each phase in study 2. The relationship between in-group collectivism and number of days was significant for phase 2 (coefficient=-31.56, p<.05), phase 3 (coefficient=-53.71, p<.01), phase 5 (coefficient=-12.53, p<.01), phase 6 (coefficient=-3.81, p<.01), phase 7 (coefficient=-5.29, p<.1), phase 10 (coefficient=-6.29, p<.05), and phase 13 (coefficient=419.68, p<.1) (wrong direction). The relationship between in-group collectivism and average daily cases was significant for phase 1 (coefficient=34.17, p<.05), phase 3 (coefficient=211.27, p<.05), phase 4 (coefficient= 427.20, p<.05), phase 5 (coefficient=490.49, p<.05), phase 8 (coefficient=444.74, p<.05), phase 9 (coefficient=376.13, p<.05), and phase 10 (coefficient=407.74, p<.1). The relationship between in-group collectivism and average daily case growth was significant for phase 3 (coefficient=8.88, p<.1), phase 4 (coefficient=15.71, p<.1), phase 5 (coefficient=18.09, p<.05), phase 6 (coefficient=10.20, p<.1), phase 8 (coefficient=7.14, p<.05), and phase 9 (coefficient=5.46, p<.05). In-group collectivism seems to have sped up the spread of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Multivariate regression modelingSupportedSee noteSee noteUNKNOWN