WHO SHOULD TELL YOU TO VACCINATE? THE ROLE OF THE ​PROVIDER OF INFORMATION ​ IN THE ​ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CORONA VACCINE ​ : ​NEED FOR CONFORMITY ​ AS A MODERATOR?

Abstract

In order to control the current Corona pandemic, the Dutch population will have to get vaccinated. New attitudes towards the Corona vaccine will originate, this study focussed on influencing those attitudes. The current research attempts to prove the importance of the ‘provider of information’, examining whether people form a more positive ‘attitude towards the Corona vaccine’ after receiving information from someone of close social proximity versus someone of distant social proximity. In addition, it was tested whether the extent to which someone has the ‘Need for Conformity’ (NfC) plays a role in this. The ‘provider of information’ was determined by means of a manipulation text that randomly assigned the sample into two conditions (friend/family vs. RIVM). Expected was that the participants in the friend/family condition would have a more positive attitude towards the Corona vaccine than the participants in the RIVM condition. Also, it was expected that the reported 'NfC' would positively affect the reported ‘attitude towards the Corona vaccine’. In addition, a moderating effect of 'NfC' on the effect of ‘provider of information’ on ‘attitude towards the Corona vaccine’ was expected, the higher the 'NfC', the stronger the effect of the ‘provider of information’. All hypotheses were rejected in the current study. However, ‘trust in government agencies’ and ‘political orientation’ emerged as significant covariates in the model. In addition, several significant correlations were found and there are a number of exploratory findings. Implications for further research are discussed.