Chapter 2: Planned Behavioral Changes to Mitigate COVID-19’s Effects

This chapter analyzes the behaviors people planned to change to mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a frame. The TPB argues that behaviors are largely determined by an individual’s intention to engage in the behavior, and behavioral intensions are functions of attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms. After reviewing the theoretical perspective, data on respondents’ plans to change their leisure activities such as eating in restaurants, buying take-out food or using food delivery services, traveling, gathering in public, and visiting with friends are analyzed. I also look at their planned changes in their use of public transportation, e-commerce, and other online activities. Using factor analysis, behaviors group into two distinct factors: planned changes to interactions (e.g., avoiding public gatherings, visit bars and restaurants less often, and visit friends and relatives less often) and planned changes to consuming behaviors (e.g., purchasing online services more, ordering take-out food more often). Investigating if planned changes vary across country and respondent attitudes, Finnish respondents were significantly more likely to say they planned to change their interactions than were Americans, while Americans were significantly more likely to report they planned to change their consuming behaviors. The chapter concludes by considering if people’s beliefs about what caused the pandemic explain these observed differences. This was the case in terms of changes to interactions, but it was not the case for plans to change consuming behaviors to mitigate the pandemic’s threats.