Values, Knowledge, and Risk Information on COVID-19 Mitigation Policy Support

• In Event: Poster Session: Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy 2 & Comparative Education Reform
  In Poster Session: Poster Session 2: Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy

Abstract

There has been much research conducted indicating that cultural values shape policy preferences across a wide range of issues, with policy preferences being greatly influenced by the values held by an individual. Similarly, the knowledge that an individual holds relating to a given policy issue has been found to shape policy preferences, though inconsistently. Utilizing a survey experiment with school employees in Arkansas, this paper examines the roles of cultural value predispositions and perceived knowledge play in shaping in-school Covid mitigation policy preferences under different information conditions. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of four information conditions (no risk information, higher risk information, lower risk information, and both higher and lower risk information) related to the Covid-19 Omicron variant in order to examine how the role of cultural value predispositions in shaping policy preferences is contingent on an individual’s perceived knowledge levels and the content of the information the individual receives. Broadly, results indicate that the relationship between cultural value predispositions and policy preferences are contingent upon the combination of perceived knowledge levels related to Covid-19 that an individual holds and the risk content of the information provided. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.

Author

• Creed Tumlison, California State University, Bakersfield