Abstract
COVID-19 is appearing as one of the most fetal disease of the world’s history and has caused a global health emergency. Therefore, this study was designed with the aim to address the issue of public response against COVID-19. The literature lacks studies on social aspects of COVID-19. Therefore, the current study is an attempt to investigate its social aspects and suggest a theoretical structural equation model to examine the associations between social media exposure, awareness, and information exchange and preventive behavior and to determine the indirect as well as direct impact of social media exposure on preventive behavior from the viewpoints of awareness and information exchange. The current empirical investigation was held in Pakistan, and the collected survey data from 500 respondents through social media tools were utilized to examine the associations between studied variables as stated in the anticipated study model. The findings of the study indicate that social media exposure has no significant and direct effect on preventive behavior. Social media exposure influences preventive behavior indirectly through awareness and information exchange. In addition, awareness and information exchange have significant and direct effects on preventive behavior. Findings are valuable for health administrators, governments, policymakers, and social scientists, specifically for individuals whose situations are like those in Pakistan. This research validates how social media exposure indirectly effects preventive behavior concerning COVID-19 and explains the paths of effect through awareness or information exchange. To the best of our knowledge, there is no work at present that covers this gap, for this reason the authors propose a new model. The conceptual model offers valuable information for policymakers and practitioners to enhance preventive behavior through the adoption of appropriate awareness strategies and information exchange and social media strategies.
Highlights
Several patients with symptoms of pneumonia of unknown facts were reported in mid of December, 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China [1]
The COVID-19 outbreak in China significantly damaged the human population across the globe
This study analyzed the effect of social media on preventive behavior during the COVID-19 outbreak in Pakistan
Summary
Several patients with symptoms of pneumonia of unknown facts were reported in mid of December, 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China [1]. Ingenito [6] argued that in these critical circumstances, it has been very difficult for developing nations to communicate with uninfected individuals along with infected persons because this virus can spread quietly from one person to another It has become complicated for the governments and doctors to communicate with their citizens during an infectious disease outbreak, social networking sites are playing a critical role in enabling the populations to connect virtually. It has been observed that social networks perform an excellent evaluation of real-time data reporting which keeps the state and people posted for the possible solutions of public health safety during epidemics [9] With this recognizable increase in infectious outbreak in Pakistan, public health centers are facing severe problems and challenges at work to act for the prevention of disease at various levels. The final section is about the main conclusions, findings, and the future research options
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