Abstract
ABSTRACT This study examines citizens’ retrospective evaluation of government policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses specifically on the impact of perceived government – expert discord, i.e. public perceptions of disagreement between government officials and the medical expert community. Medical experts played important roles during the pandemic and enjoyed high levels of credibility, whereas government leaders were sometimes seen as driven by political motivations. Hence, perceived government – expert discord might negatively affect policy evaluation. Analysis of a post-pandemic survey in Hong Kong (N = 1,002) shows that people who perceive significant government – expert discord are likelier to blame the government for negative happenings during the pandemic, less likely to credit the government for positive outcomes, and less likely to see the government’s control measures as appropriate. These relationships are stronger among people who suffered more, economically or mentally, during the pandemic. Credit attribution, blame attribution, and perceived appropriateness of control measures, in turn, influence overall policy evaluation.
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