The Effect of Persuasive Appeals in Building Trust between the Governments and Citizens. The case of Jordanian Defense Orders during Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Jordan was one of the first Middle Eastern countries to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors of this paper examined the Jordanian government’s persuasive appeals in defense orders issued between March and August 2020 to contain the pandemic. The authors discussed how the focus group responded to these appeals and concluded that this behavior did not halt or reduce the daily incidence or death rates, resulting in a major crisis of trust between the government and the public. The authors also concluded that some measures were not followed by citizens, as evidenced by their failure to follow preventive measures and the timing of the ban, despite the fact that persuasion was used. Overall, these results advance our comprehension of the effects of persuasive appeals on publics attitudes and intentions.