The good, the bad, and the neutral: Vaccine hesitancy mediates the relations of Psychological Capital, the Dark Triad, and the Big Five with vaccination willingness and behaviors

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it apparent that many people are unwilling to be vaccinated, and certain types of people seem predisposed to support or oppose vaccines. We perform a multiple-wave survey study to determine whether the Big Five, Dark Triad, and Psychological Capital (PsyCap) indirectly relate via vaccine hesitancy to vaccination willingness, vaccination, and vaccine word-of-mouth. Our results show that conscientiousness, extraversion, narcissism, psychopathy, and PsyCap each influence our outcomes via dimensions of vaccine hesitancy. PsyCap had an additional direct effect beyond these mediators. The overall effects of extraversion and PsyCap were negative on vaccine hesitancy, positive on pro-vaccination outcomes, and negative on anti-vaccination outcomes. The overall effects of conscientiousness, narcissism, and psychopathy were positive on vaccine hesitancy, negative on pro-vaccination outcomes, and positive on anti-vaccination outcomes. To conclude, we identify theoretical frameworks that can provide further insights into these relations. We suggest that the effects of conscientiousness may be understood by integrating research on overconfidence; the effects of extraversion and PsyCap may be understood by applying the situation, trait, and outcome activation model; and the effects of narcissism and psychopathy may be understood with Life History Theory.