Asia School of Business

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Abdul Aziz, N. I., Flanders, S., & Nungsari, M. (2022, September 26). Social Expectations and government incentives in Malaysia’s COVID-19 vaccine uptake. PLOS ONE, 17(9), e0275010.

Abdul Aziz, N. I., Flanders, S., & Nungsari, M.

High vaccination rates are integral to reducing infection and severity rates of COVID-19 infections within a community. We examine the role of social expectations in COVID-19 vaccination take-ups and its interaction with potential government actions in Malaysia. We find that individuals’ expectations of others in their social groups towards vaccination predicts those individuals’ vaccination registrations. Using a vignette experiment, we examine the extent of normative expectations in normalizing pro-vaccination behavior beyond an individual’s reference group. We find that unless moderated by a high level of public trust, individuals prefer punitive policies as a way to increase vaccination rates in their communities.