The importance of personally relevant knowledge for pandemic risk prevention behavior: A multimethod analysis and two-country validation

Abstract

Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Pandemics threaten world stability; however, spread is mitigated with prevention behaviors. We introduce “personally relevant knowledge” to explain the knowledge–behavior gap (i.e., objective and subjective knowledge on information acquisition and behavioral change). Hypotheses are derived from prior knowledge literature, economic psychology, and relevance theory. Multimethod analysis (survey data, partial least squares structural equation path modeling [PLS-SEM], and an asymmetric information theoretic statistical analysis) is applied to H1N1 data from the USA and Australia. Personally relevant knowledge is an important addition to prior knowledge conceptualizations, and information theory uncovers asymmetric variable relationships concerning the knowledge–behavior gap, not captured by PLS-SEM.