Hopkins at Home: 'How long is too long? Communication, expectations and compliance with stay-at-home orders'

Description

Economist Mario Macis, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, discusses a new study on the importance of expectations management and social distancing directives. Watch the conversation live at https://www.jhu.edu/hopkinsathome/.

Macis and his co-authors found that when Italians self-isolating during the COVID-19 outbreak were presented with a hypothetical situation in which orders to remain at home would be for shorter periods than they had expected, they were pleasantly surprised and said they would be more willing to stay in isolation. But people negatively surprised to hear that the hypothetical extensions of the orders would be for longer than they had anticipated said they would be less willing to maintain or increase their isolation.

These findings shed new light on people's willingness to self-isolate and highlight the importance of effective communication of stay-at-home orders by public officials, says Macis.