‘We are all in the same boat’: How societal discontent affects intention to help during the COVID-19 pandemic

Resta, Elena and Mula, Silvana and Baldner, Conrad and Di Santo, Daniela and Maximilian, Agostini and Belanger, Jocelyn J and Gutzkow, Ben and Kreienkamp, Jannis and Abakoumkin, Georgios and Abdul Khaiyom, Jamilah Hanum and PsyCorona, Collaboration and Leander, N Pontus (2021) ‘We are all in the same boat’: How societal discontent affects intention to help during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology. ISSN 1052-9284 (In Press)

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Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has cau-sed a global health crisis. Consequently, many countries have adopted restrictive measures that caused a substantial change in society. Within this framework, it is reasonable to suppose that a sentiment of societal discontent, defined as generalized concern about the precarious state of society, has arisen. Literature shows that collectively experienced sit-uations can motivate people to help each other. Since societal discontent is conceptualized as a collective phenomenon, we argue that it could influence intention to help others, particu-larly those who suffer from coronavirus. Thus, in the present study, we aimed (a) to explore the relationship between soci-etal discontent and intention to help at the individual level and (b) to investigate a possible moderating effect of societal discontent at the country level on this relationship. To fulfil our purposes, we used data collected in 42 countries (N = 61,734) from the PsyCorona Survey, a cross-national longitudinal study. Results of multilevel analysis showed that, when societal discontent is experienced by the entire com-munity, individuals dissatisfied with society are more prone to help others. Testing the model with longitudinal data (N = 3,817) confirmed our results. Implications for those find-ings are discussed in relation to crisis management. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this arti-cle's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	COVID-19, intention to help, societal discontent
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF309 Consciousness. Cognition B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF501 Motivation B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF511 Affection. Feeling. Emotion H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology > HM1001 Social psychology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA644.C67 Coronavirus infections. COVID-19 (Disease). COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences > Department of Psychology
Depositing User:	Dr Jamilah Hanum Abdul Khaiyom
Date Deposited:	03 Jan 2022 08:38
Last Modified:	03 Jan 2022 08:38
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/95821

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