'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 Agostini, Maximilian and Bélanger, Jocelyn J. and Gützkow, Ben and Kreienkamp, Jannis and Abakoumkin, Georgios and Khaiyom, Jamilah Hanum Abdul and Ahmedi, Vjollca and Akkas, Handan and Almenara, Carlos A. and Atta, Mohsin and Bağcı, Çiğdem and Basel, Sima and Kida, Edona Berisha and Bernardo, Allan B.I. and Buttrick, Nicholas R. and Chobthamkit, Phatthanakit and Choi, Hoon Seok and Cristea, Mioara and Csaba, Sara and Damnjanović, Kaja and Danyliuk, Ivan and Dash, Arobindu and Douglas, Karen M. and Enea, Violeta and Faller, Daiane Gracieli and Fitzsimons, Gavan J. and Gheorghiu, Alexandra and Gómez, Ángel and Hamaidia, Ali and Han, Qing and Helmy, Mai and Hudiyana, Joevarian and Jeronimus, Bertus F. and Jiang, Ding Yu and Jovanović, Veljko and Kamenov, Zeljka and Kende, Anna and Keng, Shian Ling and Kieu, Tra Thi Thanh and Koc, Yasin and Kovyazina, Kamila and Kozytska, Inna and Krause, Joshua and Kruglanski, Arie W. and Kurapov, Anton and Kutlaca, Maja and Lantos, Nóra Anna and Lemay, Edward P. and Lesmana, Cokorda Bagus J. and Louis, Winnifred R. and Lueders, Adrian and Malik, Najma Iqbal and Martinez, Anton P. and McCabe, Kira O. and Mehulić, Jasmina and Milla, Mirra Noor and Mohammed, Idris and Molinario, Erica and Moyano, Manuel and Muhammad, Hayat and Muluk, Hamdi and Myroniuk, Solomiia and Najafi, Reza and Nisa, Claudia F. and Nyúl, Boglárka and O'Keefe, Paul A. and Osuna, Jose Javier Olivas and Osin, Evgeny N. and Park, Joonha and Pica, Gennaro and Pierro, Antonio and Rees, Jonas H. and Reitsema, Anne Margit and Rullo, Marika and Ryan, Michelle K. and Samekin, Adil and Santtila, Pekka and Sasin, Edyta and Schumpe, Birga M. and Selim, Heyla A. and Stanton, Michael Vicente and Stroebe, Wolfgang and Sultana, Samiah and Sutton, Robbie M. and Tseliou, Eleftheria and Utsugi, Akira and van Breen, Jolien A. and van Lissa, Caspar J. and van Veen, Kees and van Dellen, Michelle R. and Vázquez, Alexandra and Wollast, Robin and Yeung, Victoria Wai lan and Zand, Somayeh and Žeželj, Iris Lav and Zheng, Bang and Zick, Andreas and Zúñiga, Claudia and Leander, N. Pontus (2022) '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, 32 (2). pp. 332-347. ISSN 1052-9284 (Print) 1099-1298 (Online)

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Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/casp.2572

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused 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 situations 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, particularly those who suffer from coronavirus. Thus, in the present study, we aimed (a) to explore the relationship between societal 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 community, 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 findings are discussed in relation to crisis management. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	COVID-19; intention to help; societal discontent
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences > Academic programs > Psychology Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Çiğdem Bağcı
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2022 15:58
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2022 15:58
URI:	https://research.sabanciuniv.edu/id/eprint/43806

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