Individuals increase their support for social systems in response to the threat, panic, and uncertainty that characterized the COVID-19 pandemic. This could be because a powerful social system can compensate for a lack of control at the individual level. However, the levels of public support for national versus local systems could be different in China. Two studies investigate whether people support the national more strongly than the local system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study 1 analyzed data of 3593 participants from China; the results showed that participants reported higher levels of support for the national system than the local. In Study 2, we further tested a possible moderator for it. With a sample of 275 participants, we found that the difference between public support for national and local systems in China was based on the perceived higher response efficacy with the national government. Implications for research on system justification and governmental pandemic responses were discussed.

Keywords

system support, COVID-19, national and local system

Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy是美国心理学会（APA）第九分会，即社会问题的心理学研究协会（Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues，SPSSI，Division 9）的官方期刊之一，主要关注经济和社会公平、社会问题、社会理想等方面的议题。

文献引用：Xie, X., Zhang, Y., Zhang, R. J., Ding, Y., & Guo, Y. (2022). Better support for national than local system during the COVID‐19 pandemic in China. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 22(1), 183-197.

文章下载：Better support for national than local system during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.pdf

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