Compliance with the restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and Sweden

Our study is aimed to check if the difference between Sweden and Poland in trust is related to negative affective reactions to authorities and law antipathy being manifestations of lack of trust and related to value-based legitimacy, behavioral legitimacy and prosocial justification of compliance with the restrictions put on citizens to limit the spread of the virus. The second aim of the study is to verify the expectation derived from the concept of value-based legitimacy that lack of trustworthiness and intrapersonal justice predict three aspects of compliance with the restrictions (obligation, behavior and prosocial).
The study consisted of 2 separate online survey assessments executed in Poland and Sweden, two per each country. The survey took place over the course of 2 months, in May and June 2020. Overall, 430 participants responded to the online survey. Negative affective reactions were assessed using Affective Subscale of the Organizational Cynicism Scale (OCS). Antipathy concept that reflects on how individuals feel about the law was measured using Legal Antipathy Subscale. Obligation to comply, actual compliance and prosocial motivation to comply with the restrictions ordered or recommended during the COVID-19 pandemic were measured using 4 items. The perceived interactional justice was measured by 2 subscales of the Organizational Justice Scale.