The impact of COVID-19 and behavioral economics on sustainable consumption: the mediating role of perceived hygiene in different cultural contexts

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the public’s perception of hygiene, which drives the consumption of many resources into a state of overshoot, presenting anunsustainable consumption behavior in opposed to the United Nations sustainable development goals. However, the public viewpoint in this matter varies in terms ofdifferent cultural contexts. As we have seen in high cultural context countries, Thailand and Japan, citizens of these two countries show more interdependency where the majority of the population are concerned about others and their own wellbeing. This is reflected in the drastic increase of masks and water consumption in both countries. On the other side of the spectrum, The United States of America and France, low context countries, view the mandate to wear masks at all times as a violation of their freedom and rights. This is reflected in the masks being produced in low context countries being significantly lower than those of high context countries who value the community as a whole.