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.

新冠疫情重塑了公众对卫生防疫的认知，促使诸多资源的消费步入过度消耗状态，形成了与联合国可持续发展目标（United Nations Sustainable Development Goals）相悖的不可持续消费行为。然而，公众在该问题上的观点因文化语境的差异而存在显著分野。正如泰国与日本这两个高语境文化（high context culture）国家所展现的那样，两国国民具有更强的相互依存意识，多数民众既关切自身福祉，也兼顾他人处境，这具体体现为两国口罩与水资源消费量的大幅攀升。反观美国与法国这类低语境文化（low context culture）国家，当地民众将“全程佩戴口罩”的防疫要求视作对自身自由与权利的侵犯，这种观念差异也体现在口罩产量层面：低语境文化国家的口罩产量显著低于以集体整体利益为导向的高语境文化国家。