2.2.2. The Mediating Role of PAR Adoption

During a pandemic, even when governments have developed early intervention policies, the cooperation of individuals is necessary to stop the spread of the disease. Studies have found that PAR adoption by individuals is an extremely important strategy for interrupting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic [22]. Government response can influence whether individuals adopt PARs. When people see the authorities taking swift action, they are more likely to take the threat seriously and thus to comply with prevention measures. In addition, legal disciplinary mechanisms, cultural norms, and public opinion can lead individuals to comply passively with PARs to avoid possible punishment and/or public condemnation, thus reducing their likelihood of being infected. During the Chinese New Year festival in 2020, the Chinese government called for strict home isolation for all residents to stop the spread of COVID-19, which to some extent created a new social norm. The policy was conveyed to communities through announcements and brochures on the importance of home isolation. Volunteers and property staff monitored residents' observance of the policy, which directly increased their awareness of and compliance with PARs. As a result, the spread of COVID-19 was effectively controlled [22].

However, the effectiveness of government response in reducing infection rate through individuals' adoption of PARs can vary between individuals. For example, some scholars have found that people with higher levels of perceived distress during the outbreak have more public health knowledge and are therefore more likely to adopt PARs, while people with lower levels of perceived distress know less about public health and are thus less likely to adopt PARs [40–42]. Scholars have also found a correlation between an individual's perception of the probability of infection and their adoption of PARs during a pandemic; when individuals perceive the probability to be higher, they are more likely to adopt PARs to reduce the risk of infection or prevent its occurrence [40,41,43,44]. Using a protective action decision model, Lindell and Perry found that individuals' psychological risk perception and protective behaviours were shaped by their attention to the information disclosed by society and the environment [45]. Although strict interventions lock down local communities and disrupt normal social interactions, they also enhance people's sense of efficacy in preventing infection in their communities. People with higher levels of efficacy, such as healthcare professionals, are more likely to adopt PARs and cooperate with the government's intervention policies. In contrast, people with lower levels of efficacy, such as those who perceive the government's response to be ineffective, are less inclined to cooperate, thus doing little to limit the spread of the pandemic [22,38].

#### 2.2.3. The Multiple Mediating Effects of Risk Perception and PAR Adoption

Studies have found that risk perception is an important factor in the decision to adopt PARs [22,26]. Individuals with lower levels of risk perception tend to be less vigilant in guarding against infection, which may reduce their likelihood of PAR adoption and in turn increase the infection rate [46]. Two characteristics of COVID-19 risk perception, perceptions of the pandemic's severity and feelings of anxiety, are significantly associated with individuals' COVID-19 PAR adoption. Researchers have found that people who perceive the pandemic as more severe are more likely to collect information about it and follow various government protection strategies, increasing their confidence in adopting and thus their likelihood of adopting PARs. Conversely, individuals who perceive the pandemic as less threatening and feel less anxious about it are less likely to take protective measures [36–39,47,48].

The social amplification of risk framework proposed by Kasperson and colleagues argues that the social context in which government intervention is implemented, including the interaction effects between crisis events and individual psychology, institutional culture, and social norms, can impact individual risk perceptions [49]. For example, government policies and social norms supporting public mask-wearing and international travel control can influence individual risk perceptions and effectively reduce COVID-19 mortality. Therefore, the government, as the main body responsible for pandemic management, formulates and implements intervention policies, including various public initiatives such as government-organised rescue and treatment, publicity, and prevention and control, which change the social environment, affect people's risk perceptions, and subsequently influence their PAR adoption decisions [22]. Researchers have found that per capita COVID-19 mortality is lower in countries with cultural norms or government policies supporting public mask-wearing [17]. Studies have examined the relationship between government response, risk perception, and PAR adoption and determined that risk perception is an important mediator between government response and PAR adoption [22]. Thus, risk perception and PAR adoption are not independent factors affecting infection rate. Government response may affect infection rate by influencing the public's risk perception and therefore promoting public compliance with protective behaviours.

Therefore, this study investigates the sustained effects of government response on the COVID-19 infection rate in China. We propose a conceptual model of government response, risk perception, PAR adoption, and infection rate based on the literature, as shown in Figure 1, to examine the mediational pathway between government response and infection rate. We posit the following three hypotheses:

**Hypothesis 1 (H1).** *Risk perception mediates the association between government response and infection rate.*

**Hypothesis 2 (H2).** *PAR adoption mediates the association between government response and infection rate.*

**Hypothesis 3 (H3).** *The relationship between government response and infection rate is sequentially mediated by risk perception and PAR adoption.*

**Figure 1.** Conceptual model.
