Examining the impact of conspiracy belief and authoritarian personality on COVID-19 vaccines uptake intention

This study extends existing research on promoting COVID-19 vaccination by considering the impact of conspiracy belief and authoritarian personality in the Chinese context. Based on the health behavior theories as well as research on conspiracy belief and authoritarian personality, we consider the impact of risk perception, perceived benefits and barriers, contextual factors (i.e., descriptive and injunctive norms), conspiracy theory belief, and authoritarian personality on the vaccine uptake intention. An online survey (N = 372) including 206 males and 166 females, ranging from 18-56 years old (M=26.94, SD=5.75) suggested that, surprisingly, perceived severity, cues to action (exposure), perceived community benefits, perceived barriers (safety) and conspiracy belief (both COVID-19 related and general) had negative impact. This could be explained by the impact of effective and swift measures that deal with the COVID-19 cases in mainland China. Although the participants have been exposure to or have experience of lockdown, usually the Chinese government is very effective in curbing the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which may lead the participants believe that vaccination is not necessary. Conspiracy theory belief was negatively associated with and the authoritarian personality was positively associated with the vaccine uptake intention. This suggests that we should consider the information and political environments of vaccination promotion.