The Role of Social Capital in Complying with Health Protocols in the Corona Era

Human being’s experience shows that citizens' compliance with health protocols is critical to cut the chain of transmission and reduces the spread of the corona virus.The main aim of the current research is to investigate the relationship between social capital as a multidimensional concept (construct) and the level of adherence to health instructions in the corona era. The study is a survey in which the necessary information has been gathered through online electronic questionnaire from a sample including 400 individuals ranging from 18 to 65 years old in Kerman. According to the research findings, observance of the health protocols among the respondents is more than average. The study of correlations between the variables shows that the relationship between the trust of the individuals in physicians and nurses and the dependent variable is positive and significance. In addition, the results of multiple regression indicate that social capital affects preventive behavior in two different ways: institutional trust and social support have a positive effect, and informal social networks have a negative effect on preventive behavior. Finally, the results of path analysis indicate that the indirect effect of the informal social networks variable on the preventive behavior through social support is positive and significant.