From anxiety to control: Mask‐wearing, perceived marketplace influence, and emotional well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic

• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Author: Abigail B. Schneider,Bridget Leonard
• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12412

SPECIAL ISSUE

From anxiety to control: Mask-wearing,

perceived marketplace influence,

and emotional well-being during

the COVID-19 pandemic

Abigail B. Schneider

1

|Bridget Leonard

2

1

Anderson College of Business and

Computing, Regis University, Denver,

Colorado, USA

2

Grenon School of Business, Assumption

University, Worcester,

Massachusetts, USA

Correspondence

Abigail B. Schneider, Anderson College

of Business and Computing, Regis

University, 3333 Regis Blvd. K-24,

Denver, CO 80221, USA.

Email: aschneider@regis.edu

Abstract

Mask-wearing has been one of the most prominent,

conflicted, and deeply divided issues in the United States

during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across two studies, we

seek to understand how beliefs and behaviors around

mask-wearing are associated with the relationship

between anxiety about the coronavirus and feelings of

control over one's health outcomes during the pandemic.

In Study 1, we find that beliefs in the response efficacy of

mask-wearing moderate the relationship between anxiety

and control. Study 2 extends these results by investigating

the underlying process. Specifically, we find that the rela-

tionship between anxiety and control is mediated by self-

reported mask-wearing behavior and that the relationship

between anxiety and mask-wearing behavior is moder-

ated by consumers' perceived marketplace influence.

These findings have important public policy and market-

ing implications in the context of physical, emotional,

and economic well-being.

KEYWORDS

compliance with public health recommendations, COVID-19,

perceived marketplace influence

Received: 14 November 2020Revised: 8 July 2021Accepted: 25 August 2021

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12412

© 2021 American Council on Consumer Interests.

J Consum Aff. 2022;56:97–119.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 97

1|INTRODUCTION

Mask-wearing has been one of the most prominent, conflicted, and deeply divided issues in the

United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first few months of the outbreak,

scientists and the medical community in the West warned against mask wearing, as they believed

that it could actually do more harm than good (Lauerman, 2020). Specifically, they posited that the

moisture collected on the mask could serve as a breeding ground for bacteria and harbor the virus

(Haelle, 2020; Nuki, 2020), they worried that those untrained in wearing masks would be more

likely to touch their faces and contract the virus (Haelle, 2020; Lauerman, 2020), and they were

concerned that members of the general public would hoard scarce masks, making them less

accessible to the medical providers who require them (Lauerman, 2020). However, a grow-

ingbodyofsubsequentresearchhasfoundthat there are benefits to mask-wearing not only

for those in proximity to the person wearing the mask (Haelle, 2020; Nuki, 2020) but also

for the wearer (Breslow, 2020; Peeples, 2020) to the point where scientists are investigating

a theory that mask-wearing could support immunity for those who wear them (Hayes, 2020)

as well as for the population at large (Peeples, 2020). Infectious disease experts suggest that mask-

wearing may prevent superspreading events from occurring on airplanes (Doucleff, 2020), and if all

US Americans were to wear masks, it would avert the need for economic lockdowns, thereby

preventing further financial decline (Aizenman, 2020; Cerullo, 2020). Yet, as of this writing, compli-

ance with mask-wearing in the United States, particularly outside of enclosed public places such as

stores (Kramer, 2020), remains mixed (Brenan, 2020; Peeples, 2020).

The reasons for this variance in compliance are many and beyond the scope of this article,

but a few will be shared for illustrative purposes. First, as demonstrated above, information

about the benefits and risks of mask-wearing has been conflicting and confusing (Breslow,

2020; Peeples, 2020). The inconsistency is partially due to the fact that initial studies were

sparse, and the scientific community updated its recommendations as more evidence became

available (Haelle, 2020); it is also due in part to the fact that mask-wearing became a partisan

issue with different information being shared from the opposing ends of the political spectrum

(Brenan, 2020; Breslow, 2020; Kramer, 2020; Peeples, 2020). Mask-wearing is not common in

US American culture (Duncan, 2020; Haelle, 2020), and, anecdotally, some view it as infringing

on their personal freedom (Duncan, 2020). In addition, because the last major pandemic to

hit the United States occurred in 1918, some have argued that US Americans do not have the

fear and anxiety about the virus that has motivated those in China, who experienced the SARS

epidemic of 2003, to wear a mask (Duncan, 2020; Haelle, 2020).

Given the motivating power of fear and anxiety, and given the toll that COVID-19 has taken

on not only physical but also mental health (Panchal et al., 2020; Pfefferbaum & North, 2020),

we were particularly interested in how an emotional well-being construct such as anxiety might

be related to compliance with public health recommendations such as wearing a mask in the

United States. Specifically, because anxiety can motivate individuals to engage in some sort of

action as a way to regain a sense of control (Fiske et al., 1996; Jonas et al., 2014), and because

COVID-19 has been particularly damaging to the control that people feel over their health

outcomes (Richter, 2020), we wanted to understand how the behavior of mask wearing would

relate to feelings of anxiety and control, both of which are likely impacted by the pandemic

(Hill, 2020).

Drawing on the literature exploring fear and compliance with public health recommenda-

tions (Witte & Allen, 2000), the current paper seeks to explore the relationship between

perceived threat (anxiety), efficacy-related variables, mask-wearing, and feelings of control over

98 SCHNEIDER AND LEONARD