THE IMPACT OF THE SPREAD OF PREVENTIVE& EPIDEMIOLOGICAL INFORMATION ON THE DIFFUSION OF THE (COVID-19) IN JORDAN FIRST WAVE: A MODERATING ROLE OF THE MASS MEDIA

Abstract

Purpose: The purposes of this paper is to measure the Impact of Preventive &Epidemic Information spread in the Diffusion of the Novel (COVID-19) in Jordan, in addition, to explore the Moderating role of Mass Media.

Design/methodology/approach: An observational analytic one used whereby the sample consisted of 306 respondents. A self-administered questionnaire was developed with two sections. The first section consisted of the demographic variables of respondents, namely, gender, age, education, and work. The second section was devoted to the variables of the study, whereby, 12 items covered epidemic information, 12 items covered. Preventive information, 9 covered transmission of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and 7 covered mass media. The questionnaire used the 5-point Likert scale with “5” points scale.

Finding: The results showed that the two dimensions, Epidemic Information, and Preventive Information explain 91% of the variance of Transmission of Virus. They have a significant impact on the Transmission of viruses, but the Preventive Information was the most significant standardized beta coefficient which means that it’s the most important predictor of transmission of COVID-19virus. Also, the results showed that mass media moderates the impact of each of Preventive information, and Epidemic Information on the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

Research limitations/implications: There were also some limitations related to the sample, since the authors only obtained 306 responses. Therefore, the second suggestion for future investigations would be to conduct the survey on a larger number of people. This study just considers six months (first wave). A longer range of time could have a different results

Originality/value: This study provides significant finding on the impact of Preventive &Epidemic Information spread in the Diffusion of the Novel (COVID-19) in Jordan, the results will help the Jordanian government generally and especially the Jordanian Ministry health policy maker review their policies update it and effectively implement it.