IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/revint/v18y2023i3d10.1007_s11558-022-09481-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

WHO approves? Relative trust, the WHO, and China’s COVID-19 vaccines

Author

Listed:
  • Greg Chih-Hsin Sheen

    (National Cheng Kung University)

  • Hans H. Tung

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Chien-Huei Wu

    (Academia Sinica)

  • Wen-Chin Wu

    (Academia Sinica)

Abstract

This paper aims to answer a general question: whether an international organization (IO) is able to shape public opinion in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic took hold in early 2020, countries across the globe have switched gear from prevention to vaccination. Most had to not only secure a sufficient supply of vaccines, but also to curb vaccine hesitancy among their populations. Can endorsement by an international organization like the World Health Organization (WHO) enhance a vaccine’s acceptability? Based on a survey experiment conducted in Taiwan, our study leverages the special relationship between China and Taiwan to show that WHO endorsement can induce acceptance of Chinese vaccines among Taiwanese people. However, the effect is found to be contextual in the sense that it only works when people’s trust in the WHO is higher than their trust in the vaccine’s country of origin. Our study not only contributes to the literature of IO legitimacy by empirically showing IOs’ causal effects on public opinion, but also sheds light on how a vaccine’s credibility can be enhanced to promote vaccination uptake.

Suggested Citation

  • Greg Chih-Hsin Sheen & Hans H. Tung & Chien-Huei Wu & Wen-Chin Wu, 2023. "WHO approves? Relative trust, the WHO, and China’s COVID-19 vaccines," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 499-521, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revint:v:18:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11558-022-09481-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11558-022-09481-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11558-022-09481-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11558-022-09481-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Songying Fang, 2008. "The Informational Role of International Institutions and Domestic Politics," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 304-321, April.
    2. Paul R. Brewer & Kimberly Gross & Sean Aday & Lars Willnat, 2004. "International Trust and Public Opinion About World Affairs," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(1), pages 93-109, January.
    3. Dreher, Axel & Sturm, Jan-Egbert & Vreeland, James Raymond, 2009. "Development aid and international politics: Does membership on the UN Security Council influence World Bank decisions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 1-18, January.
    4. Axel Dreher & Jan-Egbert Sturm & James Raymond Vreeland, 2015. "Politics and IMF Conditionality," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 59(1), pages 120-148, February.
    5. Vreeland,James Raymond & Dreher,Axel, 2014. "The Political Economy of the United Nations Security Council," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521740067.
    6. Pedro Bordalo & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2012. "Salience Theory of Choice Under Risk," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1243-1285.
    7. Katerina Linos, 2011. "Diffusion through Democracy," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(3), pages 678-695, July.
    8. Thomas R. Guarrieri, 2018. "Guilty as perceived: How opinions about states influence opinions about NGOs," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 573-593, December.
    9. Chapman, Terrence L., 2009. "Audience Beliefs and International Organization Legitimacy," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(4), pages 733-764, October.
    10. Johnson, Tana, 2020. "Ordinary Patterns in an Extraordinary Crisis: How International Relations Makes Sense of the COVID-19 Pandemic," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(S1), pages 148-168, December.
    11. Dellmuth, Lisa M. & Tallberg, Jonas, 2021. "Elite Communication and the Popular Legitimacy of International Organizations – CORRIGENDUM," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(3), pages 1314-1314, July.
    12. Tana Johnson, 2011. "Guilt by association: The link between states’ influence and the legitimacy of intergovernmental organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 57-84, March.
    13. Michael Siegrist & George Cvetkovich, 2000. "Perception of Hazards: The Role of Social Trust and Knowledge," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(5), pages 713-720, October.
    14. Benno Torgler, 2008. "Trust in international organizations: An empirical investigation focusing on the United Nations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 65-93, March.
    15. Lisa Maria Dellmuth & Jonas Tallberg, 2020. "Why national and international legitimacy beliefs are linked: Social trust as an antecedent factor," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 311-337, April.
    16. Pedro Bordalo & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2015. "Salience Theory of Judicial Decisions," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(S1), pages 7-33.
    17. Heidi J. Larson, 2018. "Politics and public trust shape vaccine risk perceptions," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(5), pages 316-316, May.
    18. Dellmuth, Lisa M. & Tallberg, Jonas, 2021. "Elite Communication and the Popular Legitimacy of International Organizations," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(3), pages 1292-1313, July.
    19. Gulnaz Anjum & Adam Chilton & Zahid Usman, 2021. "United Nations endorsement and support for human rights: An experiment on women’s rights in Pakistan," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(3), pages 462-478, May.
    20. Huang, Haifeng, 2017. "A War of (Mis)Information: The Political Effects of Rumors and Rumor Rebuttals in an Authoritarian Country," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 283-311, April.
    21. Jonas Tallberg & Michael Zürn, 2019. "The legitimacy and legitimation of international organizations: introduction and framework," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 581-606, December.
    22. Brian Greenhill, 2020. "How can international organizations shape public opinion? analysis of a pair of survey-based experiments," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 165-188, January.
    23. Bernd Schlipphak & Paul Meiners & Osman Sabri Kiratli, 2022. "Crisis affectedness, elite cues and IO public legitimacy," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 877-898, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heinrich, Tobias & Kobayashi, Yoshiharu & Motta, Matthew, 2024. "Which foreign vaccine should the government purchase in a pandemic? Evidence from a survey experiment in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Inken Borzyskowski & Felicity Vabulas, 2024. "Public support for withdrawal from international organizations: Experimental evidence from the US," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 809-845, October.
    2. Jeffrey King & Andrew Lugg, 2023. "Politicising pandemics: Evidence from US media coverage of the World Health Organisation," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(2), pages 247-259, May.
    3. Alexander Baturo & Julia Gray, 2024. "Leaders in the United Nations General Assembly: Revitalization or politicization?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 721-752, October.
    4. Ryan Brutger & Richard Clark, 2023. "At what cost? Power, payments, and public support of international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 431-465, July.
    5. Axel Dreher & Katharina Michaelowa, 2008. "The political economy of international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 331-334, December.
    6. Lang, Valentin F. & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2018. "Room for discretion? Biased decision-making in international financial institutions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 1-16.
    7. Tobias Lenz & Besir Ceka & Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks & Alexandr Burilkov, 2023. "Discovering cooperation: Endogenous change in international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 631-666, October.
    8. Bernd Schlipphak & Paul Meiners & Osman Sabri Kiratli, 2022. "Crisis affectedness, elite cues and IO public legitimacy," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 877-898, October.
    9. Reinsberg, Bernhard & Kern, Andreas & Rau-Göhring, Matthias, 2021. "The political economy of IMF conditionality and central bank independence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. Henning Schmidtke & Tobias Lenz, 2024. "Expanding or defending legitimacy? Why international organizations intensify self-legitimation," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 753-784, October.
    11. Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam, 2022. "Salience theory and the cross-section of stock returns: International and further evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 689-725.
    12. Alexander Kentikelenis & Erik Voeten, 2021. "Legitimacy challenges to the liberal world order: Evidence from United Nations speeches, 1970–2018," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 721-754, October.
    13. Julia C. Morse & Bridget Coggins, 2024. "Your silence speaks volumes: Weak states and strategic absence in the UN General Assembly," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 515-544, September.
    14. Axel Dreher & Valentin F. Lang & B. Peter Rosendorff & James Raymond Vreeland, 2018. "Buying Votes and International Organizations: The Dirty Work-Hypothesis," CESifo Working Paper Series 7329, CESifo.
    15. Rauh, Christian, 2022. "Clear messages to the European public? The language of European Commission press releases 1985–2020," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-19.
    16. Ariel Akerman & João Paulo Pessoa & Leonardo Weller, 2022. "The West’s Teeth: IMF conditionality during the Cold War," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(7), pages 2034-2051, July.
    17. Hu, Shiyang & Xiang, Cheng & Quan, Xiaofeng, 2023. "Salience theory and mutual fund flows: Empirical evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    18. Adrian Bruhin & Maha Manai & Luís Santos-Pinto, 2022. "Risk and rationality: The relative importance of probability weighting and choice set dependence," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 139-184, October.
    19. Balart, Pau, 2021. "Semiorder preferences and price-oriented buyers in a Hotelling model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 394-407.
    20. Lauren L. Ferry & Emilie M. Hafner-Burton & Christina J. Schneider, 2020. "Catch me if you care: International development organizations and national corruption," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 767-792, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International organization; World Health Organization; Trust; Credibility; Endorsement; COVID-19 vaccines;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F50 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - General
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H57 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Procurement
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:revint:v:18:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11558-022-09481-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.