Using the integrative model of behavioural prediction to understand COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy behaviour.

ABSTRACT

The officials realized that the vaccination drive alone would not be  sufficient, but the individual's response towards getting vaccinated needs to be assessed and addressed, especially in India, where the diverse culture could widely affect the population's vaccination behaviour. The study aimed to identify the predictors of vaccine hesitancy behaviour using the health belief model and theory of planned behaviour and understand mediating and moderating influence of knowledge and social support on the relationship between the predictors and vaccine hesitancy behaviours among the Indian population. Data was collected from 1006 samples. Regression analysis was performed to assess the variances exerted on vaccine hesitancy behaviours. Also, SEM AMOS was employed to examine the mediation and moderation effects of knowledge about vaccines and social support. The findings indicated that around 11% of the respondents were hesitant to get vaccinated. The combined models of HBM and TPB provide high predictive power. The analysis also revealed that knowledge about vaccine significantly mediates partially between a few constructs of HBM and TPB concerning hesitancy. This study provides the theoretical framework and suggests that the health belief model and the theory of planned behaviour model could explain the psychological influences of vaccine hesitancy in India.