Abstract

The global pandemic of COVID-19 clearly showed that successful implementation of government policies depends not only on the effectiveness of the policies but also on the cooperation of citizens. In the present study, we investigated the influence of political orientation, utilitarian propensity, and use of new media on individuals’ agreements for government policies. We recruited 1,232 participants representing the South Korean population based on their demographics (i.e., gender, age, and area of residence). Participants indicated how strongly they agreed with COVID-19 prevention polices which differ in whether they are consistent with the government policies (government-consistent vs. government-inconsistent) and whether they reflect utilitarian or non-utilitarian moral stance. First, political orientation significantly predicted the relative preference for the government-consistent to government-inconsistent policies such that more liberal individuals were more likely to agree with the prevention policies consistent with the government’s position. Second, liberals agreed more to utilitarian vs. non-utilitarian polices than conservatives regardless of their utilitarian propensity, whereas conservatives’ preferences for utilitarian vs. non-utilitarian policies varied as a function of their utilitarian propensity. Lastly, the effect of political orientation on the policy attitude was modulated by the frequency of new media usage. Political orientation had greater influence among the participants who use new media more frequently. Our findings demonstrate that political orientation and utilitarianism influence policy preference, and new media, which is characterized by selective exposure, can amplify the effect of political orientation.