The plethora of information and individuals’ perceived feelings during COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication
ISSN: 2514-9342
Article publication date: 23 September 2022
Issue publication date: 13 May 2024
Abstract
Purpose
In the digital era individuals are overwhelmed by huge amount of readily available information. The information provided at the time of COVID-19 crisis is increasingly available. The purpose of this paper was to investigate individuals’ perceived feelings due to the plethora of information during COVID-19 pandemic in Greece in Spring 2020.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted through a Web-based questionnaire survey posted on the Google Forms platform. The questionnaire consisted of closed-ended, seven-point Likert-scale questions. The data collected were subjected to a principal component analysis. The retained principal components (PCs) were subjected to statistical analysis between genders and among age groups and professional status with the nonparametric criteria Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis.
Findings
Responses by 776 individuals were obtained. Seventeen original variables from the questionnaire were summarized into three PCs that explained the 71.7% of total variance: “affective disorders,” “uncertainty issues and inaccurate information worries” and “satisfaction and optimism.” Participants partly agree that the received amount of information on the disease caused them feelings of uncertainty about the future and worries about relatives’ lives, but also satisfaction with developments in the country. Females seem to experience stronger perceived feelings of “affective disorders” (p < 0.001) and reported higher degree of agreement about “uncertainty issues and inaccurate information worries.”
Originality/value
The recorded feelings caused by the volume of available information may have forced people accept the necessary precautionary behavioral changes that had contributed to the Greek success in preventing spread of the disease in Spring 2020.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Mr Konstantinos B. Simoglou for providing technical help, as well as everybody who participated in this study.
Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Citation
Skarpa, P.E. and Garoufallou, E. (2024), "The plethora of information and individuals’ perceived feelings during COVID-19 pandemic in Greece", Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, Vol. 73 No. 4/5, pp. 538-553. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-04-2022-0085
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited