Mediation analysis of public emotions in response to policy implementation performance during crises: the case of COVID-19 management policies in the UK
研究了英国新冠疫情防控政策与执行绩效如何通过恐惧和惊讶等情绪影响公众反应，对政府危机沟通和政策制定有参考价值。
Understanding public emotions in crises is crucial to effective public policy management for governments. This study examines the relationship between pandemic management policies, pandemic management performance, and fundamental emotions according to Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion, in the context of COVID-19 in the UK. Our findings validate the role of emotions in shaping political events and then suggest the involvement of emotions, namely fear and surprise, as mediators in government policies and their subsequent outcomes in pandemic management. The study contributes to the public policy management literature by emphasizing the importance of the heterogeneity of emotions.