Is social capital associated with individual social responsibility? The case of social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic

Individual social responsibility is essential to achieving the sustainable development goals of the society, yet there has been very little research on whether and how social and cultural factors influence individual social responsibility. Using the Covid-19 pandemic as our empirical context, this research examines the relationship between social capital and individual social distancing behaviors during the pandemic. Social distancing is a form of socially responsible behavior because it is critical in mitigating the spread of the Covid-19 virus. By exploiting daily mobile GPS location data, we provide strong evidence for the divergent relationships between the two constituents of social capital–civic norms and social networks–and social distancing behaviors. While civic norms are positively associated with social distancing, social networks have a negative association with social distancing. These results are consistent with a nuanced view of social capital: civic norms facilitate cooperation and self-sacrifice for the common good, whereas social networks increase individual embeddedness and hence inertia in maintaining social interactions, resulting in opposite effects on social distancing. Our results contribute to the research at the intersection of social capital and individual social responsibility by highlighting the nuanced effects of social capital on individual responses to the pandemic and provide valuable insights for policymakers and businesses in disaster management.