Vaccine “unnaturalness” is one of the major concerns against vaccines appearing in a public debate. Vaccines are typically perceived as “artificial” human intervention in “natural” biological processes of illnesses and immunity. On the other hand, vaccine technological advancement, which may represent that human intervention, may evoke awe and be used as a pro-vaccination argument. Therefore, it is important for vaccine communication to understand when the perception of vaccines as “artificial” and technologically advanced positively or negatively affects vaccine patronage intent. As human intervention and technology may be considered a societal effort to fight epidemics, sociocultural factors like collectivism and social identity may serve as potential moderators. Three recent studies among European young adults suggest that perceiving vaccines as “artificial” affects vaccine advocacy more positively among people higher in collectivism, and perceiving EU-linked vaccines as technologically advanced increases vaccination intent more among people higher in EU identity.

Wojciech Trzebiński, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at SGH Warsaw School of Economics (Warsaw, Poland), Department of Markets, Marketing, and Quality. His research interests are related to behavioral mechanisms determining consumer response to product communication, including health communication, and consumer response to technologies, including artificial intelligence. His research results have been published, i.a., in the Journal of Product and Brand Management, the Journal of Internet Commerce, Computer in Human Behavior Reports, the Journal of Loss and Trauma, and Vaccines.

• Wednesday 7 June 2023
• 4pm - 5pm
• Auditorium S.M.002 
• Participation is free, but online registration is mandatory.