Not all areas are alike: willingness to comply with pandemic containment measures across residential contexts in China

Introduction Public compliance with containment measures is important for effective pandemic governance, but willingness to comply may vary across residential contexts. This study examined compliance willingness with COVID-19 containment measures across rural, town, and urban areas in China and the factors associated with it within each setting. Methods Using cross-sectional survey data from 985 respondents across three northern provinces of China, we compared compliance willingness across residential contexts using nonparametric tests. We also estimated hierarchical block-entry OLS regression models for the three subgroups and conducted pooled residence-by-predictor interaction tests to assess contextual heterogeneity formally. Results Compliance willingness differed significantly across settings. Rural respondents reported higher willingness than town and urban respondents, although the absolute differences were modest. The subgroup models showed different within-context patterns of association, with government performance positively associated with compliance willingness in all three settings. Formal interaction tests indicated that between-context heterogeneity was concentrated in the institutional domain and specifically in the association between institutional trust and compliance willingness. Conclusion The findings reveal selective heterogeneity in compliance willingness across residential contexts, particularly in the role of institutional trust.