Pandemic control and public evaluation of government performance in Hong Kong

Abstract The COVID-19 outbreak has presented huge challenges to governments around the world, but it can also be an opportunity for governments to strengthen their performance legitimacy if the pandemic can be controlled. However, the relationship between pandemic control and the public evaluation of government performance might not be straightforward. This essay puts forward a conceptual framework for understanding how a government might or might not benefit from an improvement in a pandemic situation. It distinguishes between retrospective performance evaluation and attitudes toward ongoing preventive measures and highlights the role of responsibility attribution and risk assessment alignment in shaping public opinion. Guided by the framework, this essay discusses the experience of Hong Kong in 2021, where public evaluations of the government remained largely negative despite the lack of serious outbreaks throughout the year.