A Hybrid Grey DEMATEL and PLS-SEM Model to Investigate COVID-19 Vaccination Intention

The main objective of this study is to comprehensively investigate individuals’ vaccination intention against COVID-19 during the second wave of COVID-19 spread in Vietnam using a novel hybrid approach. First, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory based on Grey Theory (DEMATEL-G) was employed to explore the critical factors of vaccination intention among individuals. Second, Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test the hypotheses of individual behavioral intention to get the vaccine to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19. A panel of 661 valid respondents was collected from June 2021 to July 2021, and confidentiality was maintained for all data obtained. The results identified that perception of COVID-19 vaccination and trust in vaccination strategy directly associated with individuals’ COVID-19 immunization. Hence, the perceived severity of COVID-19 has an indirect impact on COVID-19 vaccination intentions via the perception of the COVID-19 vaccine. These findings indicated that the government's information about vaccines is necessary for the new phase of vaccination intervention strategies in Vietnam. Therefore, the study suggests that the government needs to give complete information about the role of vaccines prioritizes transparency in official information about COVID-19 vaccines to allay concerns about side effects, allowing for the most appropriate policy formulation and implementation to encourage public vaccination. Future studies can apply PLS-SEM and other MCDM models with the fuzzy, hesitant numbers to re-evaluate the feasibility, validity and reliability of this research's proposed model.