Factors Influencing Local Governments’ COVID-19 Crisis Decision Making: Case Study of the First Wave in the Two Estonian Municipalities

The present article describes the results of a case study on the factors that influenced COVID-19 first wave decision making on the local government level in the Republic of Estonia. The municipalities that were studied were the biggest municipality in Estonia, the City of Tallinn, and the worst hit local government in the first wave, the Municipality of Saaremaa. In the mapping of crisis units, 3 units were identified in Tallinn, 2 in Saaremaa – some formalized prior the crisis, others formalized ad hoc, and yet others not formalized at all. The subjects of the study were the members of the COVID-19 crisis units. The study which comprised of a questionnaire and in-depth interviews focused on the influence of 8 decision-making factors which were divided into internal (stress, helplessness, group pressure, and well-being) and external (time pressure, pressure from the media and the public, availability of information, pressure from the central government or other institutions). The results indicate that external factors were the predominantly influencing (highest pressure was felt due to time pressure, stress and the pressure from media and the public). Decision makers also highlighted previous experience, risk perception and emotions, which influenced decision making.