Modeling of Public Risk Perception and Risk Communication Research: In A Social-Cognitive Direction

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has caused significant environmental and economic loss across the globe. The government’s promotion of non-pharmaceutical treatment such as social distancing, hand washing, and mask-wearing can be equally important in disease control compared to the conventional use of pharmaceutical treatment. Risk perception is often used as an important mechanism to understand an individual's compliance with these protective measures. The present article examines the application of previous knowledge about public risk perception, decision making, and behavioral change to the current global pandemic and evaluates the most effective way of governmental messaging. The article analyzes empirical research conducted during COVID-19 across the globe where risk perception is found to be a strong determinant of people’s adoption of public health behavior. Demographic factors can significantly alter people’s understanding of risk due to the variation of individualistic view and prosociality of each nation. Cognitive biases can also affect people’s efficacy beliefs and confidence levels in government which can shape their risk perception to a great extent as well. Combining studies on both SARS and COVID-19, we are able to employ past knowledge to draw conclusions on risk communication and governmental promotion of protective measures during the current global pandemic.

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The social dynamics of environmental risk perception: implications for risk communication research and practice

The Social Amplification of Risk ◽

10.1017/cbo9780511550461.012 ◽

2003 ◽

pp. 262-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Tom Horlick-Jones ◽

Jonathan Sime ◽

Nick Pidgeon

Keyword(s):

Risk Perception ◽

Risk Communication ◽

Environmental Risk ◽

Social Dynamics ◽

Communication Research ◽

Research And Practice ◽

The Social ◽

Environmental Risk Perception

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Can risk communication in mass media improve compliance behavior in the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Vietnam

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy ◽

10.1108/ijssp-05-2021-0122 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Pham Tien Thanh ◽

Le Thanh Tung

Keyword(s):

Risk Perception ◽

Mass Media ◽

Risk Communication ◽

Preventive Measures ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Online Media ◽

Analysis Model ◽

Traditional Media ◽

Content Type ◽

Public Risk

PurposeDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, mass media play a vital role in containing the outbreak of the virus by quickly and effectively delivering risk communication messages to the public. This research examines the effects of risk communication exposure on public understanding and risk perception of COVID-19 and public compliance with health preventive measures.Design/methodology/approachData from Vietnam during COVID-19 social distancing and path analysis model are used for empirical analysis.FindingsThis analysis finds that exposure to risk communication in mass media encourages public compliance directly and indirectly through the mediating roles of public understanding and risk perception. Further investigations also find that exposure to risk communication in both online media and traditional media facilitates public compliance. In addition, exposure to risk communication in online media only raises public risk perception, whereas exposure to risk communication in traditional media only raises public understanding.Research limitations/implicationsThis research implies that traditional and online media should be combined to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government risk communication work.Originality/valueThis research is among the first attempts that examine the role of mass media (both traditional and online) in enhancing public compliance with preventive measures directly and indirectly through the mediating roles of public risk perception and understanding.

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The Influences of Residents’ Evacuation Patterns in the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake on Public Risk Perceptions and Trust Toward Authorities

Journal of Disaster Research ◽

10.20965/jdr.2017.p1139 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 1139-1150 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shoji Ohtomo ◽

Reo Kimura ◽

Naoshi Hirata ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Perception ◽

Risk Communication ◽

Main Shock ◽

Japan Meteorological Agency ◽

Earthquake Risk ◽

2016 Kumamoto Earthquake ◽

The Public ◽

Kumamoto Earthquake ◽

The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake ◽

Public Risk

The 2016 Kumamoto earthquake consisted of a magnitude 6.2 foreshock that occurred on the 14th of April, and a magnitude 7.3 main shock that occurred on the 16th of April. The main shock occurring over the magnitude 6.2 foreshock was not anticipated because the foreshock was originally considered to be the main shock. After the earthquakes occurred, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) discontinued its policy of announcing the probability of aftershock occurrences. The experience of the Kumamoto earthquake and the policy change concerning risk communication may affect the public risk perception of earthquakes, as well as the public trust toward authorities. In this study, we examined the reasons residents made the decision to evacuation both the foreshock and the main shock. Moreover, we investigated how residents perceived subsequent earthquake risk and they evaluate similarity and trust toward the authorities (the JMA, government, mass media, prefecture, and municipality). This study analyzed data from a mail survey implemented by the MEXT of Japan in the areas of the Kumamoto prefecture that were damaged by the earthquake. As a result, there were differences in the reasons for evacuation decisions between the foreshock and the main shock. Although residents decided to evacuate based on a fear of disaster in the foreshock, they decided to evacuate the main shock based on neighborhood communication. Moreover, the residents’ evacuation patterns influenced the earthquake risk perception. As well, the evacuation pattern influenced similarity toward the authorities and then reduced trusts toward the authorities. This study indicates that residents amplified the evaluations of the authorities after the earthquake. The influences of similarities toward the authorities became salient as a determinant of trust. This study reveals features of residents’ risk reactions to the earthquake, and discusses the importance of the similarity of the authorities for disaster risk communication.

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A comparative analysis on risk communication between international and Chinese literature from the perspective of knowledge domain visualization

Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine ◽

10.1186/s12199-021-00981-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Huiling Dong ◽

Qunhong Wu ◽

Yue Pang ◽

Bingyi Wu

Keyword(s):

Risk Perception ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Risk Communication ◽

Risk Information ◽

World Health ◽

Communication Research ◽

Knowledge Domain ◽

Cooperation Network ◽

Chinese Scholars ◽

Research Hotspots

Abstract Background The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) severely damaged and endangered people’s lives at the end of 2019. Risk communication plays an important role in the response to it successfully, which has been appreciated by the World Health Organization. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of risk communication research is necessary, which can understand current research hotspots and reveal new trends. Methods In this study, we collected 1134 international articles from the Web of Science database and 3983 Chinese articles from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database. Bibliometric and mapping knowledge domain analysis methods were used for temporal distribution analysis, cooperation network analysis, co-word network analysis, and burst detection analysis. Results The first article in this field was published by western scholars earlier, while the first Chinese article in 2002. Research institutions mainly come from universities. The USA plays a key role in this field. Chinese scholars had a closer cooperation network, but there was less cooperation among domestic institutions. Risk perception, trust, risk management, and risk information had always been the research hotspots in this academic. Trust, sentiment research, and public risk events were essential directions for the future. There are 25 burst words for international articles, while 11 burst words for Chinese articles from 2000 to 2020. Conclusions In summary, both domestic and international researchers are concerned about risk communication, risk perception, trust, and risk information. International research on risk communication is systematic and comprehensive relatively. However, Chinese scholars take severe acute respiratory syndrome as the research background and reviewing foreign knowledge as the research starting point. With the purpose of practical and applied research based on a public emergency, the risk communication research lacks continuity in Chinese academy in the past years.

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A Comparative Analysis on Risk Communication between International and Chinese Literature from the Perspective of Knowledge Domains Visualization

10.21203/rs.3.rs-378880/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Huiling Dong ◽

Qunhong Wu ◽

Yue Pang ◽

Bingyi Wu

Keyword(s):

Risk Perception ◽

Risk Communication ◽

Information Dissemination ◽

Chinese Literature ◽

The United States ◽

Risk Information ◽

Communication Research ◽

Starting Point ◽

Cooperation Network ◽

Chinese Scholars

Abstract Background At the end of 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) severely damaged and endangered people’s lives. Risk communication plays an important role in the response to COVID-19 successfully. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of risk communication research is necessary, which can understand current research hotspots and reveal new trends.Methods In this study, international articles come from Web of science database (3983), Chinese articles come from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database (1134), Bibliometric and mapping knowledge domain analysis were used for cooperation network, co-word co-occurrence network and burst detection analysis.Results The first article in this field was published by western scholars earlier, while the first Chinese article in 2002. Research institutions mainly come from universities. The United States play a key role in this field. Chinese scholars had a closer cooperation network, but there was less cooperation among domestic institutions. Risk perception, public trust, risk management, and risk information dissemination had always been the research hot-spots in this academic direction. Trust, sentiment research, and public risk events were essential directions for future. There are 25 burst words for international articles, while 11 burst words for Chinese articles from 2000–2020.Conclusions In summary, both domestic and international researchers are concerned about risk communication, risk perception, trust, and risk information. International scholars begin to take cares with ecological and technological risks research, radiating many areas of social risk. Compared with international research on risk communication more systematic and comprehensive, Chinese scholars takes SARS as the research background and reviewing foreign knowledge as the research starting point. With purpose of practical and applied research based on a public emergency, the risk-communication research lacks continuity in Chinese academy in the past years.

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