TY - JOUR
T1 - Be proactive for better decisions
T2 - Predicting information seeking in the context of earthquake risk
AU - Li, Yiwei
AU - Guo, Yu
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by the Faculty Research Grants (General Research Grants, GRFs) of Macau University of Science and Technology (Grant number 0498 ) and the Crisis Reporting Project (CRP) of Keio University. The authors thank Naoya Ito for his help in collecting the data. The authors would also like to show gratitude to the reviewers who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted us in revising the manuscript.
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - This study predicts information seeking in the context of earthquake risk. Considering the influence of today's media environment, this study investigates individuals’ interpretation and use of risk information to explore the mechanisms of media effects for a better public-focused risk communication. Based on the social cognitive theory, a path model is developed to predict the intent to seek information relating to earthquakes. Data collected from a sample of 1032 Chinese have been used in model testing. Results of the analyses under the structural equation modeling framework supported the predictive power of the model. Then, after a modification of the original model, a communication model was suggested, which demonstrated better fit and explained larger proportion of the variance in intent to seek information. The communication model highlighted the importance of information availability: it significantly increased individuals’ subjective knowledge and risk perception about earthquakes; meanwhile, it also greatly raised the level of outcome expectation which directly determined the intent to seek information. Findings of this study provide a new perspective on the prediction of risk information seeking and contribute insights into communications of natural hazard risks.
AB - This study predicts information seeking in the context of earthquake risk. Considering the influence of today's media environment, this study investigates individuals’ interpretation and use of risk information to explore the mechanisms of media effects for a better public-focused risk communication. Based on the social cognitive theory, a path model is developed to predict the intent to seek information relating to earthquakes. Data collected from a sample of 1032 Chinese have been used in model testing. Results of the analyses under the structural equation modeling framework supported the predictive power of the model. Then, after a modification of the original model, a communication model was suggested, which demonstrated better fit and explained larger proportion of the variance in intent to seek information. The communication model highlighted the importance of information availability: it significantly increased individuals’ subjective knowledge and risk perception about earthquakes; meanwhile, it also greatly raised the level of outcome expectation which directly determined the intent to seek information. Findings of this study provide a new perspective on the prediction of risk information seeking and contribute insights into communications of natural hazard risks.
KW - Earthquake risk
KW - Information availability
KW - Information seeking
KW - Outcome expectation
KW - Risk communication
KW - Social-cognitive approach
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.08.008
DO - 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.08.008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84989866239
SN - 2212-4209
VL - 19
SP - 75
EP - 83
JO - International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
JF - International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
ER -