M. Kuttschreuter

Perceived usefulness, personal experiences, risk perception and trust as determinants of adoption of e-government services in The Netherlands

Recently Dutch government, as well as many other governments around the world, has digitized a major portion of its public services. With this development electronic services finally arrive at the transaction level. The risks of electronic services on the transactional level are more profound than at the informational level. The public needs to trust the integrity and information management capacities of the government or other involved organizations, as well as trust the infrastructure and those managing the infrastructure. In this process, the individual citizen will have to decide to adopt the new electronic government services by weighing its benefits and risks. In this paper, we present a study which aims to identify the role of risk perception and trust in the intention to adopt government e-services. In January 2003, a sample of 238 persons completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire tapped peoples intention to adopt e-government electronic services. Based on previous research and theories on technology acceptance, the questionnaire measured perceived usefulness of e-services, risk perception, worry, perceived behavioural control, subjective norm, trust and experience with e-services. Structural equation modelling was used to further analyze the data (Amos) and to design a theoretical model predicting the individuals intention to adopt e-services. This analysis showed that the perceived usefulness of electronic services in general is the main determinant of the intention to use e-government services. Risk perception, personal experience, perceived behavioural control and subjective norm were found to significantly predict the perceived usefulness of electronic services in general, while trust in e-government was the main determinant of the perceived usefulness of e-government services.

Psychological Determinants of Reactions to Food Risk Messages

In recent years, European countries have witnessed a number of food crises such as dioxin-contaminated chicken, foot-and-mouth disease, and BSE. In such cases, food might be contaminated by microorganisms or chemicals that could pose a risk to the consumer. These cases attract media attention and might instigate the consumer to reduce the consumption of the allegedly contaminated products. Although a decline in consumption of (potentially) contaminated products has been observed, it is not yet clear what determines the individuals reaction to food risk messages. To study the psychological determinants of the reaction to food risk messages, a survey was conducted in the Netherlands (n= 280). Subjects had to imagine two situations involving chicken contamination and report how they would react behaviorally if this situation occurred. Risk perception, affective response, perceived susceptibility to foodborne disease, self-efficacy, outcome expectation, trust, experience with foodborne disease, and need for information were also assessed. It was found that 60% of the subjects would allegedly avoid the risks by not consuming chicken for a while and approximately 60% would seek additional information. Risk avoidance was significantly related to information seeking and the psychological determinants, especially risk perception, affective response, need for information, perceived susceptibility to foodborne disease, and trust. Seeking information was also significantly related to risk perception, affective response, need for information, susceptibility to foodborne disease, and trust, but to a lesser degree. A model describing the relationships between the variables was tested using AMOS. Results are presented and implications are discussed.

The Development of Risk Communication An Empirical Analysis of the Literature in the Field

This article describes the development of risk communication in the environmental and technological domain by systematically analyzing the literature as it is available through scientific journals. In total, 349 articles published between 1988 and 2000 were analyzed, with three research questions in mind: How can we characterize the risk communication literature? Do trends exist in risk communication literature? and What do scientific indicators tell us about the nature of the published papers on risk communication? The articles were sampled from the online databases ofWeb of Science. Results indicate that risk communication currently is dominated by a few important writers from the Western world and one very influential journal, and that desk research/narrative essays are published most frequently. This article also observes a steadily climbing number of publications, scientists from various backgrounds, and identifiable nodes of high production. Several recommendations for future developments in risk communication are made.

Bringing appraisal theory to environmental risk perception: a review of conceptual approaches of the past 40 years and suggestions for future research

An intensive program of 40u2009years of research has produced various conceptual cognitive and affective approaches to environmental risk perception. In this short review of the most relevant conceptual approaches, appraisal theory is presented as a useful means of integrating cognitive and affective approaches to risk perception. Appraisal theory offers an opportunity to advance our understanding of how environmental risk perception operates in an emotion-specific manner and enables identification of new research directions. Although within other conceptual approaches there are still open research questions, the potential for examining environmental risk perception within appraisal theory has not yet been fully explored. Reviewing current appraisal theoretical models, seven research questions are suggested to structure future research on environmental risk perception.

Development of strategies for effective communication of food risks and benefits across Europe: Design and conceptual framework of the FoodRisC project

BackgroundEuropean consumers are faced with a myriad of food related risk and benefit information and it is regularly left up to the consumer to interpret these, often conflicting, pieces of information as a coherent message. This conflict is especially apparent in times of food crises and can have major public health implications. Scientific results and risk assessments cannot always be easily communicated into simple guidelines and advice that non-scientists like the public or the media can easily understand especially when there is conflicting, uncertain or complex information about a particular food or aspects thereof. The need for improved strategies and tools for communication about food risks and benefits is therefore paramount. The FoodRisC project (Food Risk Communication - Perceptions and communication of food risks/benefits across Europe: development of effective communication strategies) aims to address this issue. The FoodRisC project will examine consumer perceptions and investigate how people acquire and use information in food domains in order to develop targeted strategies for food communication across Europe.Methods/DesignThis project consists of 6 research work packages which, using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, are focused on development of a framework for investigating food risk/benefit issues across Europe, exploration of the role of new and traditional media in food communication and testing of the framework in order to develop evidence based communication strategies and tools. The main outcome of the FoodRisC project will be a toolkit to enable coherent communication of food risk/benefit messages in Europe. The toolkit will integrate theoretical models and new measurement paradigms as well as building on social marketing approaches around consumer segmentation. Use of the toolkit and guides will assist policy makers, food authorities and other end users in developing common approaches to communicating coherent messages to consumers in Europe.DiscussionThe FoodRisC project offers a unique approach to the investigation of food risk/benefit communication. The effective spread of food risk/benefit information will assist initiatives aimed at reducing the burden of food-related illness and disease, reducing the economic impact of food crises and ensuring that confidence in safe and nutritious food is fostered and maintained in Europe.

An empirical analysis of communication flow, strategy and stakeholders' participation in the risk communication literature 1988–2000

Risk communication during the years has shown its vitality and has proved its importance as a field of research. This article provides a brief record of the development of risk communication in the environmental and technological domain by examining some of the trends resulting from the analysis of the theoretical and empirical literature in the field, as it is available through scientific journals. In total, 349 peer‐reviewed articles published between 1988 and 2000 and listed in the ISI Web of Science databases were analyzed. The theoretical perspective that we use is that of control mutuality, which emphasizes the interaction between the parties in the risk decision‐making process and their mutual influence, rather than simply unidirectional control of one stakeholder over the other. It echoes the democratic perspective, but also considers the rationality of the technical standpoint. The results indicate that over the whole period there is an increase in published articles on risk communication. As expected, we found a gradual decrease in the articles referring to a one‐way flow of risk communication and an increase of those concerned with two‐way communication. We also observed a gradual increase in the articles referring to stakeholder participation in risk decisions in the last period. No differences were found with respect to risk communication strategy.

The role of expertise in risk communication: laypeople's and expert's perception of the millennium bug risk in The Netherlands

This paper focuses on the discussion of the role of expertise in risk communication. It describes empirical data on the risks posed by the Millennium bug in 1999 in the Netherlands. The study systematically examined the risk perception of both general public and computer experts with respect to the Millennium bug, assessing a potential discrepancy between the laymans and the experts judgement, as has been observed in other risk areas. Two surveys were fielded, the first aimed at a random sample of the Dutch population ( n = 253), the second at a sample of computer experts ( n = 91). Results indicated that respondents did not perceive the Millennium bug to be a major threat. However, laypeople worried more, did see the issue as more personally risky, and did think the level of public awareness was higher than experts did. Computer experts felt more capable of taking mitigating actions than laypeople, and were more convinced that these actions were adequate. The implications of these findings for the role of expertise in risk communication are discussed.

Experience‐based processing of risk information: the case of the millennium bug

This article focuses on the role of experience in the processing of risk information. With a written questionnaire, completed by 286 subjects in The Netherlands, risk perceptions, mitigating behaviour, and information processing were studied concerning the millennium bug risk that was assumed would crash computers all over the world at midnight 1 January 2000. These variables were related to the level of computer expertise. Results indicated that in the spring of 1999 on average the subjects did not worry much about this risk, and had not taken many precautionary measures either. It appeared to be relevant to distinguish three groups of subjects based on the level of computer experience: (a) nonusers, (b) average users, and (c) ‘experts’. From the risk perception perspective, the average users experienced most problems. They perceived the probability of occurrence of the millennium risk the highest, perceived their personal risk as high, and worried most about it. Furthermore, their levels of self‐efficacy and outcome expectancy were low. These characteristics are often associated with anxious people. Nonusers and ‘experts’ differed remarkably from average users in these respects. The groups also differed in the gathering of information concerning the millennium risk. Results indicated that computer expertise might have played an intermediating role: influencing information gathering as well as risk perceptions and mitigating behaviour. It is assumed that computer expertise offered a frame of reference, which enabled a critical evaluation of the available information on the millennium problem.

Determinants of reactions to gene technology: a generic approach

This paper examines the reactions to gene technology (the intention to buy gene-tech food, worry about abuse, and the publics desire that different actors be able to influence decisions) in a sample of the Dutch population (nu2009=u20091010) and studies the relationship between these reactions and perception, trust, experience, knowledge and personal interest. The survey reveals that large parts of the public are concerned about the abuse of gene technology, are not willing to buy gene-tech products, and want actors to have an influence on legislation and enforcement. Path analysis shows that these reactions can be well explained using a generic model. Trust in authorities, personal interest in gene technology, and perception of gene technology are important predictors of peoples reactions, whereas experience and knowledge are less important.

Crime prevention and the attitude toward the criminal justice system: the effects of a multimedia campaign.

This study concerns the effects of a multimedia campaign regarding residential burglary and violence on the streets in The Netherlands that can be characterised as a tell-the-truth campaign. The mass media component of the campaign consists of editorials in the regional dailies, local weeklies, and items on the regional radio station. The audience was given the opportunity to personally contact an information officer (via information meetings, “Crime Prevention Van,” or stands). The campaign led to a more positive attitude towards the criminal justice system among the general public. There was no effect on knowledge of burglary and violence, the image of local crime, risk assessment, fear of crime, outcome expectation, self-efficacy expectation, preventive behaviour, and the attitude towards crime reporting.