Risk Information Seeking and Processing About Particulate Air Pollution in South Korea: The Roles of Cultural Worldview

Hye Kyung Kim, Yungwook Kim*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study integrates cultural theory of risk into the risk information seeking and processing model in the context of particulate air pollution in South Korea. Specifically, it examines how cultural worldviews (hierarchy, individualism, egalitarianism, and fatalism) influence the way people interpret risk about an environmental risk, which may in turn promote or deter their information seeking and processing about the risk. An online survey (N = 645) showed that egalitarianism was positively associated with perceptions of societal and personal risks, affective responses toward the risk, and informational subjective norms. Perceived societal risk, in particular, mediated the effect of egalitarianism on information insufficiency. Moreover, cultural worldview was a significant moderator of the relationships between information insufficiency and risk information seeking and processing. The positive relationship between information insufficiency and information seeking grew stronger with increasing egalitarianism. In contrast, the negative relationship between information insufficiency and heuristic processing was strengthened with increasing hierarchy. This study extends prior theories and models in risk communication by addressing the roles of cultural worldview, an important individual difference factor in interpreting environmental risks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1071-1087
Number of pages17
JournalRisk Analysis
Volume39
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Society for Risk Analysis

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
  • Physiology (medical)

Keywords

  • Cultural worldview
  • information seeking and processing
  • particulate air pollution

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