Does message placement influence risk perception and affect?

Abstract

Purpose – A recent body of research in crisis communications suggests that risk awareness and negative affect concerning a risk may be separate psychological constructs. These constructs may have independent and combined implications for crisis communication practitioners, in terms of message placement and audience responses. Making affected audiences aware of the nature of a risk, and coupling this awareness with an appropriate degree of negative affect, may be critical in motivating individuals to take action to protect themselves. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the above issues. Design/methodology/approach – In order to explore the best outlets for inducing risk awareness and appropriate levels of negative affect, an experimental study explored the influence of print, video, and combined messages on these factors. The experiment also examined whether or not order of presentation of print and video messages would be relevant. Findings – The findings indicate that the use of organization-produced messages placed in print media may reduce negative affect, while the order of presentation in multimedia approaches may have little effect on either construct. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for those crafting public messages concerning developing crises, while suggesting that organizations must consider the highly arousing nature of televised risk messages when informing and persuading the public. Originality/value – This study moves the literature a step forward by offering an empirical assessment of the value of an organizational message in reducing negative affect. It moves beyond past studies exploring the combined impact of risk awareness and affect by examining their relationship with placement strategy, and does so by measuring actual audience reactions.