Informing the public about information and participation strategies in the siting of mobile communication base stations: an experimental study

Abstract

Informing the public and ensuring their participation are considered important characteristics for a successful siting of mobile communication base stations. However, there is only sparse empirical evidence for this presumption. In particular, nothing is known about whether informing people that a siting decision is based on public information and participation activities has any positive effects. The experimental study presented here investigated in a hypothetical evaluation situation whether being informed about different information and participation strategies will have an effect on: (1) risk perception, (2) the acceptance of a site, (3) trust in the safety of the mobile communication base station, (4) the chances for conflict resolution and for conflict avoidance, as well as (5) the transparency of the siting process and (6) the consideration of public concerns in the decision. The results indicate that being informed about information strategies exerts no influence on the variables considered here. However, being informed about participation strategies yields differentiated results. No effects were found on the variables ‘risk perception,’ ‘acceptance of the siting decision’ and ‘trust in the safety of the mobile communication base station’ as well as on ‘conflict avoidance.’ Statistically significant effects were found for the variables ‘transparency of the siting process,’ ‘consideration of the concerns of the local residents’ as well as ‘resolution of existing conflicts in the siting of mobile communication base stations.’ These results suggest that more information and participation does not automatically translate into higher quality or greater acceptance of the base station siting process.