Public Attitude toward Mobile Base Station Siting: More than Nimby

Abstract

The opposition to mobile base station siting is a clear and practical problem with highly social and economic costs. The conflicts between local residents and operators are brewing a long time and become a barrier to the development of telecommunications. It is critical for operators to understand what residents’ attitude toward the station siting and what factors they really concern about. This study aims to incorporate “not in my back yard (NIMBY)” reaction and to analyze the influential factors of attitude toward mobile base station siting in Taiwan. 258 effective respondents are interviewed by questionnaires within the 50-meter neighborhood of base stations. Proximity and risk perception is empirically proven to be the most influential factor. Trust in authority “National Communication Commission” would encourage reward as well as depress risk, and become a significant determinant to conduct the public to have a positive attitude toward station siting. Interestingly, it is found that plenty of knowledge on electromagnetic fields (EMF) and base station would lead residents to more anxious sentiments and to have negative impact on attitudes toward station siting indirectly. The cognitive dissonance of the public results from residents’ high sensitivity on negative information and unavailability of accurate knowledge. Therefore, this stereotype effect of EMF deeply influences the resident’s negative cognition of mobile base station.