Trust and confidence in authorities, responsibility attribution, and natural hazards risk perception

Abstract

AbstractRisk perception varies across contexts like different risk agents and cultures. The roles of trust, confidence in authorities, and responsibility attribution in natural hazards risk perception are understudied. In this paper, the correlations between trust in authorities, confidence in authorities, responsibility attribution, and natural hazards (typhoon and earthquake) risk perception are explored using an updated representative data set from Taiwan (the 2013 and 2019 Taiwan Social Change Survey). The perceived probability, perceived controllability, and degree of worriment were used as the three dimensions of risk perception in the 2013 survey, while only the worrisome dimension was included in the 2019 survey. The results of Ordered Logit Models demonstrate that trust in authorities and confidence in authorities’ disaster response are only negatively associated with the perceived consequence of typhoons, not the probability or worrisome dimensions. The responsibility attribution and risk perception's correlations are only significant for the perceived probability of an earthquake. On the contrary, variables like disaster experience, family income, and educational attainment have more consistent effects, either in 2013 or 2019. This paper highlights the importance of the risk perception measurements and contexts of hazards in investigating the roles of trust, confidence, and responsibility attribution in natural hazards scenarios.