Abstract
BackgroundIn crisis communication, warning messages are key to informing and galvanizing the public to prevent or mitigate damage. Therefore, this study examines how risk appraisal and individual characteristics influence the intention to comply with behavioral recommendations of a warning message regarding three hazard types: the COVID-19 pandemic, violent acts, and severe weather.MethodsA cross-sectional survey examined 403 German participants from 18 to 89 years (M = 29.24; 72% female). Participants were allocated to one of three hazard types (COVID-19 pandemic, violent acts, severe weather) and presented with warning messages that were previously issued via an official warning app. Four components of risk appraisal—perceived severity (PS), anticipated negative emotions (AE), anticipatory worry (AW), and risk perception (RP)—were assessed before and after presenting the warning message. Path models were calculated to predict the intention to comply with the warning message, controlling for age, gender, and previous hazard experience.ResultsFor the COVID-19 pandemic, higher age (β = 0.18) predicted warning compliance (R2 = 0.05). AE (β = 0.20) predicted compliance in the case of violent acts (R2 = 0.09). For severe weather, PS (β = 0.28), age (β = 0.29), and female gender (β = 0.34) lead to higher compliance (R2 = 0.27). Changes across risk appraisal components were not consistent, as some facets decreased after the receipt of a warning message.DiscussionRisk appraisal has shown a marginal yet differential influence on warning message compliance in different types of hazards. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of sociodemographic factors on compliance should be studied more intensively. Moreover, integrating intermediary variables, such as self-efficacy, is necessary.
Highlights
Crisis communication aims to inform the public about various kinds of impending threats and hazards
The present study examined warning message receipt, risk appraisal, and the intention to comply with a warning message while applying a consistent methodology in assessing risk appraisal with two cognitive and two affective components
For severe weather, perceived severity (PS) led to a higher intention to comply with the warning message
Summary
Crisis communication aims to inform the public about various kinds of impending threats and hazards. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in 2019 and the ongoing pandemic pose new challenges in this respect: At the end of April 2020, more than 2.5 million people have become infected with this respiratory disease, and more than 180,000 thousand died (World Health Organization, 2020b). At this point in time, further development seemed yet unclear, as various factors were still unknown. This study examines how risk appraisal and individual characteristics influence the intention to comply with behavioral recommendations of a warning message regarding three hazard types: the COVID-19 pandemic, violent acts, and severe weather
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