The Effects of the Social Context on Pre-Decisional Processes of Protective Action in Beijing Communities

Abstract

This paper examined the effects of the social context (media communication, face-to-face communication, and friend and kinship network) on pre decisional processes of individual protective action. A two-stage survey was carried out aimed at residents in Beijing communities in half a year, and then the data were disposed from three aspects: Common Method Variance, non-parametric test, and Exploratory Factor Analysis. Based on the pretest data (N=344) and the posttest data (N=351), analyses were implemented from aspects of competing model analysis, hypothesis path test, and Multiple Group Analysis with the method of Structural Equation Modeling. Results: First, media communication activities can influence individual reception of risk information, which influence is the strongest among social context variables; moreover education attainment and age can influence it significantly. Then media channel should be diverse with respect to the different groups in order to increase the degree of information reception. Second, face-to-face communication activities can influence individual attention behavior; at the same time, it can also influence media communication; in addition, education attainment and income level are can influence it significantly. Then physical activities should be specific with respect to different socioeconomic strata in order to raise the degree of information attention. Third, friendly and kinship network does not influence any pre decisional processes variable, but it can influence face-to-face communication instead. Then it can be seen that the role of social conformity should be emphasized in order to enhance the degree of individual participation. Fourth, no social context variable can exert significant influence on comprehension behavior. Then it can be seen that the literal problem should be emphasized in order to improve the degree of understanding of risk communication. Future research should cover the particular social context as regards demographic characteristics, the facilitating and barriers inside risk information, and the relationship between social conformity and risk communication.