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Abstract
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this paper is to understand how framing messages about earthquake risk affect judgements about legislation requiring the strengthening of earthquake-prone buildings.
Design/methodology/approach
Scenarios described the legislation with a general population sample (n=271). Two types of framing effects were examined in a 2 (valence frame: positive or negative or positive) by 2 (numerical format frame: frequency/number or percentage) experimental design.
Findings
Scenarios reporting the number of earthquake-prone buildings (negative frequency format) increased support for the earthquake-strengthening legislation more than the same message framed positively (frequency number of resilient building) or as a percentage. Demographic variables such as previous earthquake experience and gender interacted with the framing effects, and other variables also predicted support for the legislation were identified.
Research limitations/implications
These results have direct implications for the use of framing effects messages in communications about earthquake risk and the wider domain.
Originality/value
This is the first study to show that the way the risk is framed affects citizens' judgement of the value of earthquake legislation.
Keywords:
Risk communication, Framing effects, Fatalism, Disaster preparation, Earthquake legislation, Numerical format framing, Risk tolerance, Valence framing
© Emerald Publishing Limited 2017
Language: en |