How Government Trust Influences Perception of Flood Hazard Risk:
Experimental Evidences in China
INTRODUCTION
Floods are a very destructive natural disaster (Kellens, Terpstra,
Schelfaut, & De Maeyer, 2013). Risk perception refers to people’s
subjective estimation of the likelihood and dread (Slovic, 1987). As
people sometimes do not take suggestions made by the government because
of their misperception of floods risk (Bradford et al., 2012),
clarifying the complex relationship between government trust and risk
perception is becoming increasingly vital to increase the efficiency of
risk communication (O’Sullivan et al., 2012).
Trust—which stems from people’s judgments concerning an authority’s
propensity to be open and honest—serves to reduce people’s perception
of the complexity and uncertainty of a situation (White & Johnson,
2010). Trust is a mechanism for the reduction of complexity, it enables
people to maintain their capacity to act in a complex environment
(Siegrist, 2021). Trust is essential for a better understanding of
people’s risk perceptions. Trust allows people to adapt to various
hazards they face in society and react in a rational way (Siegrist &
Cvetkovich, 2000; Viklund, 2003; Welch et al., 2005). Terpstra (2011)
noted that trust and affect share similarities—both constructs reduce
the complexity of risk judgment and consequently serve as “quick”
guides for assessing risks. In the past decades, the relationship
between trust and risk perception has received great attention (e.g.,
Freudenburg, 1993; Nakayachi & Cvetkovich, 2010; Siegrist, Luchsinger,
& Bearth, 2021). Frewer, Howard, Hedderley, & Shepherd, 1996; Shi,
Visschers, & Siegrist, 2015).
Trust in government indicates people’s satisfaction with specific public
services, citizens’ trust in government plays a pivotal role in
improving government work and consolidating public legitimacy
(Christensen & Laegreid, 2005). Trust in government has more
significant effect on physical health and social relationship (Liang,
2016). government and social trust play indispensable roles in shaping
risk perceptions, trust in central government leads to lower risks
perceptions (Ma & Christensen, 2019). People with higher degrees of
trust in government perceive lower consequences of potential earthquakes
and tend to prepare less (Han et al., 2016).
However, the importance of trust has often been questioned (Siegrist,
2021; Sjöberg, 2001; Vainio et al., 2017; Viklund, 2003). Some
researchers found that trust will decrease risk perception (Tumlison,
Moyer, & Song, 2017; Vainio, Paloniemi, & Varho, 2017). While, some
researchers argue that a weak correlation exists between trust and risk
perception (Lin, Shaw, & Ho, 2008; Sjöberg, 2001). Moreover, previous
research has not clarified the relationship between trust and risk
perception that is whether trust causally influences risk perception is
not clear (Siegrist, 2021). Eiser et al.(2002) insist that trust does
not causally influence risk perception, and both variables are
simultaneously influenced by people’s attitudes. To examine the role of
trust, we designed three studies to examine how people’s trust in
government influences how they process information and subsequently
perceive risk.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES