An Augmented Risk Information Seeking Model: The Case of Global Warming

Abstract

This effort argues for an augmented version of the relatively new Risk Information Seeking and Processing (RISP) Model, and subsequently applies this augmented RISP model specifically to environmental risk information seeking. Nearly 830 randomly selected members of a national panel were surveyed about their attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors regarding seeking information about an environmental risk—global warming. Path analysis suggests the promise of applying an augmented RISP model to environmental risk information seeking (R² = .72 for information seeking intent) and reinforces prior research, which indicated the notable contribution that perceived social pressures may have when individuals seek such information (β = .68, p < .001).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank Sharon Dunwoody, Robert Griffin, Mary Beth Oliver, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Funding for this study came from the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School and the Center for Women's and Gender Studies.

Notes

¹ Note that there are also situations where information avoidance is preferred among some individuals over information seeking (c.f. Brashers, Goldsmith, & Hsieh, 2002; Brashers, Neidig, & Goldsmith, 2004; Case, Andrews, Johnson, & Allard, 2005; Feltwell & Rees, 2004).

² A considerable amount of attention has been paid recently to information processing (c.f. Griffin, Neuwirth, Giese, & Dunwoody, 2002; Johnson, 2005; Kahlor, Dunwoody, Griffin, Neuwirth, & Giese, 2003; Trumbo, 1999, 2002; Trumbo & McComas, 2003).

³ I located two studies (Leichtfuss, 2004; Shevlin & Millar, 2006).

⁴Information seeking has also been explored in the uses and gratifications literature. However, the tendency there is to dichotomize information seeking as passive and active or as instrumental and ritualized. In this current effort which conceptualizes seeking in terms of intensity, it is more useful to consider seeking on a continuum.

⁵ Contributions made to intentions vary across behaviors and situations.

⁶ Griffin et al. (2006) explain that the channel beliefs portion of the model is still exploratory. Two factors have emerged in the research to date (the media distort reality and the media provide useful processing cues); still, the original conceptualization of channel beliefs was broader and included perceived usefulness. Further research needs to be conducted to explore precisely how channel beliefs might fit with attitude toward the behavior, or whether it merits its own place within the model.

⁷ Griffin, Powell et al., (2004) report repeated methodological problems with this concept in the RISP literature. However, the concept has also been problematic in TPB research (Ajzen, 2002a).

⁸ At the time of this study, the data collection site was reviewing its policy concerning “unsolicited” emails and the use of reminder emails was suspended.

⁹ Subsequent to elimination of incomplete cases, the response rate drops to 28%.

¹⁰ Also note how this sample compared to the nation. According to 2004 data released by the U.S. Census Bureau (2005), about 75% of Americans are White (compared to 82% of the sample reported here), the median household income is $44,000 (compared to $55,000), 52% are female (compared to 65%) and 27% have a college degree (compared to 37%).

¹¹ Pew (2006b) data for U.S. Internet users suggest that men and women use the Internet equally (74% vs. 71%). About 73% of Whites are online, compared to 61% of Blacks and 76% of English-speaking Hispanics. For income, 53% earning less than $30,000 are online, compared to 80–86% earning $30,000–$74,999 and 91% earning $75,000 plus. For education, 40% without high school diplomas are online, 64% with diplomas are online, 84% with some college are online, versus 91% with college degrees.

¹² See Kahlor et al. (2006), which focused on the health of the Great Lakes, and Griffin, Powell, Dunwoody et al. (2004), which focused on watershed-related risks.

¹³ According to the EPA, “Global warming is an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns. Global warming can occur from a variety of causes, both natural and human induced. In common usage, ‘global warming’ often refers to the warming that can occur as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities” (U.S. EPA, 2006).

¹⁴ This deviates from standard expectancy-value approaches in many TPB studies.

¹⁵ Because of the sensitivity of the chi-square test of absolute model fit, many researchers turn to other relative fit statistics. This model demonstrated a reasonable error of approximation as indicated by a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of .07 and a p-close statistic of .000, which indicates a close model fit (Browne & Cudeck, 1993). Other relative fit statistics noted in the text demonstrated values over .90, indicative of an acceptable model fit when a significant χ² is detected (Bentler, 1990).

¹⁶Several indirect relationships also surfaced between perceived hazard characteristics and information insufficiency (β = .09, p < .01), attitude toward the behavior and the three seeking intent variables (β ranged from .18 to .19, p < .001), informational subjective norms and the three seeking intent variables (β ranged from .59 to .61, p < .001), and insufficiency and the three intent variables (β all were .08, p < .001)

¹⁷ Anecdotally, since these data were collected, there appears to be more media attention paid to the topic of global warming. Coinciding with, or perhaps driving, this increased attention was the Gulf Coast hurricanes of summer 2005 and the critical acclaim of Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth,” both of which occurred post data collection. A topic for further research is whether this increased coverage may be affecting motivation to seek information about global warming or, more generally, whether prominence in the mass media is a factor in seeking.