Why People Do What They Do to Protect Against Earthquake Risk: Perceptions of Hazard Adjustment Attributes

This study examined respondents' self-reported adoption of 16 hazard adjustments (preimpact actions to reduce danger to persons and property), their perceptions of those adjustments' attributes, and the correlations of those perceived attributes with respondents' demographic characteristics. The sample comprised 561 randomly selected residents from three cities in Southern California prone to high seismic risk and three cities from Western Washington prone to moderate seismic risks. The results show that the hazard adjustment perceptions were defined by hazard-related attributes and resource-related attributes. More significantly, the respondents had a significant degree of consensus in their ratings of those attributes and used them to differentiate among the hazard adjustments, as indicated by statistically significant differences among the hazard adjustment profiles. Finally, there were many significant correlations between respondents' demographic characteristics and the perceived characteristics of hazard adjustments, but there were few consistent patterns among these correlations.     

Households' Perceived Personal Risk and Responses in a Multihazard Environment

This study proposed and tested a multistage model of household response to three hazards—flood, hurricane, and toxic chemical release—in Harris County Texas. The model, which extends Lindell and Perry's (1992, 2004) Protective Action Decision Model, proposed a basic causal chain from hazard proximity through hazard experience and perceived personal risk to expectations of continued residence in the home and adoption of household hazard adjustments. Data from 321 households generally supported the model, but the mediating effects of hazard experience and perceived personal risk were partial rather than complete. In addition, the data suggested that four demographic variables—gender, age, income, and ethnicity—affect the basic causal chain at different points.     

The influence of mapped hazards on risk beliefs: a proximity-based modeling approach

Interview findings suggest perceived proximity to mapped hazards influences risk beliefs when people view environmental hazard maps. For dot maps, four attributes of mapped hazards influenced beliefs: hazard value, proximity, prevalence, and dot patterns. In order to quantify the collective influence of these attributes for viewers’ perceived or actual map locations, we present a model to estimate proximity‐based hazard or risk (PBH) and share study results that indicate how modeled PBH and map attributes influenced risk beliefs. The randomized survey study among 447 university students assessed risk beliefs for 24 dot maps that systematically varied by the four attributes. Maps depicted water test results for a fictitious hazardous substance in private residential wells and included a designated “you live here” location. Of the nine variables that assessed risk beliefs, the numerical susceptibility variable was most consistently and strongly related to map attributes and PBH. Hazard value, location in or out of a clustered dot pattern, and distance had the largest effects on susceptibility. Sometimes, hazard value interacted with other attributes, for example, distance had stronger effects on susceptibility for larger than smaller hazard values. For all combined maps, PBH explained about the same amount of variance in susceptibility as did attributes. Modeled PBH may have utility for studying the influence of proximity to mapped hazards on risk beliefs, protective behavior, and other dependent variables. Further work is needed to examine these influences for more realistic maps and representative study samples.     

Earthquake Beliefs and Adoption of Seismic Hazard Adjustments

This study investigated the prevalence of both accurate and erroneous earthquake-related beliefs among a sample of Southern California college students and the relationship between their endorsement of earthquake beliefs and adoption of seismic hazard adjustments. In addition, the study examined the effects of an experimental earthquake education program and the impact of need for cognition on this program. The data revealed a significant degree of agreement with earthquake myths, a generally low level of correlation between earthquake beliefs and the level of hazard adjustments, and a significant effect of hazard information on the endorsement of accurate earthquake beliefs and increases in hazard adjustment. Compared with the "Earthquake Facts (Only)" format, an "Earthquake Myths versus Facts" format was slightly more useful for dispelling erroneous beliefs. Further, there was a tendency for those who were high in need for cognition to have higher levels of hazard adjustment. Finally, there was weak support for the hypothesis that those who were low in need for cognition would develop more accurate earthquake beliefs and higher levels of hazard adjustment in the "Earthquake Myths versus Facts" information condition.     

感知价值和个人特质对用户移动购物采纳意图的影响研究

从消费者感知价值和自我效能感的角度,以基于价值的采纳模型和技术接受模型为理论基础,通过调研问卷方法研究影响消费者移动购物意图的若干关键因素.结果表明,用户对于移动购物的感知有用性和自我效能感影响了感知价值,并与感知价值一起影响采纳意图.所提出的移动购物采纳模型解释度较高,对用户采纳意图给出了技术特性视角和个人特质视角的比较全面的解释,并结合研究结果对移动购物的发展提出了具体的建议.     

Florida Households’ Expected Responses to Hurricane Hazard Mitigation Incentives

This study tested a series of models predicting household expectations of participating in hurricane hazard mitigation incentive programs. Data from 599 households in Florida revealed that mitigation incentive adoption expectations were most strongly and consistently related to hazard intrusiveness and risk perception and, to a lesser extent, worry. Demographic and hazard exposure had indirect effects on mitigation incentive adoption expectations that were mediated by the psychological variables. The results also revealed differences in the factors affecting mitigation incentive adoption expectations for each of five specific incentive programs. Overall, the results suggest that hazard managers are more likely to increase participation in mitigation incentive programs if they provide messages that repeatedly (thus increasing hazard intrusiveness) remind people of the likelihood of severe negative consequences of hurricane impact (thus increasing risk perception).     

The Effect of Perceived Novelty on the Adoption of Information Technology Innovations: A Risk/Reward Perspective

A fundamental characteristic of any innovation is its novelty, the newness or freshness of the innovation in the eyes of the adopter. Past research has often considered novelty to be inherent to an information technology (IT) innovation, yet it is also likely that perceptions of novelty differ widely across individuals. Nevertheless, the role that the novelty of an IT innovation plays in adoption is not well understood. The primary goal of this research effort is to frame the perceived novelty of an IT innovation as a salient affective belief in the nomological network related to adoption. Further, we examine how perceived novelty influences the way individuals reconcile their perceptions of risk versus reward when considering the adoption of an IT innovation. Two empirical studies with 424 and 138 participants, respectively, examine the effect of perceived novelty on IT innovations from a risk/reward perspective. Results indicate that perceived novelty is a salient affective belief that plays a significant role in the adoption of IT innovations. Implications for both theory and organizational decision making are examined.     

Adoption of WAP-enabled mobile phones among Internet users

This paper examines the attitudinal, social and perceived behavior control factors that are associated with the adoption of WAP-enabled mobile phones among Internet users. An online questionnaire is used to gather data. The results show that attitudinal and social factors rather than perceived behavioral control factors play a significant role in influencing intentions to adopt a WAP-enabled mobile phone. In particular, perceptions of relative advantage, risk, and image are found to influence adoption intentions. In addition, reference groups too play an important role in shaping adoption intentions. Implications of results and directions for future research are examined.     

The Protective Action Decision Model: Theoretical Modifications and Additional Evidence

The Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) is a multistage model that is based on findings from research on people's responses to environmental hazards and disasters. The PADM integrates the processing of information derived from social and environmental cues with messages that social sources transmit through communication channels to those at risk. The PADM identifies three critical predecision processes (reception, attention, and comprehension of warnings or exposure, attention, and interpretation of environmental/social cues)—that precede all further processing. The revised model identifies three core perceptions—threat perceptions, protective action perceptions, and stakeholder perceptions—that form the basis for decisions about how to respond to an imminent or long‐term threat. The outcome of the protective action decision‐making process, together with situational facilitators and impediments, produces a behavioral response. In addition to describing the revised model and the research on which it is based, this article describes three applications (development of risk communication programs, evacuation modeling, and adoption of long‐term hazard adjustments) and identifies some of the research needed to address unresolved issues.     

移动支付服务初始采纳模型及其实证研究

基于中国移动商务情景,从社会影响、个体特征和技术属性的整体视角对移动支付用户初始采纳行为进行了实证研究.采用结构方程模型对收集的240份初始采纳样本进行分析发现,技术属性视角的2个正效用(相对优势和兼容性)对采纳意愿存在正向影响,2个负效用(感知风险和感知成本)对采纳意愿存在负向影响;个体特征视角的个体创新对初始采纳意愿施加了直接和间接的双重正向影响;社会影响视角的主观规范和形象对初始采纳意愿存在直接和间接的双重正向影响.     

Hazards Education for Youth: A Quasi-Experimental Investigation

No experimental research has examined the hypothesized benefits of hazards education programs for youth in helping to increase community resilience. This preliminary study followed on from correlational studies and examined the role these programs play in helping increase child and family problem- and emotion-focused coping. Children (n= 219) were randomly assigned, based on classroom, to a condition. The "usual condition" consisted of a reading and discussion program. The "emergency management" condition consisted of the usual condition combined with emergency-management-focused teaching and increased interaction between youth and home. Factors assessed included both problem- and emotion-focused factors: knowledge of mitigation and emergency response activities, family and home hazard adjustments, hazard-related fears, emotion-focused coping ability, and perceptions of parents' hazard-related fears. Overall, the results supported the role for hazards education programs in increasing resilience in youth and at home. In particular, large intervention produced effect sizes were seen for both child- and parent-reported hazard adjustments. Significant interactions provided additional support for the role of an emergency management focus in the problem-focused areas of (1) both child- and parent-reported hazard adjustments and (2) increased hazards-based knowledge in the youth. These initial findings provide a continuing foundation for further research in this emerging area. Discussion considers the role for such programs in the future.     

Adopters and non-adopters of e-procurement in Singapore: An empirical study

This study examines various factors associated with the adoption of e-procurement. A survey questionnaire was administered to collect data from 141 companies in Singapore. Using logistic regression analysis, we found that firm size, top management support, perceived indirect benefits, and business partner influence are positively and significantly associated with the adoption of e-procurement. Further, industry type does not show any relationship with e-procurement adoption. Implications of our results are discussed.     

Perception of Hazards: The Role of Social Trust and Knowledge

Recent research indicates that social trust of those who manage a hazard is strongly correlated to judgments about the hazard's risk and benefits. The present study investigates the more specific question of “For which hazards is this?” It was postulated that when an individual lacks knowledge about a hazard, social trust of authorities managing the hazard determines perceived risks and benefits. On the other hand, when an individual has personal knowledge about a hazard and therefore does not need to rely on managing authorities, social trust is unrelated to judged risks and benefits. Participants (N = 91) assessed risks, benefits, and trust in managing authorities and personal knowledge associated with 25 hazardous technologies and activities. As expected, strong correlations between social trust and judged risks and benefits were observed for hazards about which people did not possess much knowledge. No significant correlations between social trust and judged risks and benefits were found for hazards about which people were knowledgeable. Results suggest that the lay public relies on social trust when making judgments of risks and benefits when personal knowledge about a hazard is lacking. Replicating findings of other studies, the present study also found negative correlations between perceived risks and perceived benefits. When social trust was controlled for, correlations between perceived risks and benefits diminished. Implications of the results for risk management are discussed.     

Correlates of Hazard Education Programs for Youth

Virtually no research has examined the hypothesized benefits of hazard education programs for youth in helping to increase community resilience. This exploratory study examined the role of these programs in helping to increase child and family resilience to a range of future hazards. Various aspects of hazards programs were examined in relation to a wide range of child- and parent-reported hazard adjustments in a sample of 560 schoolchildren. Additional factors assessed included childrens' risk perceptions, knowledge of response-related protective activities, and hazard-related emotional factors. Overall, the results supported the role of hazards education programs in increasing hazard adjustments in the home. The findings also supported various aspects of education program involvement as being related to more realistic risk perceptions, increased knowledge, and increased interaction with caregivers. Analyses identified the following features of these programs as being particularly important: provision of specific knowledge (e.g., an emergency management perspective); multiple program involvement over time; and, importantly, promotion of increased interaction between children and parents. Overall, findings supported the idea that hazards education programs for youth provide one gateway through which communities can increase their resilience to the effects of a major hazardous event. Findings also provided an initial foundation for further research in this emerging area.     

Risk Perception,Experience, and Objective Risk: A Cross‐National Study with European Emergency Survivors

Understanding public risk perceptions and their underlying processes is important in order to learn more about the way people interpret and respond to hazardous emergency events. Direct experience with an involuntary hazard has been found to heighten the perceived risk of experiencing the same hazard and its consequences in the future, but it remains unclear if cross‐over effects are possible (i.e., experience with one hazard influencing perceived risk for other hazards also). Furthermore, the impact of objective risk and country of residence on perceived risk is not well understood. As part of the BeSeCu (Behavior, Security, and Culture) Project, a sample of 1,045 survivors of emergencies from seven European countries (i.e., Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Turkey, and Italy) was drawn. Results revealed heightened perceived risk for emergency events (i.e., domestic and public fires, earthquakes, floods, and terrorist attacks) when the event had been experienced previously plus some evidence of cross‐over effects, although these effects were not so strong. The largest country differences in perceived risk were observed for earthquakes, but this effect was significantly reduced by taking into account the objective earthquake risk. For fires, floods, terrorist attacks, and traffic accidents, only small country differences in perceived risk were found. Further studies including a larger number of countries are welcomed.     

Demographic and Attitudinal Correlates of Employee Satisfaction with an ESOP

A firm's adoption of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) has been hypothesized to increase employee productivity. Resulting employee productivity is hypothesized to improve firm profitability and thus ultimately improve stock performance. Most studies to date have tested potential relationships between the mere presence of an ESOP and changes in employee productivity and firm profitability. Few studies have attempted to identify the variables that are associated with employee satisfaction with an ESOP. In order to maximize the productivity gains associated with the adoption of an ESOP, researchers must first identify the relationships and variables most likely to positively affect employee attitudes and subsequently their satisfaction toward an ESOP. The purpose of this paper is to identify the demographic and attitudinal correlates of employee satisfaction with an ESOP. This exploration will provide a more substantive foundation for future research efforts in the area. Correlation and regression results indicated that employees' perceived influence on decision-making, perceived pay equity and perceived influence on stock performance, when examined separately, were each significant correlates of ESOP satisfaction. When combined with the modelled employee demographics in a step-wise regression model, only employees' perceived influence on stock performance, perceived influence on decision-making and age explained a statistically significant amount of variance in ESOP satisfaction.     

Modelling the factors that influence the acceptance of digital technologies in e-government services in the UAE: a PLS-SEM Approach

Abstract

The digital technologies such as Internet play a crucial role in the management of operations of organisations in both public and private sectors. Such technologies support the implementation of effective digital business strategies. By reviewing the extant literature, this paper aims to identify factors that influence the intention to use digital technologies in order to develop a theoretical model which is then tested empirically using the PLS-SEM approach. While many studies have focused solely on the importance of social influence, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, awareness, perceived trust in technology, perceived trust in government, perceived cost and perceived risk, this article brings them together to explain their linkage, and quantifies the relationship. This study is the first empirical attempt to explore the factors influence e-government services adoption in the UAE. Most specifically, this article emphasises the role of social influence, perceived ease to use and perceived trust in technology as the important determinants of the intention to digital technology adoption. The paper expands the traditional discussion by incorporating six variables in a model that acts as facilitator or barrier in the intention to use digital technologies. This article helps practitioners to understand of which factors should be given emphasis in enhancing the intention to use digital technologies. The model developed in this paper is not only a response to the need to understand what causes the variation in the intention to use digital technologies from the operation management perspective, it is also a response to practitioner needs to use an appropriate construct to ensure the effective operation and use of the digital technologies in e-government services. The paper will help to identify the key issues surrounding the digital technologies adoption that may lead the successful operations of e-government.     

Technology Acceptance Model 3 and a Research Agenda on Interventions

Prior research has provided valuable insights into how and why employees make a decision about the adoption and use of information technologies (ITs) in the workplace. From an organizational point of view, however, the more important issue is how managers make informed decisions about interventions that can lead to greater acceptance and effective utilization of IT. There is limited research in the IT implementation literature that deals with the role of interventions to aid such managerial decision making. Particularly, there is a need to understand how various interventions can influence the known determinants of IT adoption and use. To address this gap in the literature, we draw from the vast body of research on the technology acceptance model (TAM), particularly the work on the determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and: (i) develop a comprehensive nomological network (integrated model) of the determinants of individual level (IT) adoption and use; (ii) empirically test the proposed integrated model; and (iii) present a research agenda focused on potential pre‐ and postimplementation interventions that can enhance employees' adoption and use of IT. Our findings and research agenda have important implications for managerial decision making on IT implementation in organizations.     

基于广义随机Petri网的重大传染病传播演化模型研究

本文采用多案例分析方法提取重大传染病疫情事件的属性,从"事件类型、关键属性、从属属性、环境属性和危害评估属性"对其进行结构化描述。在此基础上,分析重大传染病疫情发展演化事件链中关联事件的相关属性,利用基于广义随机Petri网的建模分析方法,根据广义随机Petri网与马尔科夫链的同构关系,得到重大传染病传播演化的广义Petri网模型和等价马尔科夫链模型。最后,通过马尔科夫链及相关数学方法分析其中的均衡状态及其变动规律,并对系统评估和改进提出建议,可为有效监控和应对疫情发展提供有力决策支持。     

The Impact of Performance Audit on Public Sector Organizations: The Case of Estonia

The results of a survey of 118 Estonian public officials show that auditees can perceive performance audit to be useful even if it does not lead to specific changes in policies or organizational practices. No trade-off between the accountability and improvement functions of performance audit could be observed, though a surprisingly low percentage of the respondents considered performance audit to have been used to hold the audited organization accountable for their actions. While the factors internal to the audit process – including the perceived expertise of the auditors, their openness to dialogue with the auditees and the quality of audit report – influenced the perceived usefulness of the audit, they had less bearing on the adoption of changes by the audited organizations. The study indicates that when parliamentarians pay attention to performance audit and when media attention leads to political debate, the adoption of changes recommended by the performance audit report is more likely.