Cross‐cultural comparisons between the earthquake preparedness models of Taiwan and New Zealand

Taiwan and New Zealand are both located in the Pacific Rim where 81 per cent of the world's largest earthquakes occur. Effective programmes for increasing people's preparedness for these hazards are essential. This paper tests the applicability of the community engagement theory of hazard preparedness in two distinct cultural contexts. Structural equation modelling analysis provides support for this theory. The paper suggests that the close fit between theory and data that is achieved by excluding trust supports the theoretical prediction that familiarity with a hazard negates the need to trust external sources. The results demonstrate that the hazard preparedness theory is applicable to communities that have previously experienced earthquakes and are therefore familiar with the associated hazards and the need for earthquake preparedness. The paper also argues that cross‐cultural comparisons provide opportunities for collaborative research and learning as well as access to a wider range of potential earthquake risk management strategies.     

Food, Consumer Concerns, and Trust: Food Ethics for a Globalizing Market

The use of biotechnology in food productiongives rise to consumer concerns. The term ``consumerconcern' is often used as a container notion. Itincludes concerns about food safety, environmental andanimal welfare consequences of food productionsystems, and intrinsic moral objections againstgenetic modification. In order to create clarity adistinction between three different kinds of consumerconcern is proposed. Consumer concerns can be seen assigns of loss of trust. Maintaining consumer trustasks for governmental action. Towards consumerconcerns, governments seem to have limitedpossibilities for public policy. Under current WTOregulations designed to prevent trade disputes,governments can only limit their policies to 1) safetyregulation based upon sound scientific evidence and 2)the stimulation of a system of product labeling. Ananalysis of trust, however, can show that ifgovernments limit their efforts in this way, they willnot do enough to avoid the types of consumer concernsthat diminish trust. The establishment of a technicalbody for food safety – although perhaps necessary –is in itself not enough, because concerns that relatedirectly to food safety cannot be solved by ``pure'science alone. And labeling can only be a good way totake consumer concerns seriously if these concerns arerelated to consumer autonomy. For consumer concernsthat are linked to ideas about a good society,labeling can only provide a solution if it is seen asan addition to political action rather than as itssubstitution. Labeling can help consumers take uptheir political responsibility. As citizens, consumershave certain reasonable concerns that can justifiableinfluence the market. In a free-market society, theyare, as buyers, co-creators of the market, andsocietal steering is partly done by the market.Therefore, they need the information to co-create thatmarket. The basis of labeling in these cases, however,is not the good life of the individual but thepolitical responsibility people have in their role asparticipants in a free-market. Then, public concernsare taken seriously. Labeling in that case does nottake away the possibilities of reaching politicalgoals, but it adds a possibility.     

Local impacts of US nuclear weapons facilities: a survey of planners

This research examines the perceptions of planners in communities around the largest US Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons sites. Surveys and interviews revealed that planners are often unclear about DOE intentions, concerned about jobs and environmental contamination, and desire more involvement with future site use decisions. Planners' ratings of residents' trust of the DOE were also low, and low trust was most strongly associated with places where local officials have not been invited to future use meetings. Recommendations include improving coordination of on-site planning with local land use plans and increasing trust with a Federal-local government partnership that recognizes local concerns about the clean-up, closure and disposition of the sites.     

地方依恋有助于提高农户村庄环境治理参与意愿吗?——基于湖北省调查数据的分析

在农村社会转型背景下,从人地关系视角探讨农户地方依恋对其村庄环境治理参与意愿的影响,对剖析农村环境治理难题意义重大。以湖北省为例,利用1074份农户微观调查数据,从环境心理学视角下的人地关系出发,探讨了地方依恋对农户村庄环境治理参与意愿的影响,并进一步运用工具变量法(IV-Oprobit)进行内生性处理与稳健性检验。结果表明:①农户地方依恋水平整体一般,通过提高农户对村庄的依恋水平,可显著提升其村庄环境治理参与意愿。具体而言,农户地方依恋水平每提高1个单位,可使其环境治理“非常愿意”参与的概率提升35.51%。②社会信任在地方依恋对农户村庄环境治理参与意愿影响中发挥显著的调节和中介作用。一方面,地方依恋对农户村庄环境治理参与意愿的影响会随着农户社会信任水平的提高而不断增强;另一方面,地方依恋能够显著增强农户社会信任水平,从而提升其村庄环境治理参与意愿,即社会信任是地方依恋影响农户村庄环境治理参与意愿的重要传导中介,中介效应占总效应的比重为23.37%。③代际差异分析表明,在新生代和老一代农民群体中,地方依恋对其村庄环境治理参与意愿影响均显著。此外,性别、环保意识和环保态度等对农户村庄环境治理参与意愿也产生显著影响。据此,应加强村庄基础设施和文化建设等,不断增强农户的村庄认同感和依恋感,进而在美丽乡村建设中提升农户村庄环境治理参与水平。     

How certain can we really be that our boss is trustworthy,and does it matter? A metacognitive perspective on employee evaluations of supervisor trustworthiness

This research helps to integrate the metacognitive concept of evaluation certainty into the trust literature by demonstrating that certainty can amplify the effects of trustworthiness evaluations and stabilize trustworthiness evaluations over time. Across an experimental study (Study 1) and a multiwave survey of employees (Study 2), we show that trustworthiness evaluations exert a stronger influence on individuals' trust at higher levels of certainty and that trust transmits the multiplicative effects of trustworthiness evaluations and certainty on key indicators of employee risk-taking including reliance and disclosure behavior. Further, in Study 2, we show that certainty can help predict change in trustworthiness evaluations over time. Finally, in a two-wave field survey (Study 3), we examine factors that influence evaluation certainty and show that relational transparency and leader prototypicality (LP) have interactive effects on employees' certainty such that the influence of relational transparency on certainty will be more positive at higher levels of LP. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

社会信任、合作能力与农户参与小农水供给行为——基于黄河灌区五省数据的验证

在政府主管的小农水供给模式无法完全满足农业分户经营的需要的现实背景下,农户参与供给是实现小农水供需平衡的有效方式。本文利用黄河灌区宁夏、内蒙古、陕西、河南和山东五个省份1558户微观农户数据,引入农户社会信任和合作能力因子,考虑农户农业收入水平和所处省份差异,采用多群组结构方程模型,探究农户参与小农水供给的行为。首先,运用信度和效度检验对农户参与小农水供给行为量表进行了分析。在此基础上,运用多群组结构方程模型,以农户农业收入水平和所处省份为调节变量,分析农户社会信任和合作能力对其参与小农水供给行为的影响。研究结果表明:农户的社会信任和合作能力显著正向影响农户参与小农水供给的意愿,其中农户的合作能力影响程度较大,农户的社会信任影响程度次之;农户的社会信任、合作能力和参与供给意愿对其参与小农水供给行为有显著正向影响,且影响程度最大的是农户的参与供给意愿,其次是农户的合作能力,最后为农户的社会信任;农户的社会信任对其合作能力有显著正向影响。多群组分析表明,农户的农业收入水平及其所处省份显著调节农户参与小农水的供给行为。其中,农业收入作为调节变量结果显示,农业收入高的农户参与小农水供给的意愿更强烈,参与供给行为水平更高;产生参与供给意愿后,农业收入中等偏上和中等偏下的农户更容易将意愿转化为行为。省份作为调节变量的结果显示,陕西、河南和山东农户的社会信任和合作能力对其参与小农水供给意愿的影响较大,河南和山东农户更容易将参与供给意愿转化为行为;宁夏和内蒙古农户的合作能力对其参与供给行为影响程度较大。根据以上结果,政府应根据不同地区农户的收入水平、社会信任和合作能力等实际情况,充分调动本地的社会资源,引导农户认识到参与小农水供给的重要性和迫切性,提高农户参与小农水供给的意愿和行为水平,促进小农水供需平衡的实现。     

Knowledge,agency and collective action as barriers to energy-saving behaviour

Energy saving is becoming a rising priority as a response to climate change and fossil fuel depletion in recent years. However, despite energy-related behaviour change being an important part of many environmental education initiatives, “energy literacy” among citizens remains patchy in both the USA and the UK, with evidence of strong positive attitudes but less consistent knowledge. Whilst it is clear that increasing knowledge does not automatically produce behaviour changes, potential questions must be asked about the logic of focusing solely on behaviour without simultaneously exploring and enhancing understanding of energy issues. This research, undertaken at a higher education institution with a strong focus on sustainability, illustrates the potential risks of targeting behaviour change and individual action at the expense of increasing knowledge, or encouraging collaborative and democratic endeavours. Results from an online survey indicate widespread misconceptions about energy which may reduce the effectiveness of energy-saving behaviours, alongside variable levels of motivation and engagement with energy issues. Respondents report a strong belief in the efficacy of personal changes, yet uncertainty about their capacity to influence business and government alongside a persistent faith in science to provide solutions to energy issues. The paper concludes by reflecting on the challenges arising from these findings for understanding agency and effectiveness in energy relationships.     

More than money: how multiple factors influence householder participation in at-source stormwater management

Urban stormwater run-off is a threat to stream ecosystems. New approaches to stormwater management aim to protect urban streams from such impacts, by retaining, treating and using stormwater at its source. As up to ～50% of runoff from urban surfaces comes from private property, fostering stormwater retention requires effective householder engagement. We evaluated householder participation in the Little Stringybark Creek project, a stormwater retrofit programme aimed at waterway protection, using qualitative enquiry through formal and informal interviews to identify factors that influenced participation. Participation was governed by multiple factors, with financial incentives and personal co-benefits of tanks primary motivators, while process complexity and distrust were primary barriers. Results suggest an approach combining education to encourage review of subjective norms and attitudes, with incentives to mitigate behavioural controls can transform public behaviour towards sustainable stormwater management.     

Constraints of philanthropy on determining the distribution of biodiversity conservation funding

Caught between ongoing habitat destruction and funding shortfalls, conservation organizations are using systematic planning approaches to identify places that offer the highest biodiversity return per dollar invested. However, available tools do not account for the landscape of funding for conservation or quantify the constraints this landscape imposes on conservation outcomes. Using state‐level data on philanthropic giving to and investments in land conservation by a large nonprofit organization, we applied linear regression to evaluate whether the spatial distribution of conservation philanthropy better explained expenditures on conservation than maps of biodiversity priorities, which were derived from a planning process internal to the organization and return on investment (ROI) analyses based on data on species richness, land costs, and existing protected areas. Philanthropic fund raising accounted for considerably more spatial variation in conservation spending (r² = 0.64) than either of the 2 systematic conservation planning approaches (r² = 0.08–0.21). We used results of one of the ROI analyses to evaluate whether increases in flexibility to reallocate funding across space provides conservation gains. Small but plausible “tax” increments of 1–10% on states redistributed to the optimal funding allocation from the ROI analysis could result in gains in endemic species protected of 8.5–80.2%. When such increases in spatial flexibility are not possible, conservation organizations should seek to cultivate increased support for conservation in priority locations. We used lagged correlations of giving to and spending by the organization to evaluate whether investments in habitat protection stimulate future giving to conservation. The most common outcome at the state level was that conservation spending quarters correlated significantly and positively with lagged fund raising quarters. In effect, periods of high fund raising for biodiversity followed (rather than preceded) periods of high expenditure on land conservation projects, identifying one mechanism conservation organizations could explore to seed greater activity in priority locations. Our results demonstrate how limitations on the ability of conservation organizations to reallocate their funding across space can impede organizational effectiveness and elucidate ways conservation planning tools could be more useful if they quantified and incorporated these constraints.     

社会减灾能力信任及水灾风险感知的区域对比——基于江西九江和宜春公众的调查

研究公众对社会减灾能力及灾害风险的认识，有助于从公众视角揭示风险潜在因素，不仅是进行风险沟通的必备环节，还可以为开展有效的减灾宣传教育、提高公众减灾意识提供决策依据。通过社会调查（221份样本）和统计分析方法，比较了江西九江、宜春公众对于社会减灾能力的信任及水灾风险感知。结果表明，公众对于社会减灾能力基本持信任态度，信任度高低排序为：灾害监测预报>政府应急>防灾工程>预警传播，其中宜春公众的信任度较高；公众对于水灾的风险感知较弱，尤其是宜春公众认为水灾发生、受灾的可能性很小；公众的信任与对区域减灾能力的了解无关，主要是受到受灾经历（受灾次数、灾情损失、灾后救援）的影响，即区域本底灾害风险的高低导致公众认知的差异，风险较高区域（九江）的公众具有更为明确的降低风险的行为倾向及意愿。