Face coverings during the pandemic?

The Health Belief Model (HBM), a value-expectancy model, is a leading framework in health behavior and communication research. The model is intended to inform targeted communication strategies that promote positive health behaviors. Individual beliefs associated with health risks such as perceived susceptibility and perceived severity are often incorporated into HBM as predictors of health behavior.

Cultural Values, Trust, and Benefit-Risk Perceptions of Hydraulic Fracturing: A Comparative Analysis of Policy Elites and the General Public.

Hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") has recently become a very intensely debated process for extracting oil and gas. Supporters argue that fracking provides positive economic benefits and energy security and offers a decreased reliance on coal-based electricity generation. Detractors claim that the fracking process may harm the environment as well as place a strain on local communities that experience new fracking operations.

Bureaucratic Accountability and Disaster Response: Why Did the Korea Coast Guard Fail in Its Rescue Mission During the Ferry Accident?

The Sewol ferry accident, occurring in the ocean in South Korea on April 16, 2014, resulted in the loss of 304 lives. Some argue that one of the primary reasons for such an excessive death toll was because the post-disaster rescue operations led by the Korea Coast Guard (KCG) were neither timely nor efficient and effective. In this study, we attempt to understand whether there was any systemic cause behind such an unsuccessful disaster response on the part of the KCG.

The Origin and Role of Trust in Local Policy Elites' Perceptions of High-Voltage Power Line Installations in the State of Arkansas.

The debate over an installation of high-voltage power lines (HVPLs) has been intense, particularly in northwest Arkansas. Detractors claim that the installation will negatively affect both the natural environment and the local economy, which contains a large tourism component. By contrast, those in favor of installing HVPLs claim that the installation is necessary in order to reliably support the increasing demand for electric power.

Understanding Local Policy Elites' Perceptions on the Benefits and Risks Associated with High-Voltage Power Line Installations in the State of Arkansas.

Recently, a controversial policy debate has arisen concerning the installation of high-voltage power lines in northwest Arkansas. While proponents argue that such an installation is inevitable to efficiently and reliably support the identified electric load in the region, opponents claim that the lines will degrade the natural environment and hamper the tourism-based local economy in affected regions, notably in Ozark Mountain areas. Of particular interest is to understand how local policy elites perceive the benefits and risks associated with such divisive proposals, which is critical for comprehending the formation and changes of related government policies.

Understanding public perceptions of benefits and risks of childhood vaccinations in the United States.

In the face of a growing public health concern accompanying the reemerging threat of preventable diseases, this research seeks mainly to explain variations in the perceived benefits and risks of vaccinations among the general public in the United States. As Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky's grid-group cultural theory of risk perception claims, the analytical results based upon original data from a nationwide Internet survey of 1,213 American adults conducted in 2010 suggest that individuals' cultural predispositions contribute to the formation of their perceptions pertaining to vaccine benefits and risks at both societal and individual levels, in conjunction with other factors suggested by previous risk perception literature, such as perceived prevalence of diseases, trust, knowledge level, and demographic characteristics. Those with a strong hierarch orientation tend to envision greater benefits and lesser risks and conceive of a relatively high ratio of benefit to risk when compared to other cultural types.