Structure of meaning and sense-making of risk: an operationalisation of sense-making tested by grouping individuals according to their structure of meaning

Erika Wall

Journal of Risk Research, 2011, vol. 14, issue 6, 735-755

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to refine the theory of individuals' sense-making of risk as a product of structure of meaning, and subsequently to test the theory empirically by identifying coherent groups of individuals by means of an operationalisation of each individual's structure of meaning. To this end, a two-step cluster analysis was conducted on a random selection of the Swedish population ( N = 778) aged between 16 and 75 that resulted in three groups of individuals: the 'locally rooted', the 'globally minded' and 'the cosmopolitan'. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was then used in a simple test of the viability of the operationalisation. The analysis shows that the three groups of individuals differ in their behavioural patterns in the face of various everyday risks. The article's principal contribution is the development of the theory of the structure of meaning's role in how individuals sense-make risk. Furthermore, with the analysis and testing inherent in operationalisation, the study is an empirical contribution to the field. In future, the structure of meaning would bear closer study, and the operationalisation should be further refined to create a more sensitive gauge of sense-making and its connection with the behavioural patterns associated with various risks.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2011.571772

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