Understanding threat appraisal and protective action concerning forest fires in low-exposure regions: an application of the protective action decision model

Stephanie Moser, Norman Kearney, Fabian Michel, Karsten Valerius and Karina Liechti

Journal of Risk Research, 2024, vol. 27, issue 10, 1248-1272

Abstract: Progressing climate change and escalating global warming are increasing the danger of forest fires. Unlike regions with a history of forest fires and recurrent periods of elevated fire danger, areas north of the European Alps have had limited exposure to this hazard. As a result, residents have little experience, knowledge, or awareness of protective behaviours during high-danger periods and in forest fire prevention. This study aimed to enhance our understanding of the factors influencing threat appraisal and protective behaviours related to forest fire prevention among recreational forest visitors in low-exposure regions. Informed by the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), we conducted a standardized online survey involving 809 Swiss residents from two areas: one experiencing minimal forest fire incidents north of the Alps and one in an intra-Alpine valley with a history of forest fires. Our findings indicate that social cues (descriptive and injunctive social norms) have a greater effect on danger assessments and behaviour intentions than environmental cues, and that incongruent descriptive social norms reduce the effect of injunctive social norms. Environmental cues (dryness of the surroundings) had an ambiguous effect, suggesting that the dryness signals were either misinterpreted or deemed less significant. Our results also showed that protective behaviours are based on expected frequency of occurrence of future events, expected severity of damage to the forest, and emotional responses (worries) rather than expected personal damage, and are reduced by expected costs of seeking information and of not having a (controlled) outdoor fire. Our findings underscore the importance of better understanding the interplay between environmental and social cues and emphasize the potential of highlighting the broader implications of forest fires in terms of damage to the forest. They provide first starting points for prevention communication strategies in areas whose exposure to date has been low.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13669877.2024.2447256 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jriskr:v:27:y:2024:i:10:p:1248-1272

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RJRR20

DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2024.2447256

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Risk Research is currently edited by Bryan MacGregor

More articles in Journal of Risk Research from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().