The Impact of Cultural Biases and Self-Construals on Risk Perception

• In Event: Risk Communication and Perception

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how risk perception and attribution of responsibility of Korean people are influenced by sociocultural (cultural biases) and self-interpretive (self-construal) perspective. From the sociocultural perspective, cultural theory views that individual’s risk perception is influenced by social structure and views about nature, and risk perception is influenced by four cultural biases which is hierarchy, egalitarianism, individualism, and fatalism. By conducting a survey with total 200 participants, this study will examine if egalitarians perceive the risk more seriously than other cultural biases during high-responsibility risk and if in the independent self-construal case, the interaction effect between risk types and cultural biases disappears even though the interaction effect exists in the interdependent self-construal case. This study will be valuable in the field of public relations by providing empirical findings in risk communication. It also can contribute to the public relations practice as well, by organizations will benefit from learning the relationship between the sociocultural and self-interpretative dimensions of their publics and their risk perception.

Authors

• Yungwook Kim, Ewha Womans U

• HyunJi Dana Lim, University of Miami