New Findings in Risk Management Described from Potsdam University (Insights into Flood-Coping Appraisals of Protection Motivation Theory: Empirical…

New Findings in Risk Management Described from Potsdam University (Insights into Flood-Coping Appraisals of Protection Motivation Theory: Empirical Evidence from Germany and France)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- New research on Risk Management is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Potsdam, Germany, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Protection motivation theory (PMT) has become a popular theory to explain the risk-reducing behavior of residents against natural hazards. PMT captures the two main cognitive processes that individuals undergo when faced with a threat, namely, threat appraisal and coping appraisal."

Funders for this research include Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, DFG Research Training Group “Natural Hazards and Risks in a Changing World”; (NatRiskChange), EU Commission.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Potsdam University, "The latter describes the evaluation of possible response measures that may reduce or avert the perceived threat. Although the coping appraisal component of PMT was found to be a better predictor of protective intentions and behavior, little is known about the factors that influence individuals' coping appraisals of natural hazards. More insight into flood-coping appraisals of PMT, therefore, are needed to better understand the decision-making process of individuals and to develop effective risk communication strategies. This study presents the results of two surveys among more than 1,600 flood-prone households in Germany and France. Five hypotheses were tested using multivariate statistics regarding factors related to flood-coping appraisals, which were derived from the PMT framework, related literature, and the literature on social vulnerability. We found that socioeconomic characteristics alone are not sufficient to explain flood-coping appraisals. Particularly, observational learning from the social environment, such as friends and neighbors, is positively related to flood-coping appraisals. This suggests that social norms and networks play an important role in flood-preparedness decisions. Providing risk and coping information can also have a positive effect."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Given the strong positive influence of the social environment on flood-coping appraisals, future research should investigate how risk communication can be enhanced by making use of the observed social norms and network effects."

For more information on this research see: Insights into Flood-Coping Appraisals of Protection Motivation Theory: Empirical Evidence from Germany and France. Risk Analysis, 2017;():. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Risk Analysis - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting P. Bubeck, Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, Potsdam University, Potsdam, Golm, Germany. Additional authors for this research include W.J. Wouter Botzen, J. Laudan, J.CJH. Aerts and A.H Thieken.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.12938. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Europe, Potsdam, Germany, Risk Management.

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