Effects of risk perception, SNS uses, personal characteristics on climate change participation behaviors of millennials in South Korea

Son, Yeon-A; Jun, Jong Woo Article Effects of risk perception, SNS uses, personal characteristics on climate change participation behaviors of millennials in South Korea Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Son, Yeon-A; Jun, Jong Woo (2024) : Effects of risk perception, SNS uses, personal characteristics on climate change participation behaviors of millennials in South Korea, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 1-11, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2318793 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/326091 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cogent Business & Management ISSN: 2331-1975 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oabm20 Effects of risk perception, SNS uses, personal characteristics on climate change participation behaviors of millennials in South Korea Yeon-A Son & Jong Woo Jun To cite this article: Yeon-A Son & Jong Woo Jun (2024) Effects of risk perception, SNS uses, personal characteristics on climate change participation behaviors of millennials in South Korea, Cogent Business & Management, 11:1, 2318793, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2318793 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2318793 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Published online: 26 Feb 2024. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 841 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 3 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 Marketing | research article Cogent Business & ManageMent 2024, VoL. 11, no. 1, 2318793 Effects of risk perception, SNS uses, personal characteristics on climate change participation behaviors of millennials in South Korea Yeon-a sona and Jong Woo Junb aDepartment of science education, College of education, Dankook university, gyeonggi-do, south Korea; bschool of Media Communication, Dankook university, gyeonggi-do, south Korea ABSTRCT global climate change has also become a problem faced by college students in korea. college students can also participate in climate change-related actions, such as reducing disposables. this study investigated the effects of perception of climate change risk, media use, and personal characteristics on participation behavior for climate change with university students, who are practical stakeholders in climate change. hypothesis 1 is susceptibility, hypothesis 2 is severity perception, hypothesis 3 is sns use, hypothesis 4 is self-efficacy, and hypothesis 5 is the effect of social conformity on participation behavior. Data was collected through a survey, and as a result of data analysis, it was found that the social susceptibility among the two risk susceptibility increased participation behavior. it was found that personal susceptibility did not affect participation behavior. next, the perception of the severity of climate change was verified as a key factor in increasing climate change participation behavior. Perception of severity was the most influential variable in the regression analysis. People who use sns information on climate change were also active in participation. among personal characteristics, people with high self-efficacy had positive participation behavior, but people’s social conformity did not affect participation behavior. these results show the perception of climate change from the perspective of college students, the millennial generation, and provide practical implications for climate change participation behavior. Introduction the claim that it has reached an unbearable level is gaining persuasive power, yet not all people around the world may know how or be willing to change their behavior to mitigate this problem. this research investigates the risk perceptions, use of sns (social media service), and personal characteristics of millennials (ages 20–39) in south korea to discover whether they would be willing to participate in climate change behaviors. these behaviors include reducing disposable items, separate garbage collection, using public transportation, etc. With this information, climate change communicators will be better equipped to persuade millennials to change their behaviors regarding climate change. this research is based upon a survey of 209 many millennials who are currently studying at university. For issues such as climate change, people’s perception of risk is an important variable. Depending on how risky people perceive, their attitude toward the issue changes and the probability of taking action increases (hong & Jun, 2020). recognizing the importance of risk perception, studies have been conducted on the role of risk perception in various fields. studies on economic risk perception in product purchase and physical risk perception in terms of health communication are representative. the issue of climate change is also not immediate, but it poses a great danger to the community in the long term. therefore, research on risk perception is required to understand people’s perception of climate change and predict their behavior. © 2024 the author(s). Published by informa uK Limited, trading as taylor & Francis group. CONTACT Jong Woo Jun [email protected] school of Media Communication, Dankook university, gyeonggi-do, south Korea https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2318793 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. ARTICLE HISTORY received 6 January 2023 revised 9 august 2023 accepted 6 February 2024 KEYWORDS climate change; risk perception; severity perception; sns uses; self-efficacy; and social conformity REVIEWING EDITOR len tiu Wright, De Montfort University Faculty of Business and law, United kingdom SUBJECTS Persuasion; risk communication; health communication 2 Y.-a. sOn anD J. W. JUn With the decline of traditional media, communication on climate change issues also needs to change. the number of people who read newspapers has drastically decreased, and the influence of television varies depending on the time of day, but it is a reality that is not the same as before (kang, 2019, p. 1, 2). however, the use of digital-based media is explosively increasing (kang, 2019, p. 1, 2). the media articles are also used on smartphones, and the platform used is also concentrated on portal sites rather than traditional media sites (noh, 2018, p. 5, 17). there are many cases in which users directly search for information they are curious about, and more and more cases come into contact with specific issues through sns. therefore, social issues such as climate change are increasingly being accessed by platforms such as sns rather than traditional media, and research on them is also needed. the media have on a great impact on participation in the issue of climate change (Jun, 2021). in addition, psychological factors of individuals affect accepting a specific issue (Yu & lee, 2023). some people actively participate in environmental protection activities that are personally inconvenient and bothering. they are people who believe that they can make an impact on climate change with their small contribution. also, there may be people who learn and participate in other people’s environmental protection activities. the characteristics of these individuals should also be reflected in the research. in particular, research on the perception of the millennial generation, which is directly affected by climate change, is important. Millennials show different characteristics from older generations. although they tend to be individualistic and sensitive to their own interests, they appear to value the interests of the community as well as their own interests (neil & William, 2007). Understanding them can be key to solving the climate change problem. this study explores the antecedent factors that affect public participation in climate change issues. specifically, with risk perception as a key variable, the influence of sns were investigated. in addition, self-efficacy and social conformity were proposed as personal characteristics variables to model the relationship between participation behavior and climate change. as the subject of the study, the young people, who are key stakeholders in climate change, were selected and the study was conducted. Literature review Risk perception in order to find out the factors that affect climate change behavior, let’s first look at risk perception. the concept of risk perception includes both subjective and objective aspects (Mccomas, 2006). the tangible risk approached objectively and the risk perceived by individuals are different. there are individual differences in perceiving risk, and experts perceive risk based on objective data or facts, but the general public uses the severity of the consequences of risk as a basis for judgment (Jacobs & Worthley, 1999). there are various factors that affect the formation of risk perception, and risk can be perceived not only from personal experiences but also from interactions with others (slovic, 2000). as an indirect experience, media use is said to have a major influence on risk perception, and continuous research is being conducted on risk perception communication (leiss, 1996). risk perception research can be classified into several types according to the object of risk. at the business level, it includes research on possible risks in the process of purchasing products or services, and research on avoiding or preventing risks associated with safety or health. Perceptions of risk also vary across cultures. traditional risk perception studies using psychological variables have revealed the cognitive structure of risk perception within individuals, but have the disadvantage of not being able to explain the differences between individuals and the reasons for the differences (kraus & slovic, 1988; Wildavsky, 1987). accordingly, Douglas and Wildavsky (1982) explained differences in risk perception among individuals through cultural theory, and they saw that the world views of individuals affect behavior. in this study, risk perception was divided into susceptibility and severity targeting the millennial generation, and its influence was investigated. susceptibility is divided into social and personal dimensions and is how vulnerable people feel to risks. severity perception refers to the perception of how serious an impending danger is. cultural factors can influence perceptions of risk. korea is classified as a country with representative collectivist tendencies (hofstede et al., 2010). in the case of advertising messages, cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 3 appeals to groups are known to be more effective than appeals to individuals. in previous studies, it has been reported that social risk perception is more influential than individual risk perception in korea. (Woo et al., 2021). however, in the case of millennials, they often show cultural characteristics different from those of older generations (Jun, 2020). the characteristics of millennials can be roughly divided into several categories (langcaster & stillman, 2010). First, the relationship with parents is close. second, they strongly believe that they can achieve what they want. third, both personal success and social meaning are important. Fourth, they have high expectations for their roles. Fifth, they are good at information devices and good at multitasking. sixth, they are familiar with sns and online communication and use it a lot. seventh, they are good at collaborating with others through teamwork learned from online games. these characteristics of millennials can have a different impact on risk perception than older generations. therefore, they study would like to examine the role of cultural factors and how the characteristics of the millennial generation work in risk perception. Personal and social risk susceptibility a key factor constituting risk perception is susceptibility. risk susceptibility can be divided into personal susceptibility and social susceptibility. Personal susceptibility is the perception of dangers facing oneself, and social susceptibility is the perception of dangers to others (tyler & cook, 1984). in general, people’s risk perception tends to evaluate others’ risks more highly than their own risks, and this tendency can be explained by optimistic bias (Weinstein, 1989) or third-person effect (Davison, 1983). Optimistic bias refers to believing that events will develop positively, and the third-person effect refers to overestimating the risks to others rather than the risks to oneself. in a collectivist culture such as korea, there is a tendency to perceive social risks more than individual risks. Messages are often more effective if they emphasize social risk (hong & Jun, 2020). risk perception has a positive effect on subsequent behavioral intentions. the effect of this risk perception was verified for various subjects. a representative study on the effect of risk perception on infectious disease Mers (Middle east respiratory syndrome) on preventive behavioral intention (hong & Jun, 2020). Both individual risk perception and social risk perception appeared to have an effect, and the influence of social risk perception was greater. risk perception research on climate change also proves its influence on behavior. tourists’ risk perception of climate change appears to induce environmentally friendly behavior (choi et al., 2022). risk perception of climate change can be divided into natural risk perception, financial risk perception, and physical risk perception, and financial risk perception affects purchase intention of eco-friendly tourism products (Min et al., 2015). a susceptibility study was also conducted on the effect on the dependent variable by dividing it into personal susceptibility and social susceptibility. in a study of korean university students, perception of risk for Mers affects both personal susceptibility and social susceptibility on preventive behavioral intention (hong & Jun, 2020). this study targets the millennial generation, and it is judged that the influence of personal susceptibility and social susceptibility may be different due to the characteristics of the generation. therefore, the following individual hypotheses are proposed for the role of the two risk susceptibility on climate change participation behavior, and the difference in impact by type of risk susceptibility will be verified. h1-1: Personal susceptibility will positively influence participation intention. h1-2: social susceptibility will positively influence participation intention. Severity perception elevated levels of concern about climate change lead to consent to collective action (stevenson et al., 2017). People’s perceptions of the severity of specific risks increase their motivation to engage in decision-making processes to address universal risks. however, since each individual has different perceived and experienced risks, there are differences in how to quantify and cope with risks, which can lead to conflicts due to conflicting opinions (Botterill & Mazur, 2004; Monroe, 1990; robinson et al., 2012). traditionally, perception of the severity of risk has a positive effect on people’s preventive 4 Y.-a. sOn anD J. W. JUn behavioral intentions (severtson & Myers, 2012). as a result of examining the influence of risk perception in the avian influenza awareness study targeting the general public in korea, other variables did not have an effect, and it appears that the perception of the severity of risk increases the intention to act on prevention (song et al., 2014). in a study on risk perception of Mers, which was conducted by surveying korean college students, the perception of severity also appears to have a positive effect on the intention to prevent action (hong & Jun, 2020). therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis, expecting that the perception of the severity of climate change will have a positive effect on climate change participation behavior. h2: severity perception will positively influence participation intention. Media effects the media effect has been verified in various fields, but it is also widely used in climate change and risk perception studies. the media is a significant factor influencing people’s perception of risk. this media effect can be explained by the cultivation theory. (Jun, 2021). Most of the studies that have explored the influence of the media on environmental issues have focused on analyzing the media content or on the process of recognizing the risks of environmental issues (Zhao etal., 2011). the media daily provides the public with health-related issues and related fears, warnings and warnings of danger (calman, 2001). Mass media contents such as television, newspapers, books, and magazines contribute to enhancing understanding by providing users with knowledge about environmental issues (stamm et al., 2000). however, the media’s handling of environmental issues focuses on the results of the interaction of information sources, events, and human dramas rather than a universal method that focuses on scientific discoveries (Mazur & lee, 1993). the media tends to emphasize the dramatic elements of environmental issues more than to report the risks inherent in environmental issues based on facts (greenberg et al., 1989). environmental issues depicted in the media are often criticized for stimulating people’s curiosity rather than conveying objective information, but the general public is more affected by the seriousness of the consequences than objective facts (Jacobs & Worthley, 1999). therefore, it can be expected that climate change information depicted in the media will have a direct impact on people’s participation in climate change. the media effect is also confirmed on sns. it can be seen that people who have used information about cOViD-19 a lot through sns during the cOViD-19 period have an increased risk perception (Jun, 2021). this study proposes the following hypotheses for the influence of sns. h3: sns uses will positively influence participation intention. Personal characteristics this study is to find out how korean cultural characteristics and millennial characteristics are involved in the influence of climate change participation behavior. even in personal characteristics, there are variables that reflect Western and eastern characteristics. hofstede’s cultural dimension, which explains cultural differences between countries, is representative (hofstede et al., 2010). analytical/holistic thinking tendencies are also frequently used to explain cultural differences (nisbett, 2003). in addition, the concept of self can be seen as a concept mainly based on Western culture. in Western society, which values the individual, self-awareness has a great influence on people’s attitudes and behaviors. On the other hand, social variable is a concept mainly reflecting oriental characteristics. it is a culture that emphasizes ‘we’ rather than ‘me’, and has a community-centered view at the collective level rather than individual being the subject. in this chapter, i would like to discuss the influence and the difference of self-efficacy and social adjustment variables on participation behavior. Self-efficacy the concept of self-efficacy was proposed in social learning theory and can be defined as the degree to which individuals believe they can overcome the environment they are in Bandura (1977). self-efficacy cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 5 is involved in motivation, cognitive resources, and decision-making in the process of work (gist & Mitchell, 1992). the expression of self-efficacy targets what one can do with one’s abilities and skills (Bandura, 1993). People with high self-efficacy treat task performance positively, affect positive self-consciousness, and they enjoy challenging tasks (Bandura, 1977). People with high self-efficacy tend to treat difficult situations positively and not be afraid of new situations (lee & Yoon, 2008). People with high self-efficacy respond positively to the acceptance of anti-smoking advertisements, which absolutely require self-restraint (Yang & Baek, 2009). self-efficacy goes beyond the individual level and affects social issues, and makes social contribution activities positively evaluated (Yoon & lee, 2014). considering the influence of self-efficacy, it can be expected that self-efficacy will positively affect the intention to participate in social issues such as climate change. h4: self-efficacy will positively influence participation intention. Social conformity traditionally, compliance means that the behavior of a particular actor conforms to rules or norms. compliance appears in various forms depending on the target. compliance to a social policy means that the target group of the policy responds to the behavior desired by the policy, and it can be said that the target group responds to the policy norms and goals (lee, 2017). Public trust in the government lowers risk perception and increases convenience perception, resulting in increased policy acceptance (lim et al., 2016). People who conform to the buying behavior of others and consider their own purchases have a high tendency to social conformity, and they can be expected to be more likely to conform to socially desirable behaviors. therefore, the degree of social conformity is expected to have a positive effect on the intention to participate in climate change issues, and the following hypothesis is proposed. h5: social conformity will positively influence participation intention. Methodology Survey this study used a questionnaire survey to verify the role of various independent variables in one model. a survey was conducted with korean university students as a sample. Millennials are a real stakeholder in the climate change crisis and a generation that has to bear the social cost. therefore, university students are an important subject in climate change research. the questionnaire was distributed and collected online at the Dankook University in the seoul metropolitan area. the collected data was analyzed using sPss. Measurements risk susceptibility was measured by dividing it into personal susceptibility and social susceptibility (Morton etal., 2001). as for sns use, the level of use was measured for twitter, Facebook, instagram, and Youtube. self-efficacy was measured by the items of Buhrmester et al. (1988). social conformity was measured by Yoo et al. (2014)’ items. severity perception was measured by the items of rimal et al. (2009). Behavioral intention to participate in climate change measured the intention to participate in climate change issues (stafford et al., 1996). Detailed measurement items can be found in table 1. Results Sample profile as a result of the survey collection, a total of 209 college students participated in the survey. among the respondents, 114 (54.5%) were male and 95 (45.5%) were female. the age of the respondents ranged from 18 to 29, and the average age was 20.9 (standard deviation = 2.3). 6 Y.-a. sOn anD J. W. JUn Hypotheses testing this study is to investigate the influence of risk perception, sns use, and personal characteristics of recipients on climate change participation behavior. to verify the hypotheses proposed in this study, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted on data collected through surveys. the independent variables included in the analysis model were personal susceptibility, social susceptibility, severity perception, sns use, self-efficacy, and social conformity in order. in this study, the most important variables of risk susceptibility is put in first, and then, we want to verify whether the role of risk susceptibility is maintained in the model. the dependent variable is the behavioral intention to participate in social action to solve the climate change crisis. First of all, in risk susceptibility, the research model 1 targeting personal susceptibility and social susceptibility variables showed that only social susceptibility was statistically significant (p<.001). h1-2 was supported. in Model 2 in which perception of severity was input, perception of severity was statistically significant (p<.001). h2 was supported. however, the social susceptibility, which had a significant effect in Model 1, declined to a limited level (p<.10). in the case of sns use, Table 1. Measurement scales and descriptive statistics. Constructs Measurement scales M SD α sns uses i often came across information about climate change on Facebook 3.54 1.32 0.717 i often came across information about climate change on instagram i often came across information about climate change on twitter i often came across information about climate change on Youtube self-efficacy i can always solve difficult problems if i put in enough effort 5.15 0.858 0.879 if someone disagrees with me, i can find ways and means to get what i want it is easy for me to persevere through difficulties to achieve my goals i am confident that even unexpected tasks can be performed efficiently enough i know how to deal with an opaque situation based on my sufficient wisdom With effort, i can solve most problems i always keep my composure in difficult situations because i believe in my ability to cope When i face a problem, i can find many solutions When faced with a difficult situation, i can think of the necessary solution i can handle most anything that comes my way on my own social conformity My family and friends mainly use the products i use 4.01 1.18 0.864 the people i contact often use the products i use My co-workers mainly use the products i use People who are important to me feel that i should use the products they use People who influence my behavior think i should use the products they use Many people around me mainly use the products i use Personal risk susceptibility Climate change is an important issue to me 5.12 1.33 0.887 i am concerned about the damage from climate change i will be affected by climate change i personally feel the risk of climate change is high social risk susceptibility Climate change is an important issue in our society 5.50 1.13 0.835 i am concerned about the damage the public will suffer from climate change the public will be harmed by climate change the risk the public feels about climate change is high severity perception Climate change is a mortal danger to anyone 6.03 1.00 0.832 someone is more likely to be severely affected by climate change Climate change is one of the serious threats Climate change is more lethal than any other problem Behavioral intention it is likely to engage in action to solve climate change problems, if necessary 5.54 1.15 0.939 it is possible to participate in action to solve climate change problems if necessary it is probable to participate in climate change problem-solving actions if necessary cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 7 which was suggested as a media variable, it was found to be statistically significant (p<.001). h3 was supported. in Model 3, in which sns use variables were input, the influence of social susceptibility disappeared. Finally, among personal characteristics, self-efficacy showed statistically significant influence (p<.05). h4 was supported. however, social adaptation was not statistically significant (p>.05). in sum. among six hypotheses, three hypotheses were supported (table 2). Discussions and conclusion this study investigated how risk perception of climate change, media use, and personal characteristics affect college students’ participation behaviors in climate change issues. as a result of analyzing the survey data, it was found that social susceptibility among risk susceptibility had a positive effect on participation behavior (hypothesis 1-2). Personal susceptibility did not have a significant effect (hypothesis 1-1). next, the perception of the severity of climate change had a positive effect on climate change participation behavior (hypothesis 2). sns use as a media variable had a positive effect on participation behavior (hypothesis 3). among personal characteristics, self-efficacy had a positive effect on participation behavior (hypothesis 4). however, social adaptation did not show any significant results (hypothesis 5) (Figure 1). this study provides an academic explanation of the relationship between risk perception and climate change participation behavior in the reality of increasing awareness of the risk of climate change. considering risk susceptibility and severity perception at the same time, explanatory power for gradual effects is also proposed. in particular, risk susceptibility was divided into personal susceptibility and social susceptibility and applied to the korean cultural environment. korea is known to exhibit a collectivistic culture and prioritize decision-making by the group over the individual (hofstede et al., 2010). this cultural tendency also affects risk perception, and this was verified. in addition, the fact that the impact of risk susceptibility on participation behavior was investigated for the millennial generation, which is culturally different from the older generation, can be said to be different from previous studies. the fact that not only variables related to risk susceptibility but also variables related to sns use and personal characteristics as media variables are comprehensively considered is also meaningful in the study. Table 2. Results of hierarchical regression. DV iV Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Climate change behavior Personal risk perception 0.100 0.062 −0.049 −0.024 social risk perception 0.442*** 0.171# 0.138 0.120 severity perception 0.440*** 0.516*** 0.487*** sns uses 0.275*** 0.262*** self-efficacy 0.115* social conformity −0.008 adjusted R2=(∆R2) 0.264 0.365(0.104) 0.427(0.064) 0.433(0.012) F38.249*** 40.896*** 39.764*** 27.506*** #p < .1; *p < .05; ***p < .001. Figure 1. Research model and results.