In: Journal of risk research: the official journal of the Society for Risk Analysis Europe and the Society for Risk Analysis Japan, Band 18, Heft 6, S. 692-694
Public trust in organizations that are involved in the management and use of new technologies affects lay judgments about the risks and benefits associated with these technologies. In turn, judgments about risks and benefits influence lay attitudes toward these technologies. The validity of this (indirect) effect of trust on lay attitudes toward new technologies, which is referred to as the causal chain account of trust, has up till now only been examined in correlational research. The two studies reported in this article used an experimental approach to more specifically test the causal chain account of trust in the context of carbon dioxide capture and storage technology (CCS). Complementing existing literature, the current studies explicitly distinguished between two different types of trust in organizations: competence‐based trust (Study 1) and integrity‐based trust (Study 2). In line with predictions, results showed that the organizational position regarding CCS implementation (pro versus con) more strongly affected people's risk and benefit perceptions and their subsequent acceptance of CCS when competence‐based trust was high rather than low. In contrast, the organizational position had a greater impact on people's level of CCS acceptance when integrity‐based trust was low rather than high.
In three experiments, participants completed an Information-Choice Questionnaire (ICQ) in which the aggregation level of information about the consequences of two policy options was manipulated. The results indicate that evaluations of consequences are more extreme when consequences are split into separately to be evaluated components rather than presented as one whole. The aggregation level further affects overall evaluations of options and choices between options. Aggregation level effects are observed for both conventional rating scales (Experiment 1) and magnitude estimation scales (Experiment 2). The effects are strongest when consequences are lengthy and multifaceted, but also occur for short and simple consequences (Experiment 3). We conclude that it is important to consider the level of information aggregation when applying ICQ methodology. Adapted from the source document.