Consumer Behavior, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich, Universitaetstrasse 22, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
Consumer Behavior, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich, Universitaetstrasse 22, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
Environ Res. 2020 Jan;180:108859. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.108859. Epub 2019 Oct 30.
Chemical household products, such as cleaning and washing products or pest control and garden chemicals, are frequently involved in poisonings in private households. Consumer research has identified a number of barriers that impede the safe use of these products, ranging from unfamiliarity, to misconceptions and a lack of risk perception, to behavioural or situational barriers. This study aimed at investigating these barriers for consumers in eight European countries. Participants from eight European countries were recruited and asked to fill out an online questionnaire on their familiarity with hazard pictograms, perceptions and self-reported behaviour (Total: N = 5631, Austria: N = 731, Switzerland: N = 698, Germany: N = 711, France: N = 708, Italy: N = 695, Poland: N = 693, Sweden: N = 682, UK: N = 713). Across all countries, the lowest consumer familiarity was found for the meaning of the pictogram for "health hazard" (65% indicated having never seen it before). Small-sized differences between the eight countries were observed regarding people's familiarity, perceptions and self-reported behaviour. The results suggest that people apply hazard-related as well as product- and marketing-related strategies to judge the dangerousness of a chemical household product. These findings suggest a number of starting points for risk regulation and communication regarding hazardous household chemical products. Further, the results suggest that positive outcome expectancies and rules of thumb for judging the risks of a chemical household product are particularly relevant for people's self-reported safe use of chemical household products.
家用化学品，如清洁和洗涤产品或害虫防治和花园化学品，经常涉及私人家庭中毒事件。消费者研究已经确定了一些阻碍这些产品安全使用的障碍，从不熟悉、误解和缺乏风险感知，到行为或情境障碍。本研究旨在调查这 8 个欧洲国家消费者面临的这些障碍。从 8 个欧洲国家招募参与者，并要求他们填写一份关于他们对危害象形图的熟悉程度、看法和自我报告行为的在线问卷（共 N=5631，奥地利：N=731，瑞士：N=698，德国：N=711，法国：N=708，意大利：N=695，波兰：N=693，瑞典：N=682，英国：N=713）。在所有国家，对“健康危害”象形图含义的消费者最不熟悉（65%的人表示从未见过）。8 个国家之间在人们的熟悉程度、看法和自我报告行为方面存在着细微的差异。研究结果表明，人们应用与危害相关以及与产品和营销相关的策略来判断家用化学品的危险性。这些发现为危险家用化学品的风险监管和沟通提供了一些起点。此外，研究结果表明，对化学家用产品风险的积极预期和判断规则，对于人们自我报告的安全使用化学家用产品尤为重要。
