Fallah Zavareh Mohsen, Mehdizadeh Milad, Nordfjærn Trond
Department of Civil Engineering, Kharazmi University, Faculty of Engineering, Tehran, Iran.
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Psychology, Trondheim, Norway.
Transp Res Part F Traffic Psychol Behav. 2022 Jan;84:348-362. doi: 10.1016/j.trf.2021.12.010. Epub 2021 Dec 23.
The rapid surge of COVID-19 cases worldwide drew attention to COVID-19 infection as a new source of risk in transport. The virus introduced a need for viral transmission mitigation as a major priority when selecting a mode of travel, and caused a significant drop in public transport use. The recovery of public transport use in the post-COVID period requires that the transport authorities favourably address people's demand for mitigation of the risk of COVID-19 transmission in public transport. The present study aims to explore the role of risk perception, worry and priority of COVID-19 risk reduction along with fatalistic beliefs and public trust in authorities in explaining public demand for risk mitigation. The present study is among the first to investigate the role of fatalistic beliefs, social trust and risk perception for public transport and public demand for risk mitigation. The link between priority of infection prevention and demand for risk mitigation has also been less explored in public transport research. An online survey was conducted among university students in Iran between 19th April and 16th June 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, when the country was a major epicentre of the disease. A total of 271 out of 370 respondents whose dominant mode on university travels was public transport were included in the analysis. Results of structural equation modelling confirmed the paradox of trust, indicating that social trust is negatively associated with perceived risk of COVID-19 infection, which in turn may lead people to place less importance on COVID-19 prevention as a priority in travel mode choice, and consequently demand less risk mitigation efforts to prevent COVID-19 infection in public transport. Dissimilar to trust, however, the results revealed no relationship between fatalistic beliefs and risk perception, but a significant direct effect of fatalistic beliefs on demand for risk mitigation. To reinforce public demand for mitigating the risk of COVID-19 in public transport, the study calls on policymakers to exploit public trust resources for more effective risk communication, through disseminating the gradually accumulating evidence-based information regarding the infectivity and the virulence of COVID-19 and the scientific risk of infection. The study also underlined the potential importance of considering fatalistic beliefs when developing effective risk communication policies and practices to enhance public support for COVID-19 risk mitigation in public transport.
全球范围内新冠病毒病例的迅速激增，使新冠病毒感染成为交通运输领域一个新的风险源，受到人们关注。该病毒使得在选择出行方式时，将减轻病毒传播作为首要优先事项成为必要，并且导致公共交通使用率大幅下降。后疫情时期公共交通使用率的恢复，要求交通部门积极应对人们对于减轻公共交通中新冠病毒传播风险的需求。本研究旨在探讨风险认知、担忧以及降低新冠病毒风险的优先事项，连同宿命论信念和公众对当局的信任，在解释公众对风险减轻的需求方面所起的作用。本研究是首批调查宿命论信念、社会信任和风险认知对公共交通以及公众对风险减轻的需求所起作用的研究之一。在公共交通研究中，感染预防的优先事项与风险减轻需求之间的联系也较少被探讨。2020年4月19日至6月16日，在疫情第一波期间，伊朗处于该疾病的主要中心之时，对大学生进行了一项在线调查。在370名受访者中，共有271名在大学出行时主要使用公共交通的受访者被纳入分析。结构方程模型的结果证实了信任的悖论，表明社会信任与新冠病毒感染的感知风险呈负相关，这反过来可能导致人们在出行方式选择中，对预防新冠病毒的重视程度降低，从而对公共交通中预防新冠病毒感染的风险减轻措施需求减少。然而，与信任不同的是，结果显示宿命论信念与风险认知之间没有关系，但宿命论信念对风险减轻需求有显著的直接影响。为了加强公众对减轻公共交通中新冠病毒风险的需求，该研究呼吁政策制定者利用公众信任资源进行更有效的风险沟通，通过传播关于新冠病毒的传染性和毒性以及科学感染风险的逐渐积累的循证信息。该研究还强调了在制定有效的风险沟通政策和实践时，考虑宿命论信念对于增强公众对公共交通中减轻新冠病毒风险的支持的潜在重要性。
