Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
PLoS One. 2022 Oct 5;17(10):e0275643. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275643. eCollection 2022.
Scientists play important roles in conducting public engagement, but evidence shows that scientists perceive great challenges in doing so. Drawing broadly from the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study examines factors predicting scientists' willingness to conduct public engagement. This study further examines how perceived behavioral control (PBC) of conducting public engagement would moderate the relationships between the proposed predictors and scientists' willingness to conduct public engagement. Using survey data collected from 706 scientists based in Singapore, this study found that attitude toward and personal norms of conducting public engagement, as well as PBC, significantly predicted scientists' willingness to conduct public engagement. Notably, PBC interacted with attitude toward conducting public engagement, the perceived descriptive norms, the perceived positive media influence, and the perceived negative external norms of conducting public engagement, as well as personal norms of conducting public engagement to predict scientists' willingness to conduct public engagement. We postulated the key role that the perception of the ease or difficulty plays in motivating scientists to conduct the skill-intensive endeavor explains the significant moderating effects. The theoretical implications on the TPB and the practical implications for public engagement are further discussed.
科学家在开展公众参与活动方面发挥着重要作用，但有证据表明，他们在这样做时面临着巨大的挑战。本研究广泛借鉴计划行为理论（TPB），考察了预测科学家参与公众参与意愿的因素。本研究进一步考察了进行公众参与的感知行为控制（PBC）如何调节提出的预测因素与科学家进行公众参与意愿之间的关系。本研究使用从新加坡的 706 名科学家那里收集的调查数据发现，对进行公众参与的态度和个人规范，以及进行公众参与的感知行为控制，显著预测了科学家进行公众参与的意愿。值得注意的是，PBC 与进行公众参与的态度、感知描述性规范、感知积极媒体影响以及感知进行公众参与的消极外部规范以及进行公众参与的个人规范相互作用，从而预测了科学家进行公众参与的意愿。我们假设，对进行技能密集型活动的难易程度的看法在激励科学家进行这项活动方面起着关键作用，这解释了显著的调节作用。进一步讨论了对 TPB 的理论意义和对公众参与的实际意义。
