Disaster Risk Perception, Sense of Pace, Evacuation Willingness, and Relocation Willingness of Rural Households in Earthquake-Stricken Areas: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China

Examining the influence of technological self-efficacy, perceived trust, security, and electronic word of mouth on ICT usage in the education sector

The context of education has changed due to revolutionary developments in the information communication technology (ICT) industry in the post-COVID era. Innovative learning methods were introduced in the education sector to promote quality education. The students find it more convenient to use ICT tools to integrate their knowledge-seeking. China has recently paid more attention to developing and adopting electronic infrastructure. The study assesses the effect of technology self-efficacy (TSE) on ICT acceptance and implementation in China's education sector. It also analyzed the role of perceived trust, perceived security, and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in integrating digital information sharing and interaction tools. Data is collected from 382 business students at Chinese universities. The results revealed that perceived trust mediates the relationship between TSE and the actual use of ICT tools, intention to use ICT tools for information, and intention to use ICT tools for interaction. Further, perceived security and eWOM significantly moderate the relationship between TSE and perceived trust. The findings indicate that it is essential to offer assistance and instruction to students in the educational sector so they can use ICT technology more frequently. It is also crucial for organizations to establish a supportive culture and provide the necessary technological resources to facilitate the use of ICT.

Does the disclosure of medical insurance information affect patients' willingness to adopt the diagnosis related groups system

Introduction

Medical insurance information disclosure is not only a direct way for the public to understand and master social insurance information and resource use benefits, but also an important way for the public to participate in medical service governance and supervision. Some studies have shown that information disclosure can significantly reduce the risk perception of user groups, strengthen their trust and reduce the negative impact of information asymmetry.

Methods

Based on risk perception and trust perception theories, this paper focuses on the mechanisms influencing patients' attitudes in the process of implementing a Diagnosis Related Groups payment system. Using medical insurance information disclosure from a governance perspective as the research object, the impact of medical insurance information disclosure on patients' willingness to adopt the Diagnosis Related Groups payment system was analyzed by means of a questionnaire survey, Data analysis and hypothesis testing via SPSS while the mechanism of the impact of medical insurance information disclosure on patients' attitudes was explored in depth.

Results

It was found that medical insurance information disclosure had a significant positive effect on patients' trust perceptions and a significant negative effect on patients' risk perceptions. The more comprehensive information patients received, the stronger their trust and the lower their perceived risk.

Discussion

This paper conducts an empirical study from patients' perspective, broadens the scope of research on medical insurance Diagnosis related groups, enriches the application of risk perception and trust perception theories in the medical field, and provides management suggestions for medical institutions in the management of medical insurance information disclosure.

The Relationship between Employee Risk Communication and Non-Adaptive Evacuation Behavior in Chinese Hazardous Chemical Companies: The Mediating Role of Emotional Exhaustion and Risk Perception

Non-adaptive evacuation behavior refers to a safety risk that cannot be disregarded throughout the evacuation process. In order to lower the risky behavior of evacuation, enhancing people's psychological states and behaviors plays a significant role. This study developed a conceptual model connecting risk communication and non-adaptive evacuation behavior by analyzing the interaction between risk communication, risk perception, emotional exhaustion, and non-adaptive evacuation behavior. The structural equation model was adopted to analyze the 557 questionnaires collected, by which the findings demonstrated that risk communication has a negative impact on non-adaptive evacuation behavior, which is also indirectly affected by risk perception and emotional exhaustion. With the aim to prevent non-adaptive evacuation behavior during the evacuation process, enterprises and organizations can adjust the behavior level, psychological state, and physiological condition of individuals from the perspectives of risk communication, risk perception, and emotional exhaustion.

Effects of Conformity Tendencies on Farmers' Willingness to Take Measures to Respond to Climate Change: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China

Encouraging farmers to respond to climate change is very important for agricultural production and environmental governance. Based on the data of 540 farmers in Sichuan Province, China, the effects of conformity tendencies on farmers' adaptive behavior decisions to climate change were analyzed using the binary logistic model and propensity score matching method (PSM). The results show that (1) relatives' and friends' adaptive behaviors to climate change positively affect farmers' adaptive behaviors to climate change. (2) Compared with relatives and friends who do not visit each other during the New Year (weak ties), the climate change adaptation behavior of relatives and friends who visit each other during the New Year (strong ties) has a more significant impact on the climate change adaptation behavior of farmers. (3) Farmers with higher education levels and agricultural products without disaster experience are more significantly affected by peer effects and more inclined to take measures to respond to climate change. (4) Social networks and social trust play a partially mediating role in the peer effects of farmers' adaptation to climate change, but there are differences between relatives and friends with different strong and weak ties.

Does the Application of ICTs Improve the Efficiency of Agricultural Carbon Reduction? Evidence from Broadband Adoption in Rural China

Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, this paper examines whether rural broadband adoption affects agricultural carbon reduction efficiency (ACRE), using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2019. This paper achieves a measurement of ACRE by taking the carbon sink of agricultural as one of the desired outputs and using a Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model and the global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) index. The results show that: (1) Rural broadband adoption has a positive effect on ACRE. The relationship between the income of rural residents and ACRE was an inverted U-shaped, which confirms the EKC hypothesis. (2) Land transfer has a significant promoting effect on the relationship between rural broadband adoption and ACRE. When the land transfer rate is high, the positive effect of broadband adoption is obvious. (3) The positive effect of broadband adoption on ACRE was more obvious when farmers invested more in production equipment, that is to say, it has a significant positive moderating effect. As farmers in many developing countries suffer from increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events, we believe that the results of this study also have implications for the implementation of agricultural carbon reduction and smart agricultural equipment roll-out in many countries.

Social Stability Risk Assessment of Disaster-Preventive Migration in Ethnic Minority Areas of Southwest China

Disaster-preventive migration (DPM) is an important method for disaster risk management, but migration itself entails a potential social stability risk. This study took County D in Yunnan Province, one of the counties most severely threatened by geological disasters in China, as an example to construct an indicator system of social stability risk factors for disaster-preventive migration based on a literature survey and in-depth interviews. The system consists of 5 first-level risk factors and 14 s-level risk factors. The social stability risk of DPM in County D was assessed using a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method based on experts’ weights. The results showed that the overall social stability risk level of disaster-preventive migration in County D is ‘high’. In terms of importance, the five first-level risk factors were ranked as follows: public opinion risk > compensation risk > livelihood recovery risk > cultural risk > geological disaster risk. Among the risk factors, the level of public opinion risk and compensation risk appeared to be high, whereas that of livelihood recovery risk, cultural risk and geological disaster risk resulted to be medium. To our knowledge, this paper is the first research to evaluate the social stability risk of DPM; it not only enriches the theories of social stability risk assessment, but also has important guiding significance for people relocation and resettlement in Chinese ethnic minority areas.

Credibility Analysis of User-Designed Content Using Machine Learning Techniques

Content is a user-designed form of information, for example, observation, perception, or review. This type of information is more relevant to users, as they can relate it to their experience. The research problem is to identify the credibility and the percentage of credibility as well. Assessment of such content is important to convey the right understanding of the information. Different techniques are used for content analysis, such as voting the content, Machine Learning Techniques, and manual assessment to evaluate the content and the quality of information. In this research article, content analysis is performed by collecting the Movie Review dataset from Kaggle. Features are extracted and the most relevant features are shortlisted for experimentation. The effect of these features is analyzed by using base regression algorithms, such as Linear Regression, Lasso Regression, Ridge Regression, and Decision Tree. The contribution of the research is designing a heterogeneous ensemble regression algorithm for content credibility score assessment, which combines the above baseline methods. Moreover, these factors are also toned down to obtain the values closer to Gradient Descent minimum. Different forms of Error Loss, such as Mean Absolute Error, Mean Squared Error, LogCosh, Huber, and Jacobian, and the performance is optimized by introducing the balancing bias. The accuracy of the algorithm is compared with induvial regression algorithms and ensemble regression separately; this accuracy is 96.29%.

Does Trust Help to Improve Residents' Perceptions of the Efficacy of Disaster Preparedness? Evidence from Wenchuan and Lushan Earthquakes in Sichuan Province, China

Disaster preparation can reduce the impact of an earthquake on residents. Residents are more likely to undertake disaster preparedness if they perceive it to be effective. However, few studies have analyzed the influence of trust on this perception. This study surveyed 327 households in areas stricken by the Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes to explore these issues. Trust was divided into government trust, emotional trust, and social trust, while the efficacy of disaster preparedness was divided into self-efficacy and response efficacy. A partial least squares structural equation model was used to explore the influence of trust on perceptions of the efficacy of disaster preparedness. The results show that: (1) government trust can directly increase perceived efficacy and indirectly increase self-efficacy via emotional trust; (2) emotional trust can directly increase self-efficacy; (3) social trust can directly reduce self-efficacy while indirectly increasing it by increasing emotional trust. This study deepens our understanding of the relationship between trust and perceptions of the efficacy of disaster preparedness. This study can provide inspiration to improve risk communication and construct systems of community-based disaster-prevention.

Community Disaster Resilience and Risk Perception in Earthquake-Stricken Areas of China

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to further deepen our understanding of the relationship between community resilience and disaster risk perception of residents, so as to provide beneficial enlightenment for the construction of community resilience disaster prevention system and disaster risk management.

METHODS

This study surveyed 327 rural households in four counties of Sichuan Province, China, that were affected by the Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes. Community disaster resilience was divided into five dimensions: connection and caring, resources, transformative potential, disaster management, and information and communication. Residents' disaster risk perception was divided into three dimensions: possibility, threat, and worry. This study analyzed the characteristics of community disaster resilience and residents' disaster risk perceptions. Ordinary least squares (OLS) methods were used to explore the correlations between these factors.

RESULTS

The results show that (1) Residents' overall disaster risk perception was at a moderate level, and the community's overall disaster resilience were above the moderate level. (2) Community connection and caring has a positive significant correlation with the possibility perception of disaster occurrence; transformative potential has a negative significant correlation with the possibility perception of disaster occurrence; the overall community disaster resilience has negative significant correlations with the possibility and the overall residents' perception of disaster risk occurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

The implication for the local government is that the government should appropriately increase its contact with external institutions/organizations, especially some Non-Governmental Organization, to strengthen the resilience and disaster prevention capacity of the community. Establish and improve information and communication networks to ensure the timely and effective transmission of effective disaster information, and strengthen the supervision of the dissemination of false information to reduce the losses caused by false information to residents. Attention should be paid to psychological counseling for people in disaster-hit areas to reduce the psychological trauma of the disaster.

Stay in Risk Area: Place Attachment, Efficacy Beliefs and Risk Coping

For residents living in earthquake-threatened areas, choosing suitable risk coping behaviors can effectively reduce the loss of family life and property. However, some residents still choose to continue to live within areas at risk of earthquake disaster. Place attachment may play an important role. Based on place attachment theory and the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), this study explores the possible relationships among place attachment, efficacy beliefs, and evacuation/relocation intention. Furthermore, it examines the mediating role of efficacy beliefs. The study also used the partial least squares method (PLS-SEM) to test samples of 327 rural households in Wenchuan and Lushan earthquake-hit areas. The results show that: (1) Place attachment has a significant effect on response efficacy (RE), but not on self-efficacy (SE); (2) Place dependence (PD) has a negative and significant effect on relocation intention (RI) but has no significant effect on evacuation intention (EI). However, place identity (PI) can indirectly affect EI by influencing RE; (3) Efficacy beliefs have a significant positive effect on EI and RI. These results help us understand the complex relationships among place attachment, efficacy beliefs, and residents’ risk coping behavior, thus providing decision-making references for the formulation and improvement of regional disaster risk management policies.

Flood Disaster Risk Perception and Urban Households’ Flood Disaster Preparedness: The Case of Accra Metropolis in Ghana

Flood disaster has gained global attention due to the huge impact it has on human lives, economies, and sustainable environments. Flood disaster preparedness, which can significantly be influenced by disaster risk perception, has been highlighted as an effective way to manage flood disaster risk, as many other means have proved futile, yet no study has attempted using multiple dimensions to analyze this relationship in Ghana. Therefore, this study, using a survey of 369 households in the most flood-prone region, Accra Metropolis, analyzed the influence of flood disaster risk perception on urban households’ flood disaster preparedness. Based on the Protective Action Decision Model, the empirical models were constructed and estimated using the Tobit and binary logistic regression models. The results show that the majority of households (60.16%) were unprepared for flood disasters, and the perception of flood disaster risk and the sustainability risk posed by floods significantly affect flood disaster preparedness behaviours of households in a positive direction. The total number of flood disaster preparedness behaviours adopted was significantly related to probability, the threat to lives, sense of worry, and sustainability risk perceptions. Finally, income, education, and house ownership, among other household and individual characteristics, had significant positive effects on preparations for flood disasters. These findings suggest that effective policies to mitigate flood disasters must incorporate risk communication to boost households’ flood disaster preparedness.

Social Networks, Trust, and Disaster-Risk Perceptions of Rural Residents in a Multi-Disaster Environment: Evidence from Sichuan, China

Individual perception of disaster risk is not only the product of individual factors, but also the product of social interactions. However, few studies have empirically explored the correlations between rural residents' flat social networks, trust in pyramidal channels, and disaster-risk perceptions. Taking Sichuan Province-a typical disaster-prone province in China-as an example and using data from 327 rural households in mountainous areas threatened by multiple disasters, this paper measured the level of participants' disaster-risk perception in the four dimensions of possibility, threat, self-efficacy, and response efficacy. Then, the ordinary least squares method was applied to probe the correlations between social networks, trust, and residents' disaster-risk perception. The results revealed four main findings. (1) Compared with scores relating to comprehensive disaster-risk perception, participants had lower perception scores relating to possibility and threat, and higher perception scores relating to self-efficacy and response efficacy. (2) The carrier characteristics of their social networks significantly affected rural residents' perceived levels of disaster risk, while the background characteristics did not. (3) Different dimensions of trust had distinct effects on rural residents' disaster-risk perceptions. (4) Compared with social network variables, trust was more closely related to the perceived level of disaster risks, which was especially reflected in the impact on self-efficacy, response efficacy, and comprehensive perception. The findings of this study deepen understanding of the relationship between social networks, trust, and disaster-risk perceptions of rural residents in mountainous areas threatened by multiple disasters, providing enlightenment for building resilient disaster-prevention systems in the community.

Livelihood resilience and strategies of rural residents of earthquake-threatened areas in Sichuan Province, China

Natural disasters are increasing in frequency in China. Enhancing residents' livelihood resilience and adjusting their livelihood strategies have gradually become effective means of dealing with disaster risk. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the livelihood strategies and livelihood resilience of rural residents in earthquake-stricken areas to help them cope with disaster risks. However, few studies have explored the correlation between residents' livelihood resilience and livelihood strategies from the perspective of residents' livelihood resilience. Based on a survey of 327 households in four districts and counties of Sichuan Province, China that were affected by the Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes, we construct a framework for analyzing livelihood resilience and livelihood strategy selection. We comprehensively analyze the characteristics of livelihood resilience and livelihood strategy and explore their correlation using an ordinal multi-classification logistic regression model. The results show that: (1) Among 327 sample households, 90.21% were non-farming, 3.67% were part-time households and 6.12% were farming households. Residents' livelihood resilience is mainly based on their disaster prevention and mitigation capacity. (2) As far as the correlation between livelihood resilience and livelihood strategies is concerned, the stronger the buffer capacity in livelihood resilience, the more rural residents tend to engage in non-farming activities to obtain income. When other conditions remain unchanged, the logarithmic probability of choosing an agricultural livelihood strategy decreases by 21.814 for each unit of buffer capacity. From the perspective of residents' livelihood resilience, this study deepens our understanding of the relationship between livelihood resilience and livelihood strategy in earthquake-stricken areas. It also provides useful information for the formulation of policies to improve residents' resilience in disaster-threatened areas.

Differences in the Disaster-Preparedness Behaviors of the General Public and Professionals: Evidence from Sichuan Province, China

Sichuan Province in China is one of the world’s most earthquake-stricken areas. Wenchuan and Lushan Counties in Sichuan and other earthquake-stricken areas contain rural settlements subject to geological disasters and poverty. However, there is little research on the characteristics of disaster-preparedness behavior and whether these differ between professionals and the general public in rural settlements with high earthquake risk and poverty. Using survey data from 327 farmers in rural settlements affected by major earthquakes in Wenchuan and Lushan Counties, independent-sample t-tests and chi-squared tests were used to test for differences in the disaster-preparedness behaviors of professionals and the general public. The results show that (1) there were significant differences in emergency-disaster preparedness, knowledge and skills preparedness and overall disaster-prevention preparedness, and (2) there was no significant difference in physical disaster-prevention preparation. Based on these results, the study suggests policy directions for regional poverty alleviation, disaster prevention and reduction and disaster management.