Understanding Active Communicators on the Food Safety Issue: Conspiratorial Thinking, Organizational Trust, and Communicative Actions of Publics in China

Autor: Myoung-Gi Chon, Linjia Xu, Jarim Kim, Jiaying Liu
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: American Behavioral Scientist. :000276422211182
ISSN: 1552-3381
0002-7642
DOI: 10.1177/00027642221118284
Popis: As misinformation is common in the digital media environment, it has become more important to understand risk communication in the context of communicative behaviors of publics that affect public opinion and policymaking. Focusing on food safety issues such as genetically modified food and food additives in China, this study aims to understand the communicative action of publics and the role of organizational trust in the conspiratorial thinking of publics and their perceptions of food safety issues. Using a national sample of 1,089 citizens living in China, this study examines situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) to understand when and how publics become active in communicative actions to take, select, and transmit information regarding food safety issues. In addition, this study tests the role of organizational trust in the food industry between conspiratorial thinking of publics and their situational perceptions, which are antecedent variables to increase communicative action of publics in problem solving. The results demonstrate that STOPS can be applied to the food safety issue to predict communicative actions of publics, and organizational trust plays a vital role in reducing individuals’ concerns about the food safety issue.
Databáze: OpenAIRE