Behavioral Compliance with Safety Signs and Labels: An Analysis of Research Methods from the Past 25 Years

Abstract

This paper reviews research published from 1998 to 2022 that involved collection of original data related to behavioral compliance with safety signs and labels. This review provides a needed update to previous similar reviews using a published taxonomical approach. The approach was used here to categorize study methodology and was extended to further categorize studies by whether they addressed behavioral compliance or intention/predicted likelihood of compliance. Nearly all of the studies reviewed assessed behavior in laboratories or via surveys of hypothetical scenarios, and relatively few used real-world experimental or real-world observational methods. Results revealed a lack of empirical demonstrations that intention and predicted likelihood of compliance are reliable predictors of real-world behavioral compliance. There was also a notable lack of evidence that warnings design aspects impact such real-world compliance.