General Knowledge about Climate Change, Factors Influencing Risk Perception and Willingness to Insure

Abstract

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp11060.pdf Non-Technical SummaryIt is a common belief that more information about climate change will lead to a better understanding of the phenomenon and to an increase of prevention measures, such as insurance for natural hazards.To test this hypothesis, two independent surveys in Germany were conducted. The survey by the research team of KIT was based on an internet questionnaire and a sample of 510 respondents from all regions and socio-economic groups in Germany. The other survey (by researchers of ZEW) was conducted with 157 respondents which were personally present at the premises of the research institute in Mannheim.The main objective of the analyses was to check the correlations and interactions between knowledge about climate change, scientific information about the phenomenon and the risk perception of climate-induced hazards. Furthermore the links between risk perception and prevention measures were analysed.We found that respondents who revealed a better actual knowledge in questions about climate change perceived climate change impacts as less hazardous than those with weaker knowledge. The impact of actual knowledge is opposed to the effect of the self-declared knowledge of the respondents. Respondents who declared their own level of information about climate change as being rather high showed a higher degree of risk perception of climate change than those who ascribed themselves a lower level of information.Overall, in both surveys independently from each other we identified certain factors determining risk perception. These are: gender (female respondents exhibited higher risk perception), experience of damages through extreme weather events (experience implies higher risk perception), and actual knowledge about climate change (better knowledge implies lower risk perception). Surprisingly, the provision of scientific information about expected climate change impacts showed no significant effect on the risk perception.Furthermore we found a positive effect of risk perception of climate change on the willingness to insure and a significant influence of experience with damages through extreme weather events on insurance coverage.Since information about the consequences of climate change does not lead to increased risk perception, we doubt the efficiency of large-scale public information campaigns. Given the broad coverage of the topic in mass media with partly...

Risk Perception of Climate Change: Empirical Evidence for Germany

“…Similarly positive correlations between (damage) experience and individual risk perceptions of extreme weather events are identified for Germany by Menny et al (2011), Thieken et al (2007, and Weber (2006), as well as by Keller et al (2006), and Siegrist and Gutscher (2006) for Switzerland. These results are challenged by Whitmarsh (2008), who does not find a higher individual risk perception among flood victims in the UK.…”

Climate Change: A Review of Its Health Impact and Percieved Awareness by the Young Citizens

“…Participants were also asked their age, gender, mode of study and their awareness about physical and psychological impact by the climate change. All the details of the questionnaires were operationalised by adapting from the research of Solar (2011) and Menny et al (2013) which were measured a seven point Likert scale response format such that: 1= Strongly disagree to 7= Strongly agree ( Lin & Lee, 2004 ).…”

“…The items of the instrument were adapted from various scholars research instrument. For instance, awareness on climate change was measured by 10 item scale adapted from the Solar (2011) and Menny et al (2013) . Physical impact was operationalised using 3 items adapted from Solar (2011) and Menny et al (2013) .…”

“…For instance, awareness on climate change was measured by 10 item scale adapted from the Solar (2011) and Menny et al (2013) . Physical impact was operationalised using 3 items adapted from Solar (2011) and Menny et al (2013) . In measuring psychological impact, we adapted from Solar (2011) -2items and Menny et al (2013) -1item measures.…”

“…Physical impact was operationalised using 3 items adapted from Solar (2011) and Menny et al (2013) . In measuring psychological impact, we adapted from Solar (2011) -2items and Menny et al (2013) -1item measures. This research established content validity through pre examining the instruments with 10 respondents with five males (MBA students) and five females (MBA students) from one private university.…”