RF-EMF Risk Perception and Trust in Radiation Protection Authorities: A Comparative Study on Precautionary...

This study investigates how different types of precautionary information affect risk perception and trust in national radiation protection authorities regarding radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) from mobile communications, with a specific focus on 5G networks. A total of 2169 participants (1040 in Germany, 1129 in Greece) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) basic information, (2) simple precautionary information regarding possibilities to reduce personal RF-EMF exposure while using a mobile phone, and (3) conceptual precautionary information, including an explanation distinguishing "precaution" from "prevention" (1 × 3 factorial design). Contrary to the expectation that simple precautionary messages lead to higher risk perception and lower trust compared to basic messages, this was only the case for general conditional risk perception assuming that no precautions are taken, but not for affective risk perception, trust, or general conditional risk perception assuming that precautions are taken. Notably, providing a more elaborate explanation of the precaution/prevention distinction did not decrease risk perception or increase trust compared to giving simple precautionary information only, and even increased risk perception compared to basic information. This suggests limited benefit in emphasizing this conceptual nuance of precaution. Considering other variables, precautionary information increased feelings of self-efficacy and perception of message consistency. The findings reveal significant country differences: Greek participants reported higher perceived risks and lower trust than German participants. Gender differences also emerged, with women expressing higher risk perception and less trust than men. In contrast to the previous literature, the results suggest that precautionary information concerning personal mobile phone use can be communicated without leading to higher public concern about RF-EMF exposure from mobile communications. However, we found some evidence that adding conceptual explanations to precautionary information leads to higher risk perception. The results also show that considering sociocultural and individual differences in risk communication can be relevant. Possible explanations for the findings and implications for risk communicators are discussed.