Source Credibility in Environmental Health - Risk Controversies: Application of Meyer's Credibility Index

This article applies an existing five‐item index for measuring source credibility in the context of environmental health – risk controversy. Survey data were gathered in five upstate New York communities facing environmental health – risk issues. Analysis of the five case studies and a combined data...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Risk analysis 2001-06, Vol.21 (3), p.467-480
Main Authors: McComas, Katherine A., Trumbo, Craig W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication
Credibility
Data Collection
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Environmental Health
Humans
Models, Theoretical
New York
Perception
Public Health
Risk
Risk Assessment
Risk communication
risk judgment
risk perception
trust
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article applies an existing five‐item index for measuring source credibility in the context of environmental health – risk controversy. Survey data were gathered in five upstate New York communities facing environmental health – risk issues. Analysis of the five case studies and a combined dataset (N= 870) show that the credibility index was consistently reliable across all applications. Use of the resulting index is demonstrated through a comparison of the credibility of the New York State Department of Health (active in each case), the industries associated with each case, and the newspaper providing coverage of each case. The credibility index was used to predict risk judgments in a structural equation model. Overall, the analysis demonstrated that the credibility index performed consistently well across the five cases and illuminated important differences in each. As such, the index should be a useful addition to many environmental health and risk communication studies.
ISSN:0272-4332
1539-6924
DOI:10.1111/0272-4332.213126