Source credibility and the effectiveness of firewise information
2007
Bright, Alan D. | Carlos, Andrew W Don | Vaske, Jerry J. | Absher, James D.
Understanding how residents of the wildlandurban interface (WUI) react to information about firewise behavior can enhance efforts to communicate safety information to the public. This study explored the multiple roles of source credibility on the elaboration and impact of messages about conducting firewise behaviors in the WUI. A mail-back survey to residents of the wildland-urban interface in Colorado measured their response to information flyers about firewise behaviors for protecting homes. Using the elaboration likelihood model as the conceptual framework, source credibility, message clarity, elaboration, and behavior change were measured related to the flyers. Results indicated that source credibility was an important factor influencing the likelihood that information would change behavior and that the ability of respondents to understand the information influenced elaboration of that message. Implications include joint communication efforts across several agencies and development of messages that consider their clarity and the credibility of the source.
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