Antecedent factors of the need for information regarding petrochemical complex hazards

Abstract

Information transparency is a relevant factor nowadays. The current legislation has forced hazardous companies to improve their communication policy with the local community, but this entails the difficulty that each individual has a different need for information. This study considers the main antecedents of need for information to explain these differences. The paper analyses, to our knowledge for the first time, the direct influence of personal beliefs about environmental issues on the individual’s need for information. The research focused on the residents (992) of an area near to a petrochemical complex. The results, derived from the structural equation modelling analysis, confirmed the influence of environmental beliefs, trust in companies and negative affective response on the need for information. In the light of these results, we recommend that the companies of the complex develop a risk communication policy based on personal environmental beliefs, in order to understand the public’s concerns and their needs for risk information. Finally, the analysed companies need to see risk communication as a long-term and ongoing process that involves active dialogue and enables stakeholders’ participation, with the aim of establishing a communication network.