The Effects of Emergency Preparedness Communication on People’s Trust, Emotions, and Acceptance of a Nuclear Power Plant

ABSTRACTThe current study employed an experiment (N = 370) to investigate the effects of emergency preparedness communication on people’s trust, emotions and supportive attitudes toward a nuclear power plant. This study considered trust and emotions as mediators and knowledge as a moderator to explain the effect of emergency preparedness communication on individuals’ acceptance of a nuclear power plant. The results showed that emergency preparedness communication enhanced participants’ trust toward a nuclear power plant, while emergency preparedness information increased audiences’ negative emotions and decreased their positive emotions. Trust and emotions cancelled out their effects on acceptance of a nuclear power plant. The findings provide both scholarly and practical implications.