No description available.

Mankind is facing major challenges with climate change. Heatwaves are one of the biggest climate risks in Sweden in the future, in terms of how serious the consequences will be and the probability that it will occur. Heatwaves can affect all individuals, but mainly affects different risk groups like young children. To reduce children's vulnerability to climate risks, adults like preschool educators assumes to take responsibility and protect children. The purpose of the study is to investigate the educators' risk perception regarding heatwaves and whether adaptation measures is used to reduce vulnerabilities with heatwaves in preschools.To investigate this, a questionnaire study with open and closed questions was used, and answered by educators working in Forshaga Municipality. The results shows that the respondents have a good knowledge, the majority believe that the risk is likely to occur in pre-schools within 5 years and in a ranking with other climate-related risks, heatwaves is the highest risk. A few differences in risk perception have been identified. But there is a consensus about the risk among the respondents. Vulnerabilities exist in preschools due to exposure to the risk, sensitivity arises through increased workload and lack of recovery and adaptability is deficient. A few minor adaptation measures are available, but the results show that adaptions are partly or completely missing. An example is that there is no organizational readiness and there is a great potential for improvement within adaptation measures, so that preschools in Forshaga Municipality will be able to handle heatwaves in the future / Mänskligheten står inför stora utmaningar med klimatförändringarna. Värmebölja anses i framtiden vara en av de största klimatriskerna i Sverige, sett till allvarliga konsekvenserna är och sannolikheten att det inträffar. Värmebölja kan påverka alla individer, men drabbar främst olika riskgrupper som exempelvis småbarn. För att minska barns sårbarhet inför klimatrisker,förutsätts vuxna som till exempel pedagoger i förskolan ta ansvar och skydda barnen. Syftet med studien är att undersöka pedagogernas riskuppfattning om värmebölja och om anpassningsåtgärder vidtas för att minska sårbarheter med värmebölja i förskolan. För att undersöka detta har en enkätstudie med öppna och slutna frågor genomförts, med pedagogersom arbetar inom Forshaga Kommuns förskolor.Resultatet visar på en god upplevd kunskap hos respondenterna, majoriteten anser att riskensannolikt kommer inträffa på förskolan inom 5 år och i en rangordning med andra klimatrelaterade risker värderas värmebölja högst. Några få skillnader inom riskuppfattninghar identifierats, men finns generellt en samsyn om risken hos respondenterna. Sårbarheter finns i förskolorna genom att exponering av risken sker, känslighet kan uppstå av faktorer som ökad arbetsbelastning och avsaknad av återhämtning samt anpassningsförmåga är bristfällig. Vissa enklare anpassningsåtgärder finns att tillgå, men resultatet visar att åtgärder saknas delvis eller helt. Exempel är att organisatorisk beredskap inte finns etablerat och finns en stor förbättringspotential inom anpassningsåtgärder, för att förskolor i Forshaga Kommun ska kunna hantera värmeböljor i framtiden.

No description available.

This project deals with exploring 1) travel-related health risk perception, and 2) actions taken to mitigate that health risk. Ordered logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with the perceived risk of contracting influenza at work, school, daycare, stores, restaurants, libraries, hospitals, doctor’s offices, public transportation, and family or friends’ homes. Based on the models, factors influencing risk perception of contracting influenza in public places for discretionary activities (stores, restaurants, and libraries) are consistent but differ from models of discretionary social visits to someone’s home. Mandatory activities (work, school, daycare) seem to have a few unique factors (e.g., age, gender, work exposure), as do different types of health-related visits (hospitals, doctors’ offices). Across all of the models, recent experience with the virus, of either an individual or a household member, was the most consistent set of factors increasing risk perception. Using such factors in examining transportation implications will require tracking virus outbreaks for use in conjunction with other factors. Subsequently, social-health risk mitigation strategies were studied with the objective of understanding how risk perception influences an individual’s protective behavior. For this objective, this study analyzes travel-actions associated with two scenarios during an outbreak of influenza: 1) A sick person avoiding spreading the disease and 2) A healthy person avoiding getting in contact with the disease. Ordered logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with mitigation behavior in the first scenario: visiting a doctor’s office, avoiding public places, avoiding public transit, staying at home; and in the second scenario: avoiding public places, avoiding public transit, staying at home. Based on the models for Scenario 1, the factors affecting the decision of avoiding public places, avoiding public transit, and staying at home were fairly consistent but differ for visiting a doctor’s office. However, Scenario 2 models were consistent with their counterpart mitigation models in Scenario 1 except for two factors: gender and household characteristics. Across all the models from Scenario 1, gender was the most significant factor, and for Scenario 2, the most significant factor was the ratio of household income to the household size. / Master of Science

This thesis aims to understand the risks faced by organizations operating in Northern Sweden when making decisions about digitalization. Through empirical analysis and discussion, the study investigates the influence of hindsight bias on risk perception and the decision-making process. The findings indicate that there is an arguable elevated level of hindsight bias is observed among all participants, with varying intentions behind this bias. One specific case highlights the influence of external decision-makers and the implications of their expertise. While an organization is acting in good faith by seeking advice from individuals of expertise as external decision-makers, who prioritize utility-maximizing choices, it exposes the organization to potential non-perceivable risks. The study reveals that individuals tend to overlook the risks associated with digitalization until they face tangible implications. However, the perception of risks is not artificially altered by expertise level, but rather triggered by occurrences. Moreover, the study identifies a pattern of elevated levels of hindsight bias, primarily in terms of foreseeability, coupled with a motivation for self-esteem. This pattern emphasizes the lack of communication regarding digitalization risks, which contributes to overconfidence and myopia in the decision-making process. The empirical analysis supports the notion that positive perceptions of digitalization and a failure to acknowledge possible implications result in individuals overseeing risks. Consequently, organizations in Northern Sweden run the risk of overconfidence and oversight if they fail to question the basis of their digitalization decisions or the motives and biases of their employees involved in the decision-making process.  In conclusion, this thesis reveals that the risks faced by organizations operating in Northern Sweden when making decisions about digitalization include a failure to perceive digitalization risks due to preconceived positive perceptions, which affects both employees and decision-makers, concluded from a two-perspective investigation. This behavior puts organizations at risk of overconfidence, particularly in the context of hindsight bias. Finally, the study responds to a research question inquired by past research and confirms that overconfidence reduces the availability of risks in the case of Northern Sweden.

<p>Cell phone use while driving is one of the commonest distracted driving behaviors that causes fatal crashes, and drivers are more likely to use their cell phones in work zones because of slow-moving traffic. The road safety campaign literature suggests that persuasive messages can positively influence safe driving behaviors leading to a reduction in crashes. Thus, this dissertation, guided by the risk perception attitude (RPA) framework, sought to examine how tailored messaging could serve as an effective communication strategy to promote positive attitudes and behavioral intentions in the context of cell phone use avoidance while driving through highway work zones. Findings from two studies, using a college student sample and a national sample of US young adults between 18 and 24 years old, revealed that the RPA framework likely does not serve as a useful audience segmentation strategy in this context because an overwhelming majority of participants (about 87%) belonged to the responsive group. A tailored messaging approach did not influence cell phone use avoidance while driving attitudes and intentions among the young adults because the majority of participants (70%) felt the messages were not designed uniquely for them and might not be personally relevant to them. However, the majority of participants (62%) reported that highway work zone safety was an important topic they would want to receive future messaging about because messages about this topic would help to save lives and protect public safety, drastically reduce crashes in highway work zones, and promote safe driving behaviors in highway work zones. Participants who were aware of the existence of state laws banning cell phone use while driving reported slightly higher attitudes toward and intentions to engage in safe driving behaviors compared to those who were not aware of the existence of such state laws. This dissertation suggests that instead of creating messages to raise risk perceptions and enhance efficacy perceptions, informing the young adult population in the US about the existence of laws banning cell phone use while driving might be an effective means to discourage them from using their cell phones while driving through highway work zones. By extending the RPA framework as an audience segmentation strategy, this dissertation also proposes a responsive group classification framework which could serve as a useful audience segmentation strategy in this study context to classify audiences into four groups to effectively tailor messages to them.</p>

Pandemiberedskap är central ur ett säkerhets- och folkhälsoperspektiv. Uppsatsens fokus ligger på existentiell riskuppfattning i Folkhälsomyndighetens pandemiberedskapsplaner från 2019 och 2023. För analysen detta används ett perspektiv som utvecklats av en medicinsk antropolog vid namn Christos Lynteris. På engelska kallar han perspektivet för pandemic imaginary som grovt översatt till svenska blir pandemiska imaginär. Syftet är att undersöka hur riskuppfattningen för närvarande är konstruerad och hur den har förändrats från 2019 till 2023, åren för COVID-19-pandemin. Denna studie kommer inte att undersöka processerna bakom riskuppfattningen, utan enbart hur riskstrukturen ser ut och hur den har förändrats. Studien undersöker hur konceptet hot och värden har förskjutits både i direkta termer som det presenteras i beredskapsplanerna för pandemier och från ett perspektiv av pandemiska imaginär som hjälper till att förklara hur vissa metanarrativ har förskjutits från en mer existentiellt inriktad riskuppfattning 2019 till ett mindre existentiellt inriktat perspektiv 2023. Detta görs genom en kvalitativ systematisk och diskursiv läsning av beredskapsplanerna med fokus på teorin om pandemiska imaginär och riskuppfattning. Resultaten visade en förskjutning från en lågt existentiellt inriktad hotbild 2019 till en ännu lägre existentiellt inriktad hotbild 2023, som kort sagt kan sägas skapa en bild av pandemihotet som icke-existentiellt hotande och likartat till den omfattning som COVID-19 och de influensapandemier som har varit de senaste århundradets pandemier. Det visade också en förskjutning mot ett ökad fokus på individuell frihet och framställde motåtgärderna som tas mot pandemin som ett av de mest centrala hoten i ett pandemiscenario, det vill säga att röra sig bort från död och sjukdom som huvudkaraktär av en pandemi till att en pandemi är en kris och en orsak till samhällsstörning som drabbar individen. Denna uppsats är skriven på engelska.

In this doctoral thesis, I present four studies aim at investigating the role of affective and emotional reactions in shaping people’s risk-taking behaviors in conditions of uncertainty. In the first two studies, I use the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) in the attempt to mimic real-life conditions of uncertainty in a laboratory setting. In Study 1 (Chapter 3), I manipulate IGT decks by associating the hearing of a highly unpleasant sound to the moment of selection from Bad (Congruent condition) or Good decks (Incongruent condition) to make participants experience a negative affective reaction towards them. Drawing on the affect heuristic and the SMH, I expect that this unpleasant reaction will lead participants to avoid the manipulated decks, thus having a detrimental effect when it is associated with Good decks (i.e., lower selections from the long-term advantageous Good decks) and a beneficial effect when it is associated with the Bad ones instead (i.e., lower selections from the long-term disadvantageous Bad decks). In Study 2 (Chapter 4), I replicate Study 1’s design to detect a similar effect while using an emotional reaction of disgust, induced by a disgust-eliciting image, in line with assumptions on the role of discrete, incidental emotions in decision-making. In both Study 1 and Study 2, I also investigate the generation of somatic markers in terms of enhanced autonomic activation measuring anticipatory SCR as in classical IGT studies. Moreover, in the attempt to reach a deeper understanding of this mechanism, I also include measures of heart rate (Study 1 and Study 2) and pupil dilation (Study 2) as suggested in previous studies presented in the first chapter. In the last two studies instead, I investigate the effect of emotional reactions on health-related risk-taking behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Study 3 (Chapter 5), I explore how the frame used in the media (positive frame: number of recovered vs negative frame: number of dead) to communicate information about the pandemic and the comparison between the COVID-19 and the seasonal flu can influence citizens compliance with self-protective behaviors through the mediation of emotional reaction (i.e., worry) and risk perception as suggested by the affect heuristic and the risk as feelings framework. Moreover, I also compare results from three different European samples (Italian vs Austrian vs English). Last, in Study 4 (Chapter 6), I investigate the effect of six information formats (five numerical and one verbal) commonly used in the media to report COVID-19 mortality rates on citizens' emotional reactions, risk perception and intention to comply with recommended self-protective behaviors against the virus.

Contract selection is at the forefront of risk management and mitigation, yet it is an underrepresented area of research in supply chain management field as well as the influences of individual-level risk propensity and risk perception on supply chain decision-making processes. This dissertation explores effects of managerial risk propensity and risk perception on contract selection through the theoretical lens of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE), using a vignette-based experimental research design. This body of work introduces both a first-ever systemmigram of TCE in relation to contract selection, and a novel measurement scale for TCE contract typology. Furthermore, this dissertation tests the TCE predictions towards contract selection and explores the moderating role of financial risk propensity and risk perception (cost vs. supplier performance) on contract selection. The main theoretical contribution of this research is the opening of an old debate on the risk neutrality assumption of TCE, by providing empirical evidence that individual-level risk propensity and perception effect contract selection. The practical implications are significant and points out to the need for a better fit between individual-level and firm-level risk propensity.

Approximately 47,700 pedestrians were killed between the years of 2000 - 2009. School buses are one of the safest modes of transportation (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2004). However, the Central Florida school district eliminated bus transportation within the 2-mile radius from schools just last year. Children must prepare for an alternative mode of transportation; walking and biking. The purpose of this research was two-fold. First to develop an online safety training program for elementary school children; and second, a self-report questionnaire was constructed and piloted to measure how safety training and school infrastructure affects students' pedestrian risk-taking attitudes and risk perceptions to avoid the dangers of walking and biking to and from school. A 2x2 Factorial Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to test two categorical independent variables (safety awareness training, school infrastructure) for each of the two continuous dependent variables (pedestrian risk-taking attitudes and risk perceptions of pedestrian behavior). Using data from the pilot study, the researcher developed, self-reported questionnaires demonstrated that there was a significant difference between schools. Those receiving the training had lower mean scores in risk-taking attitudes than those who did not receive the training. Regardless of intervention, School 2 (complete infrastructure) takes fewer risks than School 1(incomplete infrastructure). The mean difference between groups was not statistically significant.