Refining the Interaction Between Social Norms and Uncertainty About Risk Perceptions in Health and Environmental Behaviors: A Cross-Cultural Replication and Extension

The crucial role played by social norms in regulating and guiding risk-mitigating behaviors has inspired numerous studies to advance theories and direct practices. However, this body of research has yet adequately attended to how individuals’ (meta)cognitive appraisals of risks may interact with social norms to affect risk-mitigating behaviors until recently. Expanding previous research and employing a cross-sectional survey (N = 1,249), this study (1) further differentiates risk perceptions and uncertainty about risk perceptions, (2) tests the interaction between two types of social norms and (uncertainty about) risk perceptions, and (3) replicates the findings across two cultural contexts (i.e., Hong Kong, and U.S.). The results show that uncertainty about perceived risk, rather than risk perceptions, affected the magnitudes and directions of the effects of social norms on behavioral intention. Uncertainty about perceived susceptibility attenuates the effect of social norms on behavioral intention, which is then buffered by uncertainty about perceived severity. Although the findings are largely consistent across the two subsamples, cultural variations are also discovered. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.