TY - JOUR
T1 - Risk perception, trust and public engagement in nuclear decision-making in Hong Kong
AU - Mah, Daphne Ngar-yin
AU - Hills, Peter
AU - Tao, Julia
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge with gratitude the funding support of the University Grants Committee (project title: Effective governance for energy security in Hong Kong: improving public engagement and public trust in nuclear decision-making; Project No.: HKBU/HKU7005-PPR-11) and the Start-up Grant for New Academics from the Hong Kong Baptist University for the project. We would also like to thank Kaboo Po-yi Leung and Jasper Chi-man Ip for providing research support to this project. We are grateful to Prof. C.K. Woo at Hong Kong Baptist University for his advice during the questionnaire design and statistical analysis phases of the project. We thank our two reviewers for their very helpful and constructive comments. Responsibility for any errors or omissions rests entirely with the authors.
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - The extent to which nuclear energy can be a feasible energy option has re-emerged as a subject of widespread debate following the Fukushima accident in Japan. However, relatively little is known about how public inputs can improve nuclear decision-making. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of public opinions regarding nuclear energy by examining its risk perception, trust and public engagement dimensions. Based on a survey of Hong Kong residents (n=509), we make some observations. Firstly, we offer empirical evidence that affirms the theoretical connections between risk perception, trust, and public engagement in the context of nuclear energy. Secondly, our logistic regression analysis indicates that demographics, trust, and perceptions of the efficacy of public engagement are factors explaining perceptions of greater risks and nuclear opposition. Thirdly, our conceptual model sheds light on the complexity of the trust concept, and specifies aspects of trust that are influential in the contexts of risk perception and nuclear choices. Our findings suggest that the Hong Kong government must ensure trust building receives prominent attention in nuclear decision-making, and that it should avoid excessive reliance on the business sector and should assume a key role for itself in enhancing trust in nuclear decision-making.
AB - The extent to which nuclear energy can be a feasible energy option has re-emerged as a subject of widespread debate following the Fukushima accident in Japan. However, relatively little is known about how public inputs can improve nuclear decision-making. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of public opinions regarding nuclear energy by examining its risk perception, trust and public engagement dimensions. Based on a survey of Hong Kong residents (n=509), we make some observations. Firstly, we offer empirical evidence that affirms the theoretical connections between risk perception, trust, and public engagement in the context of nuclear energy. Secondly, our logistic regression analysis indicates that demographics, trust, and perceptions of the efficacy of public engagement are factors explaining perceptions of greater risks and nuclear opposition. Thirdly, our conceptual model sheds light on the complexity of the trust concept, and specifies aspects of trust that are influential in the contexts of risk perception and nuclear choices. Our findings suggest that the Hong Kong government must ensure trust building receives prominent attention in nuclear decision-making, and that it should avoid excessive reliance on the business sector and should assume a key role for itself in enhancing trust in nuclear decision-making.
KW - Nuclear energy
KW - Trust
KW - Public engagement
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905371134&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.05.019
DO - 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.05.019
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84905371134
SN - 0301-4215
VL - 73
SP - 368
EP - 390
JO - Energy Policy
JF - Energy Policy
ER -