Promoting voluntary risk detection behaviour: an intervention study based on trending social norms combined with emotional appeals

Well-owners are exposed to substantial health risks but rarely test their water and infrequently maintain their wells. We designed and tested an intervention aimed to promote voluntairy risk detection behavioiur. The intervention was based on a trending social norm message (suggesting an increasing trend of well-owners testing their wells) with emotional appeals. Two emotional appeals were used: fear frames (an indication of the severity of the risk) and worry appeals (indication of how many well-owners worried about contamination risks). In an online experiment, 262 Irish private well-owners were randomly allocated to six different risk communication messages that followed the design described above. The results showed a trending social norm message combined with a strong worry appraisal primarily raised levels of worry which, in turn, influenced attitudes towards water testing and behavioural intentions to maintain wells. Our results illustrate the potential of stressing a trending social norm and worry appraisal to promote voluntary risk detection behaviours.