Study On Residents' Fire Risk Mitigation Behavior And Information Communication Mechanism In Old Chinese Building Complexes

Due to the extensive use of wood building materials in old Chinese buildings,the characteristic internal structure of "furnace structure",compact planning of the buildings and narrow streets,and moreover,the overexploitation of tourism economic value in those scenic spots,the Old Chinese building complexes are high fire risk spaces.Human factors are primarily responsible for such fires.However,the limited interests of individuals in adopting protective measures prior to risks that threaten their personal and property safety have been reported by the previous literature and researchers.Thus,personal fire risk mitigation behaviors can be significant in reducing damage from fire hazards,which is one of the most important goal of fire risk management.Insights into fire risk mitigation behavior are crucial for developing a public-private integrated fire-resistant management strategy that motivates contribution from households to fire risk reduction.Risk communication is crucial in generating individual fire risk mitigation behavior.Thus,the influencing mechanism of risk communication in risk mitigation behavior is meaningful.This study is dedicated to exploring the various factors that affect residents' fire risk mitigation behavior,and the influencing mechanism of risk information on information processing,cognitive process and fire risk mitigation behavior.Based on the data collected from three typical ancient Chinese complexes in Anhui province,this study focuses on the following three aspects:(1)Researching on the factors that affect fire risk mitigation behavior.This research focus on the effects of cognitive factors on fire mitigation behavior based on protection motivation theory(PMT).By using data from three typical ancient Chinese complexes,we explore the influencing factors of three types of fire risk mitigation behaviors with Logit regression model.Four intrapersonal factors are considered:threat appraisal,coping appraisal,risk attitudes and socio-economic characteristics.The three fire risk mitigation behaviors are:maintenance and daily cautions for fire protection,structural building measures,and willingness to join fire insurance policy.Results indicate that coping appraisal and risk attitudes are important variables in terms of risk mitigation behavior.Based on the results,individuals are more likely to adopt risk reduction behaviors to protect themselves as their beliefs in the effectiveness of the proposed response behaviors,and their own ability to adopt such behaviors increase.Furthermore,risk attitudes are important in explaining fire risk mitigation behaviors,people unwilling to take risks about their health will be more careful with their safety and conduct fire risk mitigation behaviors.Property is an important factor in influencing fire risk mitigation behaviors,respondents do try to protect their property.(2)Researching on the influencing mechanism of risk information on fire risk mitigation behaviors.The influencing mechanism of risk information in generating behavioral reactions is considered in the context of fire risk.We investigate homeowners' responses to risk information and how their cognitive processes influence their risk reduction behaviors by using data from three typical old Chinese building complexes.By integrating the PADM model and risk communication theory into the stages of PMT,a new hypothetical model was constructed,which describes how risk information and different types of cognitive processes and subjective knowledge affect risk reduction behaviors.Using a path analytic framework,our results indicate that the effects of risk information on risk reduction behaviors are mediated by subjective knowledge and coping appraisal.Both the information content(the content of information received)and observed information(observing risk reduction behaviors that others have taken)play key roles in motivating risk reduction behaviors.Risk information factors affect personal fire risk reduction behaviors by increasing people's subjective knowledge,perceived response efficacy,and the self-efficacy of the preparedness measures.These intervening factors(subjective knowledge and coping appraisal)also increase fire risk reduction behaviors.(3)Researching on the influencing mechanism of information processing on fire risk mitigation behaviors.The influencing mechanism of risk information processing in triggering behavioral reactions is considered.By integrating the RISP model and risk communication theory into the stages of PMT,a new hypothetical model was constructed,which considers the intermediary role of information milling in risk information and cognitive process,and fire risk mitigation behavior.Based on the data collected from three typical ancient Chinese complexes in Anhui province,the study use structural modeling(SEM)to verify the hypothesis model.In a path analytic framework,our results indicate that subjective knowledge and coping appraisals mediate the relationship between information sources and risk reduction behaviors,and information milling mediate the relationship between information sources and cognitive process.The results show that when people receive information about fire risk,the process of information processing and milling will increase people's perceived knowledge level of fire risk and their awareness of fire risk and the effectiveness of fire risk mitigation,which results in fire risk mitigation behaviors.The process of further understanding,exploration,searching,and confirmation of fire risk information has strengthened the effect of risk information on improving fire risk mitigation behavior.Originality of this study is that:First,this study extends the application scope of the PMT from health risks and natural disasters to building fire risk,and also expands the influencing factors of risk mitigation behaviors proposed by PMT based on literature review.Second,this study clearly defined and classified the comprehensive attributes of fire risk information.Different attributes of risk information includes information content,information density and information observation are defined and measured.Third,this study integrates the PADM model and risk communication theory into the stages of PMT,and constructs a new hypothetical model,which contains a more complete processing of information flow,and gives a better understanding of the influencing mechanism of risk information on fire risk mitigation behaviors.Forth,this study integrates the information processing from RISP into the framework of PMT,and constructed a hypothetical model,which describes the role of information milling in generating cognitive process and fire risk mitigation behaviors.This model extends the research on risk information processing and emphasizes the intermediary role of information milling on cognitive process and subjective knowledge in driving fire risk mitigation behaviors.Fifth,this study chooses old Chinese complexes as empirical research background,the results on the factors that influence residents' fire risk mitigation behaviors and the influencing mechanism of risk information communication provides theoretical and practical basis for fire risk management.