Compliance with social norms in the face of risks: Delineating the roles of uncertainty about risk perceptions versus risk perceptions

Abstract

Social norms are often considered as behavioral guidelines to mitigate health and environmental risks. However, our understanding of the magnitude of their impact on risk‐mitigating behaviors and how perceptions of risks affect the magnitude remains limited. Given the increasing importance of understanding factors influencing behavioral responses to health and environmental risks, this research examines whether the relationship between social norms and behavioral intention to mitigate health and environmental risks is a function of (1) risk perceptions and (2) uncertainty about risk perceptions. A cross‐sectional survey involving a national sample (N = 803) across three health and environmental risks (i.e., infectious diseases, climate change, and water shortage) is conducted. The results reveal a three‐way interaction between descriptive norms, uncertainty about susceptibility, and uncertainty about severity on behavioral intention to mitigate the risk. Individuals exhibit the strongest intention to engage in risk‐mitigating behaviors when they perceive prevailing social norms and are uncertain about their susceptibility to the risk and the severity of the risk. Moreover, injunctive norms interact with uncertainty about susceptibility to influence behavioral intention, such that the more uncertain individuals feel about their vulnerability to a risk, the stronger the impact of injunctive norms is on behavioral intention. Neither descriptive nor injunctive norms interact with perceived risks to influence behavioral intention. This study contributes valuable insights into the interplay between social norms, uncertainty about perceived risk, and behavioral intention, and offers valuable theoretical and practical implications.