Influence of fear on road users' attitudes and behaviour towards road safety campaigns

Abstract

In the field of road safety, awareness campaigns play an essential role in promoting responsible behavior on the roads. However, it is important to understand how emotions (particularly fear), can influence road users' attitudes and behavior towards prevention campaigns. This study is part of a vast field of research, that of persuasive communication and, more specifically, advertising effectiveness using fear as a means of persuasion. Its aim is to examine the influence of fear on road users' attitudes and behavior towards road safety campaigns. The methodology used in our study stems from the positivist paradigm and the hypothetico-deductive approach. Data were collected from a questionnaire sent to a sample of 230 students. These students were subjected to an experiment manipulating the fear emotion under study. SPSS 26 was used for principal component analysis, and AMOS 23 for testing the convergent and discriminant validity of the different constructs through structural equation modeling. The results show that fear has a positive effect on road users' intention to behave. However, fear had no effect on attitudes towards prevention campaigns. From these results, theoretical and managerial contributions were highlighted.  Public and private organizations will find in this research a framework for analyzing the prerequisites for developing fear-based campaigns to combat road accidents.

Keywords: Attitude, behavior, fear, prevention campaigns.

Classification JEL: M31

Type of article: Empirical research