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Abstract
This study advances the understanding of risk information seeking and processing by examining the potential roles of psychological distance and emotional appeal in environmental risk messages from the perspective of Generation Z (Gen Z). This research also investigates the empirical relationships among psychological distance, emotional appeal, risk information seeking and processing, and subsequent risk-related responses in the context of environmental communication. A multi-stage research procedure was conducted to test several hypotheses and research questions. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of four fictitious articles on climate change embedded in an online survey as part of a between-subjects experiment. After reading the given message, participants engaged in real information-seeking activities through virtual AI-generated chats in the online survey. This online experimental study utilized a between-subjects experiment with a representative sample of 320 Gen Z individuals in the United States, in which two manipulated factors—psychological distance (proximal vs. distal distance) and emotional appeal (fear vs. hope)—were considered.
An analysis of the effects of these manipulated factors on cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses revealed three key findings. First, socio-demographic factors such as gender and political orientation were found to influence environmental risk-related responses to the manipulated environmental message. Second, interaction effects were observed between psychological distance and emotional appeal in relation to perceived hope. Notably, distal and positive emotion (i.e., hope)-induced messages were found to be more effective for Gen Z, leading to higher acceptance of environmental messages and encouraging future information-seeking behaviors. Lastly, information insufficiency showed a stronger predictor of actual information seeking activities. The theoretical and practical implications of strategic environmental communication are also highlighted.