Other
Community level influence on individual behaviours - final project report
(2014)
Abstract
When bushfires occur, many of the people who confront them are ill
prepared
to take actions which
would
mitigat
e risk to life and property
; others are well prepared
. There also appear to be large
differences between communities in their preparedness, as well as in other characteristics which may
be important in determining property owners' perceptions of risk and th
eir subsequent preparedness.
As yet, there appears to be no systematic account of the nature of these community differences and
what effect they have on individual preparedness. Nor has there been any concerted effort to
disentangle
individual
characteris
tics
from
community influences
.
Th
e stu
dies
described in this report were
designed to fill this gap and to identif
y those community
characteristics which
influence
fire preparedness and danger management.
By preparedness, we refer
to actions undertaken by householders prior to the occurrence of a bushfire (i.e. where bushfire poses
a distal, rather than immediate threat). In particular, we sought to examine the extent to which
individuals are influenced by
their local communities in their perceptions of risk and their judgments
about their capacity to influence outcomes, as well as the subsequent impact this has on individual
action.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
Citation Information
Morrison, D., Lawrence, C., and Oehman, R. (2014). Community level influence on individual behaviours - final project report. A report to the Bushfire CRC, Western Australia.