The Effect of Social Trust on Citizens’ Risk Perception in the Context of a Petrochemical Industrial Complex

This article research focuses on the effect of social trust on citizens’ risk perception in the context of a petrochemical complex.

This article was written by three Associate Professors at Jaume I University: Miguel Ángel López-Navarro, Jaume Llorens-Monzonís and Vicente Tortosa-Edo. It is the first article published by these authors regarding the topic of citizens’ risk perception. The last one has been an article called: How do perceived CPA and political CSR interact in their relationships with citizens’ trust in companies?

The main contribution of the article is that it corroborates the different effect on citizens’ risk perception of their trust in public authorities and trust in n corporations.

Perceived risk of environmental threats often translates into psychological stress
with a wide range of effects on health and well-being. Petrochemical industrial complexes
constitute one of the sites that can cause considerable pollution and health problems. The
uncertainty around emissions results in a perception of risk for citizens residing in
neighboring areas, which translates into anxiety and physiological stress. In this context,
social trust is a key factor in managing the perceived risk. In the case of industrial risks, it
is essential to distinguish between trust in the companies that make up the industry, and
trust in public institutions. In the context of a petrochemical industrial complex located in
the port of Castellón (Spain), this paper primarily discusses how trust—both in the
companies located in the petrochemical complex and in the public institutions—affects
citizens’’ health risk perception. The research findings confirm that while the trust in
companies negatively affects citizens’’ health risk perception, trust in public institutions
does not exert a direct and significant effect. Analysis also revealed that trust in public
institutions and health risk perception are essentially linked indirectly (through trust in
companies).

Keywords: petrochemical industry; citizens’ health risk perception; social trust; trust in
companies; trust in public institutions.

The article was published on the International Journal of Environmental Research Public Health (2013), January, Vol 10 No. 1, pp. 399-416.