Communicating Air Quality Index Information: Effects of Different Styles on Individuals’ Risk Perception and Precaution Intention

Air Quality Index (AQI) is information about atmospheric pollutants, which is essential for governments to inform the public about the current air quality and potential health risks. By analyzing the AQIs from 11 countries (regions), we discovered considerable variations in the design of AQI information, which may open up room for unintended interpretation from the public. Therefore, as an attempt to address the inefficiency of some common styles of AQI information in promoting the public’s precaution against bad air and better design such information, an online experiment with a 2 (descriptor: neutral vs. negatively valenced) × 2 (target groups in AQI warning messages: vague vs. specific) factorial design was conducted to test the effects of such information on individuals’ risk perception and precaution intention. The results indicated that AQI information with a neutral descriptor was associated with lower self-risk perception and precaution intention levels than with a negatively valenced one. Among the individuals not included in the at-risk groups, those who read the warning messages with vague target groups had a higher third-person perception toward smog risk than those targeting specific population groups. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.