The effect of risk and crisis communication on the helping behavior during a virtual crisis situation

Risk and crisis communication serve as helpful resources to improve one’s awareness of crisis situations and threats. This study examines the influence of risk and crisis communication to the behavior and the decision-making processes. It is a 3 (risk communication) x2 (crisis communication) between-subject design. In the study students of the University of Twente participate. During this study, participants were placed in a virtual crisis simulation and we were interested what behavior citizens showed during a crisis situation. Also, we were interested in the participants’ risk perception, information sufficiency and satisfaction of information. Results showed that risk communication had no impact on the behavior participants showed but crisis communication did had an influence on the behavior to a limited extent. Crisis communication had an influence on calling the emergencies, moving the victim and satisfaction of the information.