The Influence of Individual Characteristics and Feedback from Key People on the Decision-Making Process of Group Nuclear Protective Behavior

In this article we construct and validate a cross-level conceptual model based on emergence theory and psychodynamics with both mediating and moderating effects to explore the influence of individual characteristics (i.e., rational cognitive ability, herd pressure), groupthink, and feedback from key people (i.e., government, expert) on group protective behavioral intentions in the context of Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) situations. We utilize a tracking experiment approach in which we recruited 35 student teams from a university as respondents and surveyed them three times from 2021 to 2022. The hypotheses of the study from the individual level to the group level were tested using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and indirect effects were tested using RMediation. The results suggest that rational cognitive ability has a negative effect on group protective behavioral intentions via groupthink and that herd pressure has a positive effect on group protective behavioral intentions via groupthink. Further, we also found that positive feedback based on government authority played a positive role in moderating the relationship between group-level risk perception and group protective behavioral intentions, while developmental feedback based on expert prestige had a negative moderating effect. This study enriches and improves theoretical studies on nuclear power risk, which provides innovative practical implications for the formation and control of group protective behavioral intentions under the risk of NIMBY.