Factors Influencing Public Risk Perception of Emerging Technologies: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The development and application of emerging technologies pose many social risks, which raise public concerns. Various factors influence the public risk perception of emerging technologies, and a systematic and accurate understanding of these factors plays a vital role in promoting the sustainable development of emerging technologies. Considerable inconsistency and ambiguity exist in the influence of relevant factors on the public risk perception of emerging technologies in existing studies, which need to be explored systematically and comprehensively through meta-analysis. This study constructs an analytical framework of “technology–psychology–society” and conducts a meta-analysis of 272 papers, including 449 correlations and 191,195 samples. The results show that perceived benefit, knowledge, innovativeness, trust, and social influence have significant negative effects on risk perception. Perceived cost has a significant positive effect on risk perception. Gender and cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism–collectivism, and masculinity–femininity have moderating effects on the relationship between relevant factors and risk perception; the type of emerging technology, age, and the cultural dimension of long-term/short-term orientation do not have moderating effects. Based on the above findings, this study proposes corresponding suggestions from the perspectives of R&D, application, and management of emerging technologies.