Components of perceived risk for consumer products

Three studies were conducted to discover the underlying components of perceived risk. The first two studies examined two statistically and qualitatively different lists of rating items, and demonstrated that a principal components solution could produce similar results between them. These two solutions demonstrated that, when forming perceptions about risk, people consider the Hazardousness of potential risks, their Familiarity with the products, and the Technological nature of the risks. The third experiment extended previous findings by considering subject, as well as product, characteristics. This study demonstrated that there were three distinct subject types: Fearful, Fearless and Informed. These subject groups attended to different product information when forming perceptions of risk. In all, these studies provide a more complete understanding of the nature of risk perception