TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Consumers' risk perception of household cleaning and washing products
JO  - Risk analysis
A1  - Bearth, Angela
A1  - Miesler, Linda
A1  - Siegrist, Michael
SP  - 647
EP  - 660
VL  - 37
IS  - 4
N2  - A large share of accidental and nonaccidental poisonings are caused by household cleaning and washing products, such as drain cleaner or laundry detergent. The main goal of this article was to investigate consumers' risk perception and misconceptions of a variety of cleaning and washing products in order to inform future risk communication efforts. For this, a sorting task including 33 commonly available household cleaning and washing products was implemented. A total of 60 female consumers were asked to place the cleaning and washing products on a reference line 3 m in length with the poles "dangerous" and "not dangerous." The gathered data were analyzed qualitatively and by means of multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and linear regression. The dimensionality of the sorting data suggests that both analytically (i.e., written and graphical hazard notes and perceived effectiveness) and intuitively driven risk judgments (i.e., eco vs. regular products) were applied by the participants. Furthermore, results suggest the presence of misconceptions, particularly related to consumers' perceptions of eco cleaning products, which were generally regarded as safer than their regular counterparts. Future risk communication should aim at dispelling these misconceptions and promoting accurate risk perceptions of particular household cleaning and washing products.<br><br>© 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0272-4332
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/risa.12635
ID  - ref1
ER  -