Contribution of Interpersonal Communication to the Effects of a Campaign on Working Safely. G. A. J. van der Rijt, Dptm of Com, KUN, PO Box 9104 6500 HE Nijmegen, Holland
In a research on the effects of a Dutch nation-wide campaign about working safely with carcinogenic substances (see Moonen, Van der Rijt et al., Safety Science, 21 (1995), 131-144), we found considerable positive effects on knowledge and behavior in the target group. We found also significant effects on the amount of interpersonal communication about the issue with colleagues, the management and others (e.g. others: the company doctor). In view of a well-known communication ‘law’, which states that behavioral effects are to be expected with interpersonal communication rather than with mass media communication, we hypothesized, that behavioral effects might be due to the arousal of interpersonal communication by the campaign. In this paper we will test this assumption. Our expectation was that the effect of the campaign on behavior would appear to be spurious if we should take into account the effects on the interpersonal communication. Results of the test point in this direction. Effects of the campaign on behavior disappear or become weaker, when the effects on interpersonal have been controlled for. More unexpectedly we found that some of the knowledge effects disappeared too as a result of the control. These findings suggest a major role for interpersonal communication in safety campaigns and therefore that it is important to try to generate interpersonal communication in such campaigns.
This research is supported by the a grant of the Dutch Cancer Society.
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