Revisiting and Adapting Slovic’s (1987) Risk Dimensions in the Context of Modern Travel and Post-COVID Era

Abstract

At least 35 years have passed since Slovic's (1987) seminal article on the ‘Perception of Risk’, wherein the conceptual foundations for understanding general risk and the psychometric properties underlying how individuals perceive risks were laid. Over the same time span, research on risk perception in the context of travel has become voluminous and recurrent. It is therefore fitting that in a modern, post-COVID age, Slovic's theory of risk perception is re-examined in the travel context, given the recent dramatic transformation of travel, the emergence of novel tourism-related risks and persistent scholarly attempts to understand travel risk theory. Using modern data mining methods and content analysis techniques, this chapter examines the stability and validity of long-standing categories and taxonomies of perceived travel risks, based on data archived in a sizeable database of scholarly studies related to travel risk (n = 17,790 studies), across an extensive 35-year period from 1990 to 2022. Findings infer two higher-order dimensions that likely underpin the taxonomic organization and relational ordering of different travel risk types and clusters. Findings also suggest a possible shift from Slovic's original theory in the way risks are perceived, at least in the travel context.

Citation

Dioko, L.(.A.N. (2023), "Revisiting and Adapting Slovic’s (1987) Risk Dimensions in the Context of Modern Travel and Post-COVID Era", Seabra, C. and Korstanje, M.E. (Ed.) Safety and Tourism (Tourism Security-Safety and Post Conflict Destinations), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 31-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-811-420231003