From Risk Perception to Action: The Behavioral Forces Shaping Disaster Preparedness

Abstract

The study examines the behavioral forces spanning cognitive, social, and environmental determinants that transform disaster risk perception into tangible preparedness actions. The case study at hand focuses on Bucharest, the European capital with the highest seismic risk. The city has a history of impactful earthquakes, motivated by high physical and social vulnerability levels that overlap. Against this background, a two‐wave cross‐sectional study based on the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was performed in 2024 and 2025, aiming to identify patterns in the relationships among seismic risk perception, attitudes toward disaster preparedness, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, preparedness intention, and willingness to implement preparedness actions. In addition, the influence of demographic characteristics on preparedness intention was assessed based on a composite demographic index. Three different models were inferentially tested, revealing (a) the role of subjective norms in shaping preparedness intentions through their relationship with risk perception, (b) the role of attitude toward preparedness in strengthening subjective norms, and (c) the influence of demographic factors on attitudes toward preparedness. The relative importance of behavioral drivers varies with age: attitudes are more strongly associated with intention among younger participants, whereas subjective norms are more influential among older participants. Another highlight is that attitude predicts subjective norm but not intention to prepare. The observed between‐sample differences are consistent with a pattern in which interpersonal subjective norms appear more salient than broader collective expectations, although no inference about temporal or societal change can be made.