Quelling Concerns About Rooftops: Do Risk‐Communication Strategies Influence Public Acceptance of 5G Base Stations in China?

The rapid and nationwide expansion of fifth-generation (5G) wireless cellular technology infrastructure in China has prompted serious public concerns, predominantly due to the potential adverse health effects of electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure from 5G base stations. The literature offers mixed results regarding the effectiveness of risk communication on public concerns about EMF exposure from base stations. An online survey experiment with 815 adults in Shanghai examined how different strategies of risk communication could enhance public acceptance. We manipulated the framing of intervention materials (loss- vs. gain-framed) and their information source (government, industry, or civil society). Our analysis revealed that government and industry sources, compared to civil society, were more effective in increasing public support. Additionally, gain frames generated more acceptance than loss frames. Furthermore, participants held higher levels of competence-based trust in government and industry, but no significant difference in care-based trust was detected between government and the other two sources. Both dimensions of trust were critical for public acceptance. These results suggest that the Chinese government, along with professional private sectors, could leverage emerging media platforms to foster support. These results also highlight the need for the Chinese government to address the lack of public care-based trust, especially in the context of centralized 5G deployment.