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Byline: Jiuchang Wei, Dingtao Zhao, Ruiyue Jia, Dora Marinova This paper estimates the environment external costs due to air pollutants via the impacts pathway approach used for ExternE project in the major cities in China over the period 2003-2006. The estimation results show that the external costs were US$ 20.15 billion in 2006, representing 2.28% of gross domestic product (GDP). This means that China suffered a lot for the air pollutants with the development of the economy. In the composition of external costs, damages to human health are the effects that generate the major part of externalities associated with air pollutants in these cities. The trend of external costs representing GDP in the sum of major cities was declining from 2003 to 2006, though the group in risk and agricultural products was increasing. Based on these finding, effective environmental policies and plans for economic development in these cities should focus not only on the volume of pollutants emission of SO2 and PM10, but also take other impact factors into account.

This study tests the key factors influencing public engagement in product recall announcements in China. Product recall events can affect firm's brand equity, and corporate reputation. However, public engagement is a prerequisite step for others. We developed and verified our conceptual arguments on public engagement by analyzing 432 product recalls in the Chinese automobile industry during a five-year period (2010-2014). Empirical results showed that public engagement in product recall announcements was affected by: the number of defective products, recall history, response measures, defective product price, and country of origin. Our results also reveal the difference between domestic and imported products in public engagement in China. Thus, the findings provide cues that could trigger public engagement and potential ways of reducing public engagement in product recalls of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear power is growing rapidly in China. The ultimate goal of developing nuclear power is to mitigate the energy crisis, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and ensure sustainable economic development. However, the 'not-in-my-backyard' (NIMBY) attitude may influence the implementation of nuclear power projects. This study explores the determinants of behavioural intentions to resist nuclear power plants (NPPs) based on the protective action decision model (PADM). A survey of the residents (N = 432) near the Haiyang NPP significantly validated the hypothesized relations. Results suggest that information acquisition and public participation can significantly predict perceived knowledge. Perceived knowledge is important in predicting perceived benefits, NIMBY attitude, and behavioural intentions. Moreover, two inverted-U relationships for perceived knowledge with the NIMBY attitude and with behavioural intentions are observed. Furthermore, the NIMBY attitude and behavioural intentions are significantly stimulated by perceived risks, but failed to be motivated by perceived benefits. An inverted-U relationship between perceived benefits and perceived risk is also indicated. The results that the NIMBY attitude and residential distance to NPP have played significant roles in predicting behavioural intentions are obtained. Implications of our results and areas of further researches are discussed in this article as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the concerns raised about the impact of online health information on users, research has not specifically explored different types of information behaviors people exhibit during the communicative process. In this article, we address this research gap by combining the Situational Theory of Problem Solving with considerations of multiple dimensions of risk perception, such as affective and deliberative. This study constructs a hypothetical model to explore how online users' risk perceptions and information behaviors (information seeking, forefending, and forwarding) influence their health behavioral intention. A survey collected data from 1,463 participants at two healthcare centers in China. Based on the structural equation modeling, multiple dimensions of risk perception play a distinctive role in communicating online health information and forming health behavioral intention. Furthermore, information forwarding, an essential information behavior, influences deliberative risk perception more than information forefending, and it is a much better predictor of individuals' health intention than information seeking. Implications and suggestions for health communication research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deterioration of the environment and the shortage of natural resources, firms are facing increasing pressures to implement environmental management practices in their daily operation management. Drawing on institutional theory and environmental management literatures, this research tries to explore how institutional pressures motivate firms to implement environmental management practices, and how such effects are moderated by firms' environmental commitment and resource availability. The results of a survey of 188 Chinese firms suggest that regulatory pressures and normative pressures are positively and significantly related to firms' propensity to implement environmental management practices. Moreover, the results indicate that firms' environmental commitment positively moderates the relationships between institutional pressures and environmental management practices, while firms' resource availability plays different roles depending on the types of pressure (regulatory or normative pressures). Implications and suggestions for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]