Toward a global understanding of the effects of the IDEA model for designing instructional risk and crisis messages: A food contamination experiment in Sweden

Communicating to publics at risk can be challenging for spokespersons during crises. Knowing what content to include in such messages can be instrumental in achieving effective behavioural results among disparate publics and may differ across cultures. Whereas the IDEA model has demonstrated itself to be an effective framework for designing instructional risk and crisis messages in the United States, this study builds on the conclusions drawn previously by examining the model's utility in Sweden. Results of the experiment confirm that messages constructed according to the IDEA model are effective in Sweden's state-oriented risk culture, as well. Future research should focus on the model's utility for various risk and crisis types among both Swedish populations and populations in additional countries.