Public perception and acceptance of negative emission technologies – framing effects in Switzerland

Limiting global warming to 1.5 °C requires negative emission technologies (NETs), which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and permanently store it to offset unavoidable emissions. Successful large-scale deployment of NETs depends not only on technical, biophysical, ecological, and economic factors, but also on public perception and acceptance. However, previous studies on this topic have been scarce. In 2019, Switzerland adopted a net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 target, which will require the use of NETs. To examine the current Swiss public perception and acceptance of five different NETs, we conducted an online survey with Swiss citizens (N = 693). By using a between-subjects design, we investigated differences in public opinion, perception, and acceptance across three of the most used frames in the scientific literature — technological fix, moral hazard, and climate emergency. Results showed that the public perception and acceptance of NETs does not differ between the frames. The technological fix frame best reflected participants’ opinion, whereas participants perceived the moral hazard frame the least credible and the climate emergency frame the most unclear. Moreover, our findings confirm the public’s unfamiliarity with NETs. We found no strong opposition, as participants indicated a moderate acceptance and a neutral evaluation of all five NETs, with afforestation standing out as the most accepted and positively evaluated NET. We conclude that, in the future, the public debate on NETs should be intensified, and the public perception should be monitored regularly to inform the development of NETs.

Public Perception Analysis of Hot Topics in Intellectual Property Based on Microblog Data

Public opinion is a crucial factor for government policy making, implementation, evaluation, and social development. This paper analyzes the public opinion perception of intellectual property subject based on microblog data and puts forward the concept and calculation model for the breadth, depth, and comprehensive value of public perception. Then, taking the opinion evaluation in microblog platform as an example, this paper studies the public perception of intellectual property subject and illustrates the changing trend of public perception through related events in microblog. The results show that the four topics of trademark, intellectual property, copyright, and patent are the hot topics of public perception, the breadth, depth, and comprehensive value of public perception for the four topics fluctuated greatly, on the whole. In addition, when the content of microblog is related to personal benefits, business benefits, and personal interests, it can cause widespread public concern. Additionally, the public mainly participate in the dissemination of public opinion on intellectual property subject through forwarding. Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions from the perspective of how to maximize the effect of intellectual property policy.

Public Perception on Reputation and Its Influence on Decision Making

Reputation is an important part of everyday life of people, businesses, and other organizations. Reputation is like a bunch of thoughts in ones’ mind that drives people’s decision-making as an auto-pilot. There are many methods applied to define reputation level for companies all over the world, such as ”World Most Admired Companies” of Fortune magazine, Financial Times “World’s the Most Respected Companies”, “Britain’s Most Admired Companies” from Management Today, or ”Asia’s Most Admired Companies” from Asian Business. This paper aims to discuss on the measurement of reputation which could stem by the public opinion. To do so, the analysis reports on a national survey which measures 5 variables of public opinion perception on Albanian companies. Each company provided by the respondents, is calculated a value which leads to define the reputation level of the total market. The whole list gives space to do sectorial analysis, too. This paper will particularly discuss the sector of shopping centres. Drawing on calculated values for each of shopping centres, perceptual maps are designed that can be of great help for investors to decide about the most appropriate shopping centre they should invest their new retail project. Furthermore, these perceptual maps can also be designed by combining variables that are related with employment and success that will help job-seekers to compare different options in the job market.

The effects of likes on public opinion perception and personal opinion

Drawing on the spiral of silence theory and heuristic information processing, we contend that individuals use likes as sources for assessing public opinion. We further argue that individuals may even adapt their personal opinions to the tenor reflected in those cues. The assumptions were tested using data from an experiment involving 501 participants, who encountered media items on two issues with or without likes. The findings show that respondents inferred public opinion from the media bias if it was supported by likes, however, only in cases of high levels of fear of social isolation. Respondents further adapted their personal opinion to the media bias if it was supported by likes.

Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? Factors Influencing Public Perceptions of Current Party Popularity and Electoral Expectations

This study analyzes how perceptions of the popularity of political parties (i.e., the current opinion climate) and expectations about parties’ future electoral performance (i.e., the future opinion climate) are formed. Theoretically, the paper integrates research on the sources of public opinion perception and empirically draws on a representative survey carried out before the 2013 German federal election. We show that the perceived media slant and opinions perceived in one’s personal surroundings are closely related to perceptions of party popularity, whereas individual recall of poll results and personal opinions about the parties are not. However, poll results are shown to be the single most important predictor of expectations about the parties’ future electoral success.