Do Products' Warning Labels Affect Consumer Safe Behavior? A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Evidence

摘要

Meta-analysis is a statistical technique that allows one to combine the results from multiple studies to glean inferences on the overall importance of a certain phenomenon. This study employs a substantive meta-analysis approach to quantitatively summarize the results of empirical studies of the direct impact of products' warning labels on consumers' safe behavior. When all the available estimates are combined and averaged, there seems to be a genuine and positive effect of warning labels on consumers' safe behavior (average effect size = .22, aggregate N = 3804). The findings of this study significantly refine the body of knowledge concerning the impact of products' warning labels on consumers' safe behavior, and thereby offer an improved conceptual framework for marketers and warning label designers. Based on our results, warning label designers may enhance consumers' compliance through the design of simple warning messages where the importance of information is made explicit rather than left to the inferences of the consumer.