Environmental risk is socially constructed, and risk analysis needs to address social, economic, cultural and political views to provide more insights for environmental risk management. This cross-cultural study between China and the U.S. intended to examine how people’s perceptions of environmental risk, preferences in risk management and perspectives of participatory decision processes and quality vary within the different social, cultural and political systems.

A structural equation model (SEM) with social factors (social trust, social value and risk experience) was constructed to explore the correlations of those factors and the relationships of the social factors to risk perception and preference in risk management. A 2×2 experiment with four decision scenarios was designed to examine people’s perspectives of successful participatory decision processes and quality. Randomly selected college students from The Ohio State University (n=240) in the U.S. and Beijing Normal University (n=280) in China were participants in the research.

The results indicated that the Chinese were more concerned about environmental risks, and they perceived the environmental issues to be more risky to health, to the environment and to economic development in China than the Americans. Respondents were less likely to support the policies that require them to participate financially, but preferred that the government takes actions to reduce the risks. Respondents desired a transparent communication process, and they were more likely to support educational strategies to help people change behavior to reduce environmental risks. In the social process, the Chinese and the Americans showed low trust in their government and society, but the trust level was significantly higher for the Americans than the Chinese. The Chinese were adherent to the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) value than the Americans, and the Americans were more optimistic about human’s futures and open to change than the Chinese. The self-reported risk knowledge for the Chinese was significantly higher than that of the Americans, and the Chinese reported more risk experiences than the Americans.

In the American model, social trust, social value and risk experience had significant impacts on perception of environmental risks. Risk experience, social value and risk perception significantly impacted preference in risk management, except for social trust. In the Chinese model, impacts of social value and risk experience were statistically significant, but social trust was not. However, only social trust was a significant predictor of preference in risk management. Social trust and risk perception were found positively correlated only in the Chinese model.

The Americans and the Chinese perceived the participatory decision process and quality differently, but both groups considered that good decision quality depended on effective public input in the decision, good participation process and outcome. Outcome was the most important factor to affect people's evaluation of decision quality. The differences between the two nations about perception of environmental risks, preference in risk management and decision quality were discussed in political systems, cultural origins and philosophy and social reality. The research would suggested that 1) risk communication should address actions people need to take in reducing environmental risks, and 2) using a structured value-based participation decision process may be an effective way to manage risks of global environmental change.