Files
Abstract
The effectiveness of biosecurity measures at national borders is influenced by the
behaviour and levels of involvement of travellers. Involvement is the importance or
relevance of an object or situation to an individual. Involvement helps regulate the
way in which people receive and process information and thus influences the extent
of information searching for decision making, and information processing and
persuasion. In this study, we drew on the concept of involvement to investigate the
response of individuals to New Zealand biosecurity requirements. A range of people
associated with the agricultural and food processing sectors were surveyed using a
five item scale of involvement to measure their level of involvement in biosecurity.
The results indicated that most respondents had medium to high levels of
involvement. This implies that respondents were motivated to attend to and process
information on biosecurity measures. However, not all respondents reported taking
note of biosecurity information implying that involvement with biosecurity prompts
some initial information processing which may or may not continue over time.