The implication of frequency of the Korean Public Alert Service (KPAS)

Since 2005, the South Korean government has been issuing emergency alerts to mobile devices. This service is called the Korean Public Alert Service (KPAS). The government has continued its efforts to expand the effectiveness and public acceptance as a primary alerting tool, comparable to the broadcasting media. KPAS contributed to successful defensive measures against the damage of disaster. As the number of KPAS alerts increases, people were reportedly getting more annoyed and insensitive to the alerts. This study focused on how the exploding number of alerts exacerbates the alert effectiveness such as public distrust and fatigue, resulting in ignorance and inactivation of KPAS on their mobile devices. This study analyzed an online survey with 1212 participants, with the following results. First, the frequency of KPAS alerts positively influenced public distrust and fatigue. Next, distrust and fatigue positively influenced the behavior of blocking and avoiding KPAS alerts. The results solicit the novel measures to turn up the effectiveness of KPAS through coordinated alerting policies as well as technical enhancements.