Determining factors affecting perceived effectiveness among Filipinos for fire prevention preparedness in the National Capital Region, Philippines: Integrating Protection Motivation Theory and extended Theory of Planned Behavior

The Philippines is one of the countries in Asia known to be vulnerable to the severe effects of fire disasters as the country loses a considerable amount worth of damages due to fire disasters. The study aimed to determine the factors that significantly affect Filipinos' perceived effectiveness for fire prevention preparedness in urban areas by integrating Protection Motivation Theory and the extended Theory of Planned Behavior. 503 respondents voluntarily participated in the self-administered online survey questionnaire distributed among Filipinos residing in the National Capital Region, Philippines. Utilizing the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, results showed that media platforms (MP), fire experience (FE), and fire insurance policies (FI) had significant effects on fire prevention knowledge (KFP). In addition, FE, FI, and KFP variables established significant effects on perceived severity (PS) and perceived vulnerability (PV) which eventually affected perceived behavioral control (PBC) and attitude toward the behavior (ATB). PBC and ATB were found to affect subjective norm (SN); thus, PBC, ATB, and SN variables were determined to have substantial effects on safe behavior (SB) and perceived effectiveness (PE). This paper is the first study in the Philippines that investigated the current fire mitigation strategies. The results will be valuable among researchers and policymakers in creating a compelling future fire mitigation intervention to improve people's fire preparedness and safety behavior. Finally, the SEM constructs of this study can be adapted and extended to determine fire mitigation effectiveness worldwide.