No abstract

No abstract

Recent research suggests that public attitudes toward emerging technologies are mainly driven by trust in the institutions promoting and regulating these technologies. Alternative views maintain that trust should be seen as a consequence rather than a cause of such attitudes. To test its actual role, direct as well as mediating effects of trust were tested in an attitude change experiment involving 1,405 consumers from Denmark, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. After prior attitudes to genetic modification in food production had been assessed, participants received different information materials (either product-specific information or balanced/general information about genetic modification in food production) and were asked to evaluate different types of genetically modified foods (either beer or yoghurt). The information materials were attributed to different information sources (either an industry association, a consumer organization, or a government source). After completion, perceived risk and perceived benefit were assessed, and participants indicated their trust in the information sources to which the materials had been attributed. Direct and trust-mediated attitude change effects were estimated in a multi-sample structural equation model. The results showed that information provision had little effect on people's attitudes toward genetically modified foods, and that perceptions of information source characteristics contributed very little to attitude change. Furthermore, the type of information strategy adopted had almost no impact on postexperimental attitudes. The extent to which people trusted the information sources appeared to be driven by people's attitudes to genetically modified foods, rather than trust influencing the way that people reacted to the information. Trust was not driving risk perception-rather, attitudes were informing perceptions of the motivation of the source providing the information.

No abstract

The objective of this research was to gain insight into consumers>> attitudes towards genetic modification in food production. With means-end chain theory as the theoretical basis, laddering interviews were conducted with 400 consumers in Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy. Perceived risks and benefits of genetic modification in foods were investigated using beer and yoghurt as examples. German and Danish responses revealed more complex cognitive structures than did the results from the United Kingdom and Italy. In all four countries, however, applying genetic modification was associated with unnaturalness and low trustworthiness of the resulting products, independently of whether the genetically modified material was traceable in the product. Moral considerations were voiced as well, as were a number of other consequences that were perceived to conflict with both individual and social values.

Background and introduction Consumer attitudes towards genetic engineering in food production Previous research The attitude model Consumers' purchase decisions with regard to genetically engineered food products Previous research The behavioural intention model Changes in consumer attitudes towards genetically engineered food products Previous research 13 The attitude change model Concluding remarks 18 References 19 1 1 Throughout the project we use the wording 'genetically engineered food products' as a general designation of foods and food ingredients which contain or consist of genetically modified material or which are produced from, but do not contain,genetically modified material.Thus, both genetically engineered tomatoes as such and any product containing genetically engineered tomatoes (eg, pizzas or ketchup) are considered genetically engineered food products. Equally, bread, beer, wine etc. made with genetically engineered yeast are regarded as genetically engineered food products, regardless of whether the final product contains the genetically modified organisms or not. Products containing enzymes or chemical compounds such as sugar or lecithin made by the use of gene technology are not covered by our definition.

No abstract

No abstract