A crisis of consumers’ trust in scientists and its influence on consumer attitude toward genetically modified foods

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward genetically modified (GM) foods and the impact that consumers’ trust in different actors – GM scientists, non-GM scientists or individuals, the government and the media, has on their attitudes. Design/methodology/approach Consumers in Beijing were surveyed about their attitudes toward GM foods and their trust in different actors. The surveys were conducted from June to July of 2015. The sample size is 1,460 people. Given the potential endogeneity of trust variable, bivariate probit models are employed to estimate the impact of trust in different actors on consumers’ attitudes. Findings The results show that 55 percent of the Chinese consumers are opposed to GM foods and nearly 60 percent do not trust GM scientists. In total, 42 percent of Chinese consumers trust in the government and 39 percent trust the non-GM scientists or individuals. Around 35 percent of consumers believe the misinformation on GM technology that were provided by the media. Trust in the GM scientists and trust in the government have a significant positive impact on consumers’ acceptance of GM foods while trust in the non-GM scientists or individuals and believing the misinformation have a significant negative effect on the acceptance. Nearly 70 percent of Chinese consumers acquired information about GM food safety from the internet or via WeChat. Consumers who acquired GM technology information from the internet or via WeChat are less likely to embrace GM foods than those who obtain information from other sources. Originality/value Consumer trust plays a crucial role to accept biotech products in the market and it is crucial for producers, policy makers and consumers to have faith in new biotech products. The results of this study suggest that the government and GM scientists should make more effort to gain the trust and support of consumers, while the media should provide objective reports on GM products based on scientific evidence.

Attitude Gaps with Respect to GM Non-Food Crops and GM Food Crops and Confidence in the Government’s Management of Biotechnology: Evidence from Beijing Consumers, Chinese Farmers, Journalists, and Government Officials

“…Firstly, there are a number of debates and controversies about the adoption of GM food crops in China. For example, rumors like "GM corn caused the extinction of mice in Shanxi and Jilin" could negatively influence Chinese consumers' attitudes toward GM foods [63]. It might also significantly influence Chinese farmers' attitudes toward the commercialization of GM food crops.…”

“…However, after 2010, the average share of consumers whose attitudes or perceptions were supportive or positive of GM foods is 23% while the share of consumers whose attitudes or perceptions were opposed or negative is around 41%. Some scholars point out that this is due to the widespread misinformation and rumors in China since 2010 [18,63]. The studies on firm managers and scientists after 2010 indicate that Chinese agribusiness managers and scientists also tend to be negative with respect to GM foods and oppose commercialization of GM crops.…”

“…Finally, 1460 valid questionnaires were completed. For more details on the consumers' data, see Deng and Hu [63]. Due to budget constraints, we did not conduct a survey of rural consumers' attitudes toward the commercialization of GM crops in Beijing.…”

“…Following the frameworks of Ding, et al [73] and Deng and Hu [63], we employed a random indirect utility model to examine different stakeholders' and journalists' attitudes toward the commercialization of GM crops and the determinants of their attitudes in this study. We assumed that U n,j is the utility of individual n's attitude j toward the commercialization of crops, where the attitude j is either supportive (accepting) or not supportive (either neutral or opposed).…”

“…The variable of confidence in the government's management of biotechnology (C n ) may be endogenous. On the one hand, as indicated in Deng and Hu [63], since the formation of confidence in the government's management of biotechnology is a complex process, there might be some unobserved variables that not only influence an individual's attitudes toward the commercialization of GM crops, but also highly correlates with the individual's confidence in the government's management. On the other hand, there may be a simultaneous endogeneity issue, which indicates that an individual's attitude toward GM crop commercialization also influences its confidence in the government's management.…”