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Consumer responses to genetically modified food in China: The influence of existing general attitudes, affect and perceptions of risks and benefits

Consumer responses to genetically modified food in China: The influence of existing general attitudes, affect and perceptions of risks and benefits
Consumer responses to genetically modified food in China: The influence of existing general attitudes, affect and perceptions of risks and benefits
Identifying the factors that influence people’s acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food can inform industries and policymakers regarding their innovation trajectories, and policy development and implementation. The relative importance of existing general attitudes towards GM food, and of affective responses to specific GM food applications in shaping associated risk perceptions and acceptability, has been infrequently assessed in empirical research. The present study used an online survey with Chinese consumers (n = 1,411) to explore how general attitudes and affect interact and inform people’s responses to three GM food applications. The results of structural equation modelling indicated the perceived benefits of GM foods were the most important predictor of acceptability. General attitudes and affect both had larger impacts on acceptability compared to risk perceptions, with general attitudes having a larger effect for the GM yeast and GM soybean and affect exerting a stronger influence for the GM pig. General attitudes also had a moderating effect on the relationship between risk perceptions and application acceptability, reinforcing the systemic cognitive bias that generalises general attitudes-induced a priori judgements to all three GM food applications. When respondents associated GM applications with tampering with nature, perceived unnaturalness and risk perceptions both increased. Collectively, the results indicate that the design of communication about GM food applications should incorporate the influence of affect invoked by the reported benefits and risks of applications, alongside accommodating the potential influence of the recipients’ existing general attitudes.
Affect heuristic, Existing general attitudes, Genetically modified food, risk perception, tampering with nature
0950-3293
Jin, Shan
7bc15f23-aef4-464d-8728-bd748a1894b0
Li, Wenjing
4590d893-e15b-47dc-936e-ffcc67022695
Dawson, Ian
dff1b440-6c83-4354-92b6-04809460b01a
Clark, Beth
27fb4550-68b6-4ee7-8c67-2cff52162147
Chen, Si
97c0bf42-b05f-4146-b719-2465eae2283a
Frewer, Lynn
5050503e-ef70-4d5d-b52e-fc4d2bb93386
Jin, Shan
7bc15f23-aef4-464d-8728-bd748a1894b0
Li, Wenjing
4590d893-e15b-47dc-936e-ffcc67022695
Dawson, Ian
dff1b440-6c83-4354-92b6-04809460b01a
Clark, Beth
27fb4550-68b6-4ee7-8c67-2cff52162147
Chen, Si
97c0bf42-b05f-4146-b719-2465eae2283a
Frewer, Lynn
5050503e-ef70-4d5d-b52e-fc4d2bb93386

Jin, Shan, Li, Wenjing, Dawson, Ian, Clark, Beth, Chen, Si and Frewer, Lynn (2022) Consumer responses to genetically modified food in China: The influence of existing general attitudes, affect and perceptions of risks and benefits. Food Quality and Preference, 99, [104543]. (doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104543).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Identifying the factors that influence people’s acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food can inform industries and policymakers regarding their innovation trajectories, and policy development and implementation. The relative importance of existing general attitudes towards GM food, and of affective responses to specific GM food applications in shaping associated risk perceptions and acceptability, has been infrequently assessed in empirical research. The present study used an online survey with Chinese consumers (n = 1,411) to explore how general attitudes and affect interact and inform people’s responses to three GM food applications. The results of structural equation modelling indicated the perceived benefits of GM foods were the most important predictor of acceptability. General attitudes and affect both had larger impacts on acceptability compared to risk perceptions, with general attitudes having a larger effect for the GM yeast and GM soybean and affect exerting a stronger influence for the GM pig. General attitudes also had a moderating effect on the relationship between risk perceptions and application acceptability, reinforcing the systemic cognitive bias that generalises general attitudes-induced a priori judgements to all three GM food applications. When respondents associated GM applications with tampering with nature, perceived unnaturalness and risk perceptions both increased. Collectively, the results indicate that the design of communication about GM food applications should incorporate the influence of affect invoked by the reported benefits and risks of applications, alongside accommodating the potential influence of the recipients’ existing general attitudes.

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Accepted/In Press date: 25 January 2022
Published date: July 2022
Additional Information: Funding Information: This work was funded by the programme “Cultivation of Experts in Popularization of Biotechnology” (Grant No. 2019ZX08015002-005).
Keywords: Affect heuristic, Existing general attitudes, Genetically modified food, risk perception, tampering with nature

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 454644
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454644
ISSN: 0950-3293
PURE UUID: 68ce55ec-8dd2-426e-aeaa-b098f16b6955
ORCID for Ian Dawson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0555-9682

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Date deposited: 17 Feb 2022 17:47
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:26

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Contributors

Author: Shan Jin
Author: Wenjing Li
Author: Ian Dawson ORCID iD
Author: Beth Clark
Author: Si Chen
Author: Lynn Frewer

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