How consumers' perception and information processing affect their acceptance of genetically modified foods in China: A risk communication perspective

Golden opportunities? How marketing expectations drive purchase intentions of golden rice in Bangladesh and the Philippines

Golden Rice (GR), genetically modified (GM) rice enriched with provitamin A, holds promise to address micronutrient deficiencies in developing countries. However, its success hinges on market acceptance. This study investigates how the marketing aspects of GR influence consumers' purchase intentions in Bangladesh and the Philippines. The Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT) is employed to analyze the role of expectations regarding the marketing mix components (i.e. product, price, place, promotion), risk perceptions, performance expectations, and expected satisfaction on consumers' purchase intentions. Data from online surveys in Bangladesh (n = 391) and the Philippines (n = 354), collected using convenience sampling, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings reveal that positive expectations toward the marketing mix, performance, and satisfaction increase consumers' purchase intention of GR, whereas risk perceptions have a negative influence. Additionally, it was found that expectations toward all four marketing mix components significantly affect purchase intention in Bangladesh. However, only product and promotion have a notable influence in the Philippines. These results emphasize the importance of effectively addressing consumers' marketing expectations to help ensure a successful implementation. This study is novel as it delves into consumers' purchase intentions for a GM biofortified crop and their expectations for different aspects of its future marketing (i.e. product, price, place, promotion), performance, and satisfaction. If GR is commercialized, future research should validate these expectations based on actual consumer experiences. Additionally, longitudinal studies could track changes in consumer expectations over time, identifying consistently valued marketing elements and offering a valuable technique for product development before launch.

Impacts of knowledge and trust on consumer perceptions and purchase intentions towards genetically modified foods

Genetically Modified Foods (GMF) have emerged as a significant topic within the global food industry, provoking extensive debates over their safety and impact on consumer choices. This research aims to explore the impact of knowledge and trust in GMF on Vietnamese consumers' perceptions and their subsequent purchase intentions. By employing a quantitative methodology, this study gathered data from 424 valid respondents. The research model focuses on five constructs: knowledge, trust, perceived benefits, perceived risks, and purchase intentions. The data was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test hypotheses and examine the interrelationships among these constructs. The results showed that increased knowledge of GMF is linked to heightened perceptions of benefits and reduced perceptions of risks, thereby elevating purchase intentions. Trust in GMF significantly enhances perceived benefits but does not significantly affect risk evaluation, although it is positively correlated with purchase intentions. Moreover, perceptions of greater benefits are positively associated with higher purchase intentions, whereas increased risk perceptions negatively influence them. These results underscore the complex relationship among knowledge, trust, perceived benefits, and perceived risks in shaping consumer purchase intentions toward GMF. The study proposes a comprehensive model delineating how knowledge and trust impact Vietnamese consumers' perceptions and purchase intentions regarding GMF. These findings provide implications for policymakers, business managers, and marketers, emphasizing the importance of disseminating transparent information, prioritizing trust-building, and adopting nuanced communication strategies. By effectively enhancing perceived benefits and addressing perceived risks, these strategies aim to foster positive consumer intentions and behaviors toward GMF.

Study of the Correlation between Streaming Video Platform Content on Food Production Processes and the Behavioral Intentions of Generation Z

With an estimated 2.4 million cases of foodborne illnesses recorded annually in the UK alone, food safety has become a paramount concern among stakeholders. Modern technology has positioned streaming platforms as pivotal conduits for disseminating information. Channels such as YouTube offer detailed recordings of the food production process, granting consumers extensive visibility of the food journey from farm to table. This increased transparency not only promotes vigilant monitoring of food safety practices but also solicits consumer feedback regarding the public exposure to food processing videos. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study augments its framework with constructs, such as perceived trust, perceived risk, community experience, and brand identity, to evaluate Taiwan's Generation Z consumer behavioral intentions. With 226 valid responses amassed, structural equation modeling facilitated elucidation of the relationships among the constructs. This analysis yielded three salient insights. First, Generation Z's engagement with food processing videos on streaming platforms is positively correlated with their subsequent purchasing behavior. Second, enriched community experience was correlated with strengthened brand identification. Third, both perceived trust and perceived risk had a constructive impact on behavioral intentions within Gen Z's demographic data. Based on these outcomes, food industry enterprises should proactively develop and bolster community experiential value, thereby encouraging streaming platform users to transform into brand consumers and advocates.

Ethics and engagement: steering China's synbio future

In the final article of the series, we delve into the crucial role of public engagement and ethical guidelines in shaping the trajectory of synthetic biology (synbio) within China's evolving scientific landscape. We discuss the interconnectedness of enhanced public discourse, stronger ethics, and responsible, transparent advancements in the field.

Consumers' perceptions and acceptance of genome editing in agriculture: Insights from the United States of America and Switzerland

The terms "New Genomic Techniques" (NGTs) or "Genome Editing" refer to various methods that allow finding, cleaving, and repairing specific sequences in the genome. These techniques could contribute to managing various challenges in plant breeding and agriculture. Aside from regulatory uncertainties, the lack of consumer acceptance has frequently been cited as a significant barrier to the widespread use of NGTs in plant breeding and agriculture across the planet. This study was based on an anonymous online survey (N = 1202). It investigated what consumers from two countries that differ in gene technology regulation, namely the United States of America and Switzerland, thought about three specific applications of NGTs in plant breeding (i.e., blight-resistant potato, gluten-free wheat, cold-resistant soybean). The study highlights the importance of the affect heuristic for acceptance, as half of the participants in both countries expressed positive feelings regarding the three applications, a quarter of the participants expressed negative, and the remaining participants expressed torn or neutral emotions. Some evidence was provided that the regulatory context might have acted as a risk cue, as participants in Switzerland expressed more negative feelings, perceptions, and lower acceptance than participants from the United States of America. Lastly, our findings underscore the importance of a collaboration between the life sciences and social sciences in balancing technological innovations and public perceptions and acceptance, which have been shown in this study to be impacted by affect, values, and context.

Consumption of Genetically Modified Food Products and Its Determinants (Case Study: Edible Oil in Mashhad)

In recent decades, the global increase in the demand for food and the increasing growth of the world population has caused an inevitable transition from traditional to advanced agriculture and the use of new technologies in the production of food and agricultural products. One of the new achievements of biotechnology is the production and use of genetically modified plants. The benefits of genetically modified crops can be seen well beyond the farm as well, from helping to conserve natural resources to fighting climate change. Identifying the factors that influence people's acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods can inform industries and policymakers regarding their innovation trajectories, as well as policy development and implementation. Therefore, the current research evaluates the effect of the marketing mix and other effective factors on the consumption of genetically modified (GM) edible oil in Mashhad, Iran. The required information was collected by completing 390 questionnaires and using the available sampling method in 2022. Factors affecting the probability of consumers making a decision to consume GM edible oil and the consumption amounts of this oil were analyzed through Heckman's two-stage Tobit model using the STATA 16 software package. The results showed that factors affecting the intention of consuming GM edible oils are different from factors affecting the amount of consumption of GM edible oils. Moreover, selected marketing mixes have a significant effect on the amount of consumption of GM edible oils, and therefore, policy-makers can influence the consumption of GM edible oils by using marketing tools. The effect of household monthly income on the consumption of GM edible oil is also negative and significant, which shows that households with higher incomes have less consumption of GM edible oils. Based on the results, trust in the government has a positive and significant effect on the consumption of GM edible oil, so when consumers have trust in their government about GM food products, the consumption of GM edible oil will increase. Therefore, it is suggested that the country's food security authorities gain the trust of consumers by clarifying the production process of GM products and holding scientific debates between the proponents and opponents of the production and consumption of GM food products in order to express the advantages and disadvantages of these products to inform consumers and help them choose between products.

Hostile media perceptions and consumption of genetically modified and organic foods: Examining the mediating role of risk-benefit assessments

Drawing upon the hostile media effect, this study examined how perceived media bias in covering genetically modified (GM) food influences individuals' risk-benefit assessments of it and their food consumption behaviors. The results of a nationally representative survey (N = 1364) showed that individuals seeing media coverage as more biased in favor of GM food perceived it as more hazardous, which was related to a higher proportion of organic food consumption in their diets. In contrast, perceived media coverage as less slanted toward GM food was associated with more benefit perceptions of it, thereby predicting its higher proportion in individuals' diets. More importantly, the indirect effect of perceived media bias on GM food consumption through benefit perceptions was more pronounced among males than females. The findings of this study not only provide empirical evidence of the perceptual and behavioral outcomes of hostile media perceptions, but also offer valuable insights for journalists and education practitioners to improve public understanding of emerging food technologies.

Consumer Health Behavior and Business Adaptation of Thai Street Food Vendors Under the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Street Food Vendors In Lower Northeastern Thailand

Objective: Street food has been a Thai cultural experience valued by locals and visitors alike. The epidemic of covid-19 has affected the hospitality industry worldwide, including tiny and medium-sized enterprises (SME) eateries. Street food vendors unquestionably operate the least successful businesses among these food providers. The purpose of investigating the adaptation of street food vendors is to learn about new ways for small businesses to adjust regarding consumer health behavior (CHB) to survive under a crisis situation and discover new dimensions of business survival. Methods: This study questioned 400 street food vendors in the lower northeastern region of Thailand using a Likert scale questionnaire to collect data. Results: According to the findings of this study, the CHB influences the adoption of new business practices from the standpoint of consumers. Conclusion: This study's model is a substantial contribution to the corpus of knowledge. This study's practical consequences offer a path ahead for adopting a CHB-oriented street food company.

Modeling adoption of genetically modified foods: Application of Rough Set Theory and Flow Network Graph

Introduction

The main purpose of this study is to extract the rules and patterns governing the behavioral intention of consumers towards the adoption of genetically modified foods (GMFs).

Method

The proposed method is a combination of Rough Set Theory (RST) and Flow Network Graph (FNG). Data was collected from 386 consumers to extract rough rules. 13 rules have been chosen from 289 original rules that were divided into three groups: low, medium, and high intention to use GMFs. They were chosen because of the support values and other indexes that were used in the RST. Eventually, to interpret the performance of the generated rules, FNG were illustrated for each decision-making class, and seven patterns were extracted.

Results

The findings confirm that corporate social responsibilities, consumer concerns, occupational status, and consumer autonomy are more important than other observed dimensions in consumers' decision-making. Moreover, the findings illustrate that combining Rough Set Theory and Flow Network Graph could predict customers' intentions and provide valuable information for policy-makers in related active industries.

Discussion

Based on the analysis outcomes, the most significant factors that affect consumers' intention to use GMFs are: “consumer perception of CSR”; “consumer concerns”; “occupational status”; and “consumer autonomy”. Thus, managers and policymakers must pay more attention to these concepts when they survey consumer intention behavior.

How information processing and risk/benefit perception affect COVID-19 vaccination intention of users in online health communities

Objective

To investigate the relationship among information processing, risk/benefit perception and the COVID-19 vaccination intention of OHCs users with the heuristic-systematic model (HSM).

Methods

This study conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire via an online survey among Chinese adults. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to examine the research hypotheses.

Results

Systematic information processing positively influenced benefit perception, and heuristic information processing positively influenced risk perception. Benefit perception had a significant positive effect on users' vaccination intention. Risk perception had a negative impact on vaccination intention. Findings revealed that differences in information processing methods affect users' perceptions of risk and benefit, which decide their vaccination intention.

Conclusion

Online health communities can provide more systematic cues and users should process information systematically to increase their perceived benefits, consequently increase their willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccine.

Public Risk Perception Attribution Model and Governance Path in COVID-19: A Perspective Based on Risk Information

Background

Risk perception is a key factor influencing the public’s behavioral response to major public health events. The research on public risk perception promotes the emergency management system to adapt to the needs of modern development. This article is based on a risk information perspective, using the COVID-19 event as an example. From the micro and macro perspectives, the influencing factors of public risk perception in major public health events in China are extracted, and the attribution model and index system of public risk perception are established.

Methods

In this paper, the five-level Likert scale is used to collect and measure the risk perception variable questionnaire through the combination of online and offline methods (a total of 550 questionnaires, the overall Alpha coefficient of the questionnaire is 0.955, and the KMO test coefficient t=0.941), and through independent samples t-test, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and other methods to draw relevant conclusions.

Results

The results showed that gender and age were significantly associated with risk perception (p<0.005), and education level was significantly negatively associated with risk perception (p <0 0.005). Risk information attention and risk perception were significantly positively correlated (p<0.005), media credibility was significantly positively correlated with risk perception (p<0.005), while risk information identification and media exposure had no significant interaction with risk perception (p=0.125, p=0.352).

Conclusion

Factors such as gender, age, education level, place of residence, media exposure, media credibility, risk information attention, and recognition lead to different levels of risk perception. This conclusion helps to provide a basis for relevant departments to conduct public risk management of major public health events based on differences in risk perceptions.

Path relationship of consumers' perceived susceptibility and severity of health problems with their purchase of buckwheat functional foods in China

Although the nutritional and health benefits of buckwheat foods have been widely discussed and evaluated, studies on consumer perceptions of the health benefits of buckwheat functional foods and how these perceived benefits influence their consumption are scarce. On the basis of the theory of planned behavior, this study aimed to explore consumers' purchase intention and behavior toward buckwheat functional foods while assessing the impact of their perceived susceptibility and severity of health concerns on the purchase decisions for such foods. Using data from 1077 participants collected in person from Southwest China, we compared the influencing factors between consumer groups based on whether they were aware of the nutritive and health benefits of buckwheat. The results indicated that, apart from consumers' perceived behavioral control, their perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of three selected common health problems, perceived value and efficacy of buckwheat, and subjective norms were strong predictors of consumers' purchase decisions. Moreover, perceived susceptibility and severity were effective antecedents of the perceived value and efficacy of buckwheat, respectively. Consumers aware of buckwheat's nutritive and health benefits of buckwheat were less affected by perceived efficacy. This study highlights that the higher the susceptibility to the three selected common health problems, the greater the internal and behavioral changes toward the purchase of buckwheat functional foods. These findings reveal factors affecting consumers' healthy eating beliefs, which can be beneficial for both policymakers and marketers in formulating healthy diet policies and strategies in developing countries.

No Control, No Consumption: Association of Low Perceived Control and Intention to Accept Genetically Modified Food

Based on compensatory control theory, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of perceived control on people’s acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods by using both correlational and experimental methods. Compensatory control theory proposes that the lower an individual’s perceived control, the higher their need for structure, order, and certainty. Therefore, based on beliefs about GM foods that make some people less certain that those foods are as safe as traditional foods, we hypothesized that individuals with lower levels of perceived control are more inclined to reject GM foods. The analysis of questionnaire responses in Study 1 revealed that individuals’ sense of control negatively predicted their risk perception of GM foods, while the need for structure played a mediating role. In Study 2, using a between-subject design, we manipulated participants’ perceived control (higher vs. lower) and subsequently measured their risk perception and purchasing preferences for GM foods. The results in Study 2 show that under lower control conditions, individuals recognize higher risks related to GM foods, which, in turn, decreases their willingness to purchase GM foods. These results not only suggest that perceived control is a potential influential personal factor of the acceptance of GM foods but also extend the scope of the application of compensatory control theory.

Gene-Edited Meat: Disentangling Consumers' Attitudes and Potential Purchase Behavior

Novel gene-editing (GE) technologies provide promising opportunities to increase livestock productivity and to tackle several global livestock production sustainability and food security challenges. However, these technologies, as with previous genetic modification technologies in food production, are very likely to generate social controversy and opposition toward their use in the meat industry. Here, we explored public attitudes and consumption predisposition toward gene-edited meat products and their potential added benefits to livestock farming. Our results show that societal perception currently comes as a package, where the use of gene-editing technology acts as an extrinsic cue of meat products quality, and is used to make a range of inferences about all quality facets at once. Although consumers with anti-GE attitudinal positions generally were not sensitive to price discounts or added benefits, added benefits increased the consumption predisposition of most moderate and pro-GE consumers, where benefits related to animal welfare had larger effects than those relating to the environment or human health issues.

Framing and Tailoring Prefactual Messages to Reduce Red Meat Consumption: Predicting Effects Through a Psychology-Based Graphical Causal Model

Effective recommendations on healthy food choice need to be personalized and sent out on a large scale. In this paper, we present a model of automatic message selection tailored on the characteristics of the recipient and focused on the reduction of red meat consumption. This model is obtained through the collaboration between social psychologists and artificial intelligence experts. Starting from selected psychosocial models on food choices and the framing effects of recommendation messages, we involved a sample of Italian participants in an experiment in which they: (a) filled out a first questionnaire, which was aimed at detecting the psychosocial antecedents of the intention to eat red/processed meat; (b) read messages differing as to the framing of the hypothetical consequences of reducing (gain, non-loss) versus not reducing (non-gain, loss) red/processed meat consumption; (c) filled out a second questionnaire, which was aimed at detecting participants' reaction to the messages, as well as any changes in their intention to consume red/processed meat. Data collected were then employed to learn both the structure and the parameters of a Graphical Causal Model (GCM) based on a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN), aimed to predicting the potential effects of message delivery from the observation of the psychosocial antecedents. Such probabilistic predictor is intended as the basis for developing automated interactions strategies using Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) techniques. Discussion focuses on how to develop automatic interaction strategies able to foster mindful eating, thanks to (a) considering the psychosocial characteristics of the people involved; (b) sending messages tailored on these characteristics; (c) adapting interaction strategies according to people's reactions.

Unfolding Media Source Characteristics Regarding Food Fraud Misinformation: A Comparative Study of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) in China

BACKGROUND

The ongoing rumors and fake news regarding food fraud, adulteration, and contamination are highly visible. Health risk information circulating through media and interpersonal communication channels has made health crisis an important research agenda.

OBJECTIVE

This study explores the issue of food fraud and the effect of rumors, incidents, and misinformation. Further, it studies whether and how these issues have provided evidence-based interventions for food handlers and regulators to mitigate food fraud misinformation.

METHODS

The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) was adopted for collaborative study in China, after which a cross-sectional survey with door-to-door interviews was performed. Participants from Beijing and Hefei were selected using multistage sampling of adults during May, 2017. Based on four government surveillance reports on food rumors and safety incidents, a descriptive, correlation, and multivariate variance analysis was applied to the data.

RESULTS

A total of 3,090 results were gathered and analyzed. An average of 83.6% (n = 2,584) respondents heard at least one food rumor. Learning about food fraud is correlated with interpersonal connections (e.g., doctors or health specialists) for accessing food health information. Overall, Chinese citizens with a higher level of interpersonal connection were more likely to be concerned about food incidents with the statistical difference (P< .001). The Interpersonal connection was the highest frequency of communication sources (n = 698, 55.7%), followed by traditional media (n = 325, 25.9%) and Internet portal (n = 144, 11.5%). There was a significant relationship between media use and media category in Beijing (P<.001) and in Hefei (P<.001). Overall, Beijing's responses to the food fraud and incidents risks were lower than in Hefei (P < .01). The respondents in Beijing were confronted more frequently by food rumors (range 346-1253) than those in Hefei (range 155-946). The urban dwellers in Beijing and their rural counterparts in Hefei also differ in terms of perceiving different levels of food risk from different media sources. The food rumor narratives examined the conspiracy belie finds that social media play a more important role in influencing attitude against misinformation for users in Hefei, rather than in Beijing.

CONCLUSIONS

A media complementarity and food fraud information acquisition examined food fraud rumors and incidents with intent to harm, mainly done for economic gain. The HINTS China reports that around 73.6% out of 2,584 Chinese respondents prefer to go to their physicians for quarrying food health information first; however, when asked where they actually went and got access to food rumors, up to 36.6% of out of 1,462 Beijing respondents and 55.6% out of 1,122 Hefei respondents reported going online first. This study extends beyond local food products to foreign countries that import conspiracy beliefs with fake food. Nonetheless, consumers have to be on guard not just against fake food, but also spreading fake information and rumors about food. The aim of this study is to focus on characterizing media sources, types of food fraud misinformation, and risk perception of food safety, which mixes urgency and suspicions, and to provide evidence-based interventions for risk management guidance, with the hypotheses of the significant correlations between media types and sources and consumers' exposing and perceiving levels of food rumors and risks.

CLINICALTRIAL

Factors influencing protective behavior in the post-COVID-19 period in China: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The study aimed to explore the factors influencing protective behavior and its association with factors during the post-COVID-19 period in China based on the risk perception emotion model and the protective action decision model (PADM).

METHODS

A total of 2830 valid questionnaires were collected as data for empirical analysis via network sampling in China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to explore the relationships between the latent variables.

RESULTS

SEM indicated that social emotion significantly positively affected protective behavior and intention. Protective behavioral intention had significant direct effects on protective behavior, and the direct effects were also the largest. Government trust did not have a significant effect on protective behavior but did have a significant indirect effect. Moreover, it was found that government trust had the greatest direct effect on social emotion. In addition, we found that excessive risk perception level may directly reduce people's intention and frequency of engaging in protective behavior, which was not conducive to positive, protective behavior.

CONCLUSION

In the post-COVID-19 period, theoretical framework constructed in this study can be used to evaluate people's protective behavior. The government should strengthen its information-sharing and interaction with the public, enhance people's trust in the government, create a positive social mood, appropriately regulate people's risk perception, and, finally, maintain a positive attitude and intent of protection.

The impact of communication on women's risk perceptions for osteoporosis in China

Osteoporosis (OP) is an increasingly important public health issue, women constitute approximately 80% of those diagnosed with OP. Improved risk perception regarding OP is important for early prevention. This study aimed to examine the association among socio-demographic, communication related variables and risk perception regarding OP. An online survey with 950 participants was conducted. The survey comprised 19 questions pertaining to lifestyle, general health, bone fracture awareness and demographics. Bivariate analyses were used to examine unadjusted relations among socio-demographic, communication related variables and comparative perceived risk of OP. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis was used to analyze the association between communication media exposure, information processing mode, educational level, self-efficacy and risk perception for OP. Results suggest that some socio-demographic variables (gender, educational level, income) and some communication relevant variables (communication media exposure, the ability to acquire information and systematic information processing) were positively associated with higher OP risk perception, while self-efficacy was negative factor. The study also showed that heuristic-systematic processing and self-efficacy were found to moderate the impact of communication media on risk perceptions. Improved understanding of the impact of communication on risk perception may aid in the development of effective intervention strategies to reduce the burden of OP.

Marketing Clues on the Label Raise the Purchase Intention of Genetically Modified Food

As more and more genetically modified foods (GMFs) must be labeled, adding more information to increase the willingness to buy genetically modified food has become the focus of scholars and enterprises. Most current studies have confirmed that the consumer attitudes and purchase intention toward GMFs are not good. This study aims to match consumers’ different information-processing mechanisms by adding marketing information clues and regulating their purchase intentions by contradictory attitudes towards GMFs. According to the interest demands of GMFs, the marketing clue information was divided into functional information and environmental information. Through two studies, we find that consumers are more inclined to environmental information than heuristic. Functional information is more attractive to males, and the young generation prefers ecological information. Consumers with high ambivalence towards genetically modified foods are more inclined to choose environmental attribute information.

Consumers' Food Safety Risk Communication on Social Media Following the Suan Tang Zi Accident: An Extended Protection Motivation Theory Perspective

There are many hidden safety hazards in homemade food due to an absence of food preparation and storage knowledge, and this has led to many food safety incidents. The purpose of this study was to explore the influencing factors of consumers’ food risk communication behavior on social media in northeast China, using the protection motivation theory. We integrate the Suan Tang Zi food poisoning accident and the protection motivation theory to develop a conceptual model to predict food safety risk communication on social media. We conducted a questionnaire which adapted measures from the existing Likert scales. A total of 789 respondents from northeast China participated in this study. We tested our hypotheses using a structural equation model. Results show that perceived severity, perceived vulnerability and self-efficacy have a significant influence on consumer protection motivation. Response efficacies have a positive impact on consumer protection motivation, but response barriers have a negative impact on consumer protection motivation. Additionally, information need and protection motivation of consumers have a significant impact on food safety risk communication on social media. Overall, the protection motivation theory accounted for 71% of the variance in food safety risk communication on social media. Practical implications and suggestions are proposed for the related stakeholders, as well as consumers, to encourage the public to participate in the food risk communication in this study. The research findings presented the social media as a kind of food risk communication channel contributes to consumers acquire accurate information on food quickly, in turn, reduce the probability of food poisoning in daily life. Protection motivation theory may provide some insights into how we can increase the rate of food safety risk communication on social media.

An Experimental Evidence on Public Acceptance of Genetically Modified Food through Advertisement Framing on Health and Environmental Benefits, Objective Knowledge, and Risk Reduction

Owing to the emerging challenges on global food security and the decade of controversies over genetically modified food (hereafter GMF), the present study aims to explore the effects of advertisement framing on health and environmental benefits, sources of perceived risk reduction, and domain-specific knowledge on the acceptance of GMF. The study conducted a quasi-experimental factorial 2 (advertisement message framing: health vs. environmental benefits) × 2 (expert endorsement: present vs. absent) between-subject design involving 300 adult participants from Pakistan. Using a multi-group structural equation model, the four conditions were assigned to each participant group (n = 75) to test the hypothesized relationships. The quasi-experiment results suggested that the advertisement messages (ad-framed) incorporated with the health and environmental benefits, as delineated by experts, can be a viable communication strategy in developing effortless cognitive cues towards GMF acceptance. The pioneer findings validate the significant efficacy of advertisement messages (ad-framed with expert opinions) in reducing perceived risk through augmented objective knowledge that activates the mechanism of favorable development of attitude and acceptance of GMF. The study findings offer strategic directions to policymakers, marketers, and food technologists in raising greater awareness and acceptance towards GMF products.

GM trust shaped by trust determinants with the impact of risk/benefit framework: the contingent role of food technology neophobia

The present study is comparative in natures that focus on understanding the factors that influence the GM food trust level in the BRA framework and food technology neophobia in China and the USA. For this purpose, we collected 300 and 350 valid responses, respectively, through a structured questionnaire. By carefully evaluating the above relationships, we found that trust determinants such as institutional trust, technology trust, information revealed with GM food vary across both datasets. However, GM knowledge has a better association with GM food trust in both cases. Apart from this, the food technology neophobia slightly moderates the benefits-risk perception of consumers and GM trust. This study guides the policymakers to enhance GM knowledge, as GM food is scientifically proven safe for health and environment and can be a financial incentive for the farmers. Further, the study also provides direction for corporate managers to design effective marketing and communication strategies in two different countries by investigating GM food trust's primary motivators in both nations.

The Effects of Epistemic Trust and Social Trust on Public Acceptance of Genetically Modified Food: An Empirical Study from China

Most studies exploring the public acceptance of genetically modified food (GMF) are based on social trust and the establishment of a causal model. The underlying premise is that social trust indirectly affects public acceptance of GMF through perceived risks and perceived benefits. The object of social trust is trust in people, organizations, and institutions. Different from the social trust, epistemic trust refers to people's trust in scientific knowledge behind the technology of concern. It has been shown that epistemic trust, like social trust, is also an important factor that affects the public perception of applicable risks and benefits. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate epistemic trust into the causal model to derive a more complete explanation of public acceptance. However, such work has not been conducted to date. The causal model proposed in this paper integrated epistemic trust and social trust and divided social trust into trust in public organizations and trust in industrial organizations. A representative questionnaire survey (N = 1091) was conducted with Chinese adults. The model was analyzed by the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. Three major findings were obtained: First, epistemic trust is an important antecedent of perceived risks and perceived benefits and exerts a significant indirect effect on the acceptance of GMF. Secondly, trust in industrial organizations negatively impacts perceived risks, while trust in public organizations positively impacts perceived benefits. Thirdly, contrary to the common opinion, trust in industrial organizations did not exert a significant direct effect on perceived benefits, and trust in public organizations did not demonstrate a significant direct effect on perceived risks. Therefore, trust in industrial organizations and trust in public organizations utilize different influence paths on GMF acceptance. This study enriches the understanding of the influence path of trust with regard to the acceptance of emerging technologies and is of great significance to relevant risk-management practices.