The Power of Association: Its Impact on Willingness to Buy GM Food

ABSTRACT

Affect, associations, and images associated with food technologies may be important factors influencing consumers’ perception of and willingness to accept new food technologies. The aim of the present study was to investigate free associations evoked by the term “biotechnology” and how they influence behavior. Therefore, participants (N = 632) were asked to name three associations they had in mind when confronted with the term “biotechnology.” After that, respondents indicated how positive or how negative these associations were. Additionally, an equivalent gain task was used to measure participants’ behavioral intentions related to genetically modified (GM) chocolate. Results of a log-linear analysis and a correspondence analysis suggest that attitudes toward biotechnology result in a wide range of associations. Participants having negative attitudes mentioned images related to the environment and industry more often compared with participants having positive attitudes. Results of the equivalent gain task show that willingness to buy GM chocolate can be predicted by the subjects’ three reported associations (p < .001), as well as by their gender (p = .003). The model explains 33.5% of the variance. Affect related to people's associations with gene technology strongly influenced their acceptance of GM foods.

Key Words:

• GM food
• free association technique
• willingness to buy
• consumer perception

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The National Research Programme NRP 59: Benefits and Risks of the Deliberate Release of Genetically Modified Plants.

Notes

Editor's Note: Dolly was a female sheep born on July 5, 1996 and was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell. Dolly was cloned by researchers at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland.