Perception and Attitude toward GM Technology among Agribusiness Managers in China as Producers and as Consumers

Haiyan Deng, Ruifa Hu, Carl Pray and Yanhong Jin
Additional contact information
Haiyan Deng: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Ruifa Hu: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Carl Pray: Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Yanhong Jin: Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: China is one of the biggest consumers of genetically modified (GM) products, importing maize, soybeans and canola, and producing GM cotton. The cultivation of GM food crop, however, is still not permitted. Many studies argue that consumers’ attitude toward GM food safety is a major barrier to GM food crop production in China. Recent studies suggest that special interest groups such as biotechnology scientists with an economic interest in biotechnology are more supportive of the technology than groups with nothing to gain. Others believe that agribusiness groups influence the debate about GM food production. This is the first study that examined agribusiness managers’ attitudes toward GM biosafety and their support for GM crop production. The sample was 160 firms in the seed, pesticide, feed and food processing industries. We found most agribusiness leaders are concerned about GM food consumption and oppose GM crop production. Using regression models, we found business managers’ attitudes toward GM crop cultivation are more supportive if they expect to profit, if they are already using GM crops in their firm or are doing research on GM crops.

Keywords: genetically modified foods; perception and attitude; industries; managers and consumers; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/5/1342/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/5/1342/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:5:p:1342-:d:210787

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().