When beef consumption becomes politicized: Longitudinal change of US beef purchase intention and political values in Korea

Byeong Je Kim and Ji-Bum Chung

Food Policy, 2021, vol. 105, issue C

Abstract: This study identified factors affecting the willingness to purchase US beef in South Korea over the decade since the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis in 2008. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the effects of demographics, fear of BSE, and political propensity on US beef purchase intentions. The survey dataset showed a dramatic increase in willingness to purchase, from 36.9% in 2008 to 76.1% in 2019. Analysis of the datasets identified changes in the effects of the variables over a decade. The analysis indicated that people who perceived a low level of BSE risk, males, and supporters of conservative parties were more likely to buy the US beef. In 2008, the most important determinant of US beef purchase intentions was risk perception. In 2015, after the widespread panic subsided, while there remained effects of perceived BSE risk, it was moderated by political propensity. Personal political ideology was used as a heuristic in the purchasing behavior of those who doubted the safety of US beef. Finally, the data in 2019 showed decreased effects of both risk perception and political propensity, as more than three quarters of respondents stated that they would buy US beef. Although risk can be easily politicized, it does not persist indefinitely.

Keywords: BSE; Risk perception; Political consumerism; Logistic regression analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919221001512
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:jfpoli:v:105:y:2021:i:c:s0306919221001512

DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102171

Access Statistics for this article

Food Policy is currently edited by J. Kydd

More articles in Food Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().