WHO DO CONSUMERS TRUST FOR INFORMATION: THE CASE OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

Wallace Huffman, Matthew C. Rousu, Jason Shogren and Abebayehu Tegene

No 18205, Working Papers from Iowa State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: To be effective, groups that disseminate information need the trust of consumers. When multiple groups provide conflicting information on a new product or process like GM-foods, consumers place different levels of trust in the various sources. We present a model of the contributions of personal and social capital of a consumer, and test a multinominal logit model of relative trust in five different sources of information on genetic modification using a unique data set. Among our findings is that an increase in consumer's education lowers the probability of trusting information from government, private industry/organizations, consumer and environmental groups, or other sources relative to information from an independent, third-party source, and conservative religious affiliation reduces the odds of a consumer trusting private industry/organization and increases the odds of trusting nobody relative to an independent, third-party source.

Keywords: Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27
Date: 2002
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https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/18205/files/wp020015.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Who Do Consumers Trust for Information: The Case of Genetically Modified Foods? (2004)
Working Paper: Who Do Consumers Trust for Information: The Case of Genetically Modified Foods? (2004)
Working Paper: Who Do Consumers Trust for Information? The Case of Genetically Modified Foods (2002)
Working Paper: Who Do Consumers Trust for Information: The Case of Genetically Modified Foods? (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:genres:18205

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.18205

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