Trust in Biotechnology Risk Managers: Insights from the United Kingdom, 1996-2002

James, Harvey S., and Leonie A. Marks

No 92644, Working Papers from University of Missouri Columbia, Department of Agricultural Economics

Abstract: During the late 1990s a series of negative events occurred in the United Kingdom (UK) related to biotechnology. These events signaled potential risks associated with biotech foods and crops and were highly reported. According to the trust asymmetry hypothesis, such events ought to cause public trust in risk managers of biotechnology to decline rapidly and rebound more slowly. We find, based on data taken from the Eurobarometer surveys conducted in 1996, 1999 and 2002, that public trust in risk managers did decline from 1996 to 1999. However, the level of trust rebounded sharply between 1999 and 2002. Canonical discriminant analysis of public trust is used to reveal possible explanatory factors in this response. We find that whether people trust or distrust risk managers depends significantly on the amount of objective knowledge they have. We argue that knowledge of science might moderate the trust asymmetry effect.

Keywords: Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Risk and Uncertainty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35
Date: 2006-08-28
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:umcowp:92644

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.92644

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