Determinants of Consumers' Trust in Biotech Brands and Purchase Intentions towards the Cord Blood Products.

Ku-Yuan Lee,Chi-Ming Hsieh,Shih-Wei Chen

doi:10.3390/ijerph182111574

Abstract

The development of the biotech industry is in full swing, and consumers have begun to value biotech brands. Since biotech products often focus on the future or special benefits, consumers inevitably bear certain risks when purchasing biotech products, and their trust in the biotech brand will have an important impact on their purchase intention. Previous studies have lacked a targeted understanding of consumer trust in biotech brands and a discussion of cultural viewpoints. This study introduced the concept of personal connections in Chinese relationalism and trust strategies in Chinese society to address this gap. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in collaboration with Company X, a listed Taiwanese cord blood company, to extract the key factors influencing consumer trust and purchase intention of biotech brands. After constructing the structure model, the study was validated using a structural equation model through investigation and survey. The findings indicated that consumer trust in biotech brands was constructed by a combination of kinship trust transfer and emergent trust transfer within the consumer relationship network, as well as institutional trust and professional trust outside the relationship network and that a significant positive correlation existed between consumer trust in biotech brands and purchase intention. The acquaintances within the consumer relationship network include not only relatives and friends but also health care workers and netizens that consumers come into contact with. In addition, kinship trust transfer and emergent trust transfer within the consumer relationship network have a greater impact on trust in biotech brands than the institutional trust and professional trust outside the relationship network. The findings of this study deepen the understanding of consumer trust in biotech brands across cultures, and suggest that future marketing communication should be expanded to include key players within the consumer relationship network.

Highlights

IntroductionThe biotech industry is a major industry that Taiwan has been developing in recent years
This study suggests that through trust transfer, kinship trust and emergent trust within the consumer relationship network will likely influence the formation mechanism of Taiwanese consumer trust in biotech brands and when combined with two prototypes such as professional trust and institutional trust outside the consumer relationship network, they together form the specific antecedents of Taiwanese consumer trust in biotech brands and make effective predictions of general trust
With the rapid take-off of the biotech industry, brand trust has become a with the rapidin take-off of the biotech industry, brand trust hasin become a must mustToday, for biotech brands practice

Summary

Introduction

The biotech industry is a major industry that Taiwan has been developing in recent years. Since the inception of the “Taiwan Biotech Industry Take-Off Diamond Action Plan”. In 2009, the investment and development of Taiwan’s biotechnology industry have been in full swing with the policy announcement of the Executive Yuan. Yuan again promoted the “Taiwan Biotech Industry Take-Off Action Plan,” which pushed. Taiwan’s biotech industry from “efficiency-oriented” to “open innovation” and shifted the focus of development from medical devices to health care services.

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