Non conventional technologies and impact on consumer behavior

Abstract

Consumers are becoming more conscious about the potentially negative impact of food processing on human health and the environment. In particular, there is increased public concern about the application of emerging technologies such as genetic modification to food production, particularly with respect to consumer perceptions of potential for negative impact of genetically modified organisms on ecology. However, less is understood about consumer acceptance of potentially controversial technologies where such technological innovation replaces traditional manufacturing methods, which themselves have the potential for environmental harm. In the present study, consumer acceptance of a genetically modified product was examined. In this research, the process of genetic modification had the potential for reducing the environmental impact caused by the alternative, traditional method of production. The analysis took account of the effects of other factors such as reduced price and brand in consumer decision making, as well as the provision of information about manufacturing process. The product investigated was vegetable oil. One hundred and sixty five consumers evaluated the relative importance of different combinations of manufacturing process (traditional process, versus genetic modification) as well as the commercial brand (familiar versus unknown), price (low v ersus high) and label image (sunflower versus an image of a green globe indicating environmental friendliness), on purchase intentions. The data were analysed using conjoint and cluster analyses. Three clusters of consumers were identified. The first cluster (11% of the sample) based the purchase intention decisions on the label the image. The second one (25% of the sample) preferred environmentally friendly oil, highly priced and branded as Mazola. The third cluster (19% of the sample) considered mainly information about manufacturing process as of importance to their decision about purchases. In particular, these consumers preferred products associated with information about “environmentally friendly processing methods”. The results are compared with a similar sample of British respondents, and the implications of cross-cultural differences discussed.