Petra Tenbült, Nanne De Vries, Ellen Dreezens and Carolien Martijn
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into whether GM‐labelling leads to different processing behaviour of food stimuli compared to when products are not labelled.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into whether GM‐labelling leads to different processing behaviour of food stimuli compared to when products are not labelled.
Design/methodology/approach
A task was designed to investigate people's categorization behaviour as a function of information provided. In two studies each participant was randomly allocated to either the experimental “GM‐labelled condition”, or the control “non‐labelled condition”.
Findings
Different processing strategies and different characteristics are used to judge products that are labelled as genetically modified or not. GM labelling of foods is interpreted to induce analytical processing of information and therefore the products are classified relatively more often on the basis of verifiable categorization criteria compared to when they were not labelled as GM. When products are not labelled as GM, information is more likely to be automatically processed and non‐verifiable categorization criteria are used.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the processes that labelling as GM brings about.
Details
Keywords
Petra Tenbült, Nanne K. de Vries, Ellen Dreezens and Carolien Martijn
New food technologies are of increasing importance but not a lot of research into how people react to these technologies has been conducted. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
New food technologies are of increasing importance but not a lot of research into how people react to these technologies has been conducted. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into how implicit measurements in addition to explicit measurements give insight into how well an attitude towards a food concept, in relation to its familiarity, is predictive for behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
An implicit measurement (EAST) and an explicit questionnaire were used to investigate people's attitudes and attitude strength towards two food technologies (genetic modification and organic production). Correlations between the two measurements were calculated to determine whether familiar food technologies are more predictive for behaviour than relatively unfamiliar food technologies.
Findings
Implicit measurements showed negative associations with genetic modification. Explicit measurements showed neutral associations with genetic modification. In contrast, implicit and explicit measurements showed positive associations with organic production. When a food technology is well known (e.g. organic production), significant correlations between the two measurements were present suggesting that attitudes were predictive for behaviour. In contrast, when a food technology is not well known (e.g. genetic modification), significant correlations were not present suggesting that attitudes were not predictive for behaviour.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the relation between intuitive and explicit reactions in relation with the novelty of food technologies.