The Analysis Of Factors That Have Impact On Consumers’ Attitude Towards Genetically Modified Food And Intention To Buy

As the concern on genetically modified(GM) food has been rising in the society in recent years,the debate on genetically modified food is becoming more and more fierce. On the one hand,some scholars think that GM technology itself is neither good nor bad and it can bring good use,so they advocate the use of GM technology in agriculture. On the other hand,since the risk of GM food is uncertain,its safety becomes the focus of consumers’ concern. Consumers’ attitude is of great significance to the development of genetically modified food. And consumers’ attitude has a significant impact on their intention to genetically modified food. Under the premise that knowledge of GM technology and genetically modified food is growing,to explore consumers’ attitude and their intention to GM food has a profound meaning both on theoretical and practical sides.From the perspective of consumer behavior theory,research on consumers’ attitude and intention is a necessary stage before analysis of the consumer buying behavior. This paper is on the basis of predecessors’ research results.In order to explore consumers’ attitude toward GM food and their intention to GM food,we choose 16 cities in 8 provinces across the country as the research area. In this paper we hope to explore the influential factors of consumers’ attitude toward GM food and the conceptual model on their intention to GM food.The empirical investigation is carried out in 16 cities in 8 provinces across the country by questionnaires. On the basis of descriptive analysis,this paper has looked deeply into the impact of consumers’ individual characteristics on consumers’ intention such as gender,age,family population,marriage status,income situation and so on. From the perspective of the research results,consumers weigh the perceived benefits and perceived risks from GM food and then form their attitudes towards GM food on the basis of consumers’ individual characteristics and in combination with behavioral attitude,subjective norms,and perceived behavioral control. What’s more,their perceived benefits and perceived risks have impact on consumers’ intention to GM food finally. Consumers’ individual characteristics have different degrees of influence on attitudes toward GM food and intention to buy GM food. So we suggest enterprises according to consumers’ individual characteristics combining with regional distribution for effective market segmentation. What’ more,international trade of GM food is an important part of food international trade,it has a deep and far impact on the development of food international trade.