Consumer acceptance of and willingness to pay for food nanotechnology: a systematic review

Abstract

Consumer’s attitudes to, and acceptance of, emerging technologies and their applications, are important determinants of their successful implementation and commercialisation. Understanding the range of socio-psychological, cultural and affective factors which may influence consumer responses to applications of nanotechnology will help “fine-tune” the development of consumer products in line with their expectations and preferences. This is particularly true of applications in the food area, where consumer concerns about technologies applied to food production may be elevated. This research applied systematic review methodology to synthesise current knowledge regarding societal acceptance or rejection of nanotechnology applied to agri-food production. The objective was to aggregate knowledge derived from different research areas to gain an overall picture of consumer responses to nanotechnology applied to food production. Relevant electronic databases of peer-reviewed literature were searched from the earliest date available, for peer-reviewed papers which reported primary empirical data on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology, using a formal systematic review protocol. Inclusion criteria for papers to be included in the review were: empirical peer-reviewed papers written in English; a population sample of adults aged 18 years and over used in the research; a research focus on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology; and research on attitudes towards, and willingness to pay for, different applications of agri-food nanotechnology. Two researchers independently appraised the papers using NVivo 10 QSR software. Studies examining consumer and expert acceptance were thematically analysed, and key information was collated. The results were synthesised in order to identify trends in information relevant to consumer acceptance of nanotechnology applied to food production. Eight key themes were identified from the 32 papers which were extracted from the literature. These themes were applied to understand the determinants of consumer acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is more likely to be accepted by consumers when applied to development of novel packaging with distinct benefits rather than when integrated directly into agri-food products. Trust and confidence in agri-food nanotechnology and its governance need to be fostered through transparent regulation and development of societally beneficial impacts to increase consumer acceptance.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11051-015-3270-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorised users.

Food values and heterogeneous consumer responses to nanotechnology

“…Existing research on consumer responses to nanotechnology applications in a food context is dominated by studies from Europe, suggesting that public knowledge is quite limited, with initial attitudes either neutral or slightly positive (Cobb & Macoubrie, 2004;Currall, King, Lane, Madera, & Turner, 2006;Frewer et al, 2014;Giles, Kuznesof, Clark, Hubbard, & Frewer, 2015). Unsurprisingly, consumer acceptance is stronger in the presence of tangible consumer benefits and when the technology is applied to food packaging or processing methods, rather than when incorporated directly into foods (Bieberstein, Roosen, Marette, Blanchemanche, & Vandermoere, 2013;Siegrist, Stampfli, Kastenholz, & Keller, 2008;Stampfli, Siegrist, & Kastenholz, 2010).…”

Providing Personalised Nutrition: Consumers' Trust and Preferences Regarding Sources of Information, Service Providers and Regulators, and Communication Channels

“…This has been established in relation to acceptance of different novel food technologies [19,20] . The extent to which trust influences the acceptance of personalised nutrition based on genomics, however, is less well understood, and may be related to the referred end-user characteristics.…”

Nanomaterials for products and application in agriculture, feed and food

“…Recent studies suggest that the public perception is not negative towards an introduction of nanotechnology in agriculture, if the benefit to the consumer is clear (Parisi, Vigani, & Rodríguez-Cerezo, 2015). Consumer acceptance has shown to be higher for nanotechnology in the development of novel packaging with distinct benefits rather when integrated directly in food (Giles, Kuznesof, Clark, Hubbard, & Frewer, 2015) (Gupta, Fischer, & Frewer, 2015).…”