Corporate social responsibility and biotechnological foods: an experimental study on consumer’s behaviour

Abstract

Purpose New food technologies based on biotechnological organisms are increasingly becoming a cause for debate and conflicting discussions. This paper aims to investigate hypothetical consumer behaviour, and the willingness to pay (WtP), towards a specific type of genetically modified food in relation to particular indications on the label about the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by manufacturing companies. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose a choice experiment was used on a representative sample of more 1,300 Italian families, interviewing the component in charge of the buying choices within the selected household. A random parameter logit-error component model allows for heterogeneity in consumer preferences and potential correlation across utilities and across taste parameters. Beyond investigating consumers’ preferences regarding that product through a choice experiment, the aim was to detect the drivers of that purchase and preference heterogeneity across consumers’ choice, and the WtP, for the products with those features. Findings Results also offer a topic for further discussion and are useful for companies’ strategies to understand how to address such concerns through appropriate CSR policies. The main results are: CSR initiatives always have a strong effect on consumer choice; the price is consistently important, exerting a negative influence in the decision-making process for individuals; consumers may also know possible effects of genetically modified foods, but that does not always translate into purchase behaviour. Originality/value The research considers a particular link between genetically modified food and CSR not addressed in details; moreover, it is also based on the author’s own previous research and is its natural continuation and development, but also important for future researches.

Modeling adoption of genetically modified foods: Application of Rough Set Theory and Flow Network Graph

“…The findings illustrate that consumers' perception of CSR plays a vital role in consumer decisionmaking toward GMFs adoption. These results support preceding literature that suggests CSR is associated with consumer reaction toward GMFs (Pino et al, 2016;Boccia and Covino, 2021;Rabbanee et al, 2021). Prior research on consumer behavior toward GMFs mainly focused on the effects of one or a few rare factors separately Jiang and Zhang, 2021;McKenzie et al, 2021;Rabbanee et al, 2021;Levi, 2022;Sleboda and Lagerkvist, 2022), while in this study, important influential factors were studied together and the analysis of their effects simultaneously to determine priorities.…”

“…In this respect, other scholars (van der Wees and Moonen, 2011; Pino et al, 2016;Boccia and Covino, 2021) referred to CSR initiatives that have a powerful effect on consumer decisions. Furthermore, in many developing and developed countries, the emphasis on biotechnological foods has recently increased (Alphonce et al, 2020), which has led to the growth of social problems.…”

Consumer Attitude towards Genetically Modified Foods in Iran: Application of Three-Dimensional Model of Corporate Social Responsibility

“…Therefore, it can be concluded that GM food producer CSR could play an important role in reducing such concerns [ 20 ]. However, research background on the impact of CSR on attitudes towards GM food is extremely limited [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Previous research studies have proved that CSR have a significant impact on user attitudes [ 24 , 25 ].…”

“…Previous research studies have employed the well-established Theory of Planned Behavior [ 23 , 27 , 28 ] to study consumer attitudes towards such products. However, these studies rarely focused on consumer perception about GM food producer CSR [ 21 , 22 , 24 , 29 ]. More specifically, previous studies have never applied a three-dimensional model of CSR, which relies on social, economic, and environmental dimensions of responsibility to GM food consumption [ 14 , 20 , 22 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ].…”

“…However, these studies rarely focused on consumer perception about GM food producer CSR [ 21 , 22 , 24 , 29 ]. More specifically, previous studies have never applied a three-dimensional model of CSR, which relies on social, economic, and environmental dimensions of responsibility to GM food consumption [ 14 , 20 , 22 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Furthermore, very few studies have focused on developing countries such as Iran, where the consumers have scarce information about GM foods [ 29 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ].…”