The modelling of preference switch from conventional food to genetically modified food: Evidence from Malaysia

Abstract

Today, the demand for quality food is increasing and genetically modified food most probably become part of the Asian diet. Genetically modified food are food that derived from genetically modified organisms. The production and marketing of genetically modified food products has raised many concerns especially among the discriminating consumer. Nowadays, consumers not only concern about the price but also on the long-term impacts of GMO food towards the environment, health, food safety, moral, ethical and religious implication of both manufacturing and consuming the product. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine Malaysia consumer preference switch from conventional food to genetically modified food. This study was conducted in Malaysia where 491 consumers were surveyed using structured questionnaires. Behavioral Perspective Model was adopted and modified in this study along with structural equation modeling to analyze the collected data. The results shows that utilitarian, aversive and informational reinforcement will only increase consumers preference towards genetic modified food when they aware that Genetically modified food bring more advantages than disadvantages to human being. In addition, consumer who prefer to switch will have higher intention recommend GMO food to others and willing to pay more for GMO food.