The Effect of Trust on Public Support for Biotechnology : Evidence from the U.S. Biotechnology Study, 1997-1998

This study examined the relationship between trust and public support of biotechnology institutions. Unlike previous studies that model trust as an exogenous factor of public support, in this study trust is endogenous. Instrumental variable and selection-correction techniques are used to show that trust is a more important determinant of public support than former studies indicate. Indeed, the estimated impact of trust increases at least fourfold when the endogenously corrected models of public support are compared to the uncorrected ones. To be precise, according to the data examined in this study from the U.S. Biotechnology Study, trust increases public support for biotechnology applications in food and drink production by 66 percent in models that control for the endogeneity of trust, while uncorrected models show the effect of trust to be roughly 15 percent. Similarly, corrected models linking trust to public support for the genetic modification of crop plants show that trust increases public support by 50 percent, compared to the 10 percent effect estimated from the uncorrected models. Additionally, trust is found to be the most important factor affecting public support for biotechnology among the variables examined, far exceeding the impact of perceived risks and benefits, for instance. This suggests that risk communication efforts to improve the public's perceptions of risks and benefits may not be fully effective in improving public support for biotechnology. Rather, efforts to increase public trust - or to be precise, efforts to improve the perceived trustworthiness and competence of biotechnology institutions - might also be necessary in improving the public support for and acceptance of biotechnology research and applications in agribusiness activities