Rose, Kathleen M. (author), Howell, Emily L. (author), Su, Leona Yi-Fan (author), Xenos, Michael A. (author), Brossard, Dominique (author), and Scheufele, Dietram A. (author)
Format:
Online journal article
Publication Date:
2019
Published:
SAGE Journals
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 32 Document Number: D10600
19 pages., via online journal., The impact of knowledge on public attitudes toward scientific issues remains unclear, due in part to ill-defined differences in how research designs conceptualize knowledge. Using genetically modified foods as a framework, we explore the impacts of perceived familiarity and factual knowledge, and the moderating roles of media attention and a food-specific attitudinal variable (food consciousness), in shaping these relationships. Based on the differential effects on “negative attitudes” toward genetically modified foods, we provide further evidence that the measures of knowledge are separate concepts and argue against a one-dimensional view of scientific knowledge. We discuss implications for understanding the relationship between knowledge and science attitudes.
3 pages., via online journal, This study is motivated by the importance of communication with societal stakeholders when food is involved. This case adopts an internal view of Monsanto's challenge of engaging with consumers and the broader public when discussing biotechnologies and specifically, genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Multiple interviews were conducted at Monsanto's world headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, to understand the challenges within the organization in terms of their public persona and why and how they want to change it.
