Culture and Technological Innovation: Impact of Institutional Trust and Appreciation of Nature on Attitudes towards Food Biotechnology in the USA and Germany |
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| Authors: | Peters Hans Peter; Lang John T; Sawicka Magdalena; Hallman William K |
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| Institution: | Address correspondence to Hans Peter Peters, Research Center Jülich, MUT, 52425 Jülich, Germany, h.p.peters{at}fz-juelich.de |
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| Abstract: | Using ‘general trust in institutions’ and ‘conceptsof nature’ as examples, the article analyzes the influenceof cultural factors on sense-making of food biotechnology andthe resulting public attitudes in the USA and Germany. Accordingto the hypotheses investigated, different levels of trust andappreciation of nature explain part of the well-known differencesin attitudes between both countries. The analysis of a cross-culturalsurvey of the general population shows that appreciation ofnature is a predictor of attitudes in both countries. The higherappreciation of nature in Germany partly explains why attitudestowards food biotechnology are more negative in Germany thanin the USA. The relationship between trust and attitudes ismore complex than expected, however. Institutional trust isa moderate predictor of attitudes towards food biotechnologyin the USA but not in Germany. To explain the varying effectivenessof trust in resolving innovation-related uncertainty we referto differences in issue framing in both countries and to thehigher degree of universalism and individualism in the USA.We conclude that the higher relevance of trust and the lowerappreciation of nature make the U.S. culture more apt to assimilatetechnical innovations than the German culture. |
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