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Effects of Source Credibility Via Social Media on the Risk Perception

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Effects of Source Credibility Via Social Media on the Risk Perception EFFECTS OF SOURCE CREDIBILITY VIA SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE RISK PERCEPTION AND PURCHASE INTENTION TOWARD GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS: A CROSS- CULTURAL STUDY BETWEEN YOUNG MILLENNIALS IN CHINA AND THE U.S. by RUOYU SUN (Under the Direction of Juan Meng) ABSTRACT A two by four between-subjects design was used to investigate the effects of source credibility and risk attitude on young millennials’ risk perception of Genetically Modified (GM) foods, perceived benefits of GM foods and purchase intention toward GM foods in different countries (China and the United States). Results indicated young millennials’ risk attitude significantly influenced their purchase intention toward GM foods. In both China and the U.S., risk-seeking participants had a higher purchase intention for GM foods than risk-aversion participants. In addition, in China, risk-seeking participants perceived more benefits of GM foods than risk-aversion participants. There was also a significant interaction effect of source credibility and risk attitudes on Chinese young millennials’ risk perception of GM foods. Specifically, among the risk-seeking participants, those who viewed the scientist stimuli had a significantly lower risk perception of GM foods than whose who saw the company stimuli. INDEX WORDS: GM Foods, Source Credibility, Risk Perception, Purchase Intention, Young Millennials, Experiment, Social Media EFFECTS OF SOURCE CREDIBILITY VIA SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE RISK PERCEPTION AND PURCHASE INTENTION TOWARD GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS: A CROSS- CULTURAL STUDY BETWEEN YOUNG MILLENNIALS IN CHINA AND THE U.S. by RUOYU SUN B.A., BNU-HKBU United International College, China, 2015 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2017 © 2017 Ruoyu Sun All Rights Reserved EFFECTS OF SOURCE CREDIBILITY VIA SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE RISK PERCEPTION AND PURCHASE INTENTION TOWARD GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD: A CROSS- CULTURAL STUDY BETWEEN YOUNG MILLENNIALS IN CHINA AND THE U.S. by RUOYU SUN Major Professor: Juan Meng Committee: Bryan H. Reber Michael A. Cacciatore Electronic Version Approved: Suzanne Barbour Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2017 iv DEDICATION This thesis work is dedicated to my parents, Long Sun and Yinghua Dong, who have always loved me unconditionally and whose endless support and encouragement have made me concentrate on my study and finally finish this thesis. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Juan Meng, for her unwavering support and encouragement throughout this project. This thesis would not have happened with her guidance and help. Under her mentorship I have learned the essential knowledge needed to do social science research, which is an invaluable tool to have as my academic career moves forward. Thank you, Dr. Meng for offering so much of your precious time and knowledge to me. I would also like to thank my thesis committee members, Dr. Michael A. Cacciatore and Dr. Bryan H. Reber, for their contributions and support. Both of them have generously given their time and expertise to better my work. I am so fortunate to have these intelligent professors on my committee. In addition, I would show my appreciation to Dr.Yan Jin, who has generously shared her time, idea and advice with me in the past two years. Furthermore, I would also like to thank Dr. Wenhui Shen, Dr. Yuan Li, Dr. Yanshu Sun, Dr. Qiuling Yang and my dear friends for helping me collect data in China. I would like to thank Xingzi Huang for helping me proofread and revise the translation of questionnaire. I would like to thank Yiwei Gao for sharing her Photoshop skills with me. Without their help this thesis would not have been possible. Finally, many thanks go to my dear friends Wenbo Li, and Mengwen liu, who have persistently encouraged me and helped me in the past two years. I feel so lucky and cheerful having you as my friends. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 2 BACKGROUND ...........................................................................................................3 GM Foods ................................................................................................................3 Labeling GM foods in the U.S. and China ...............................................................4 Leading Social Media Platforms in the U.S. and China ..........................................5 3 LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................................................7 Source Credibility ....................................................................................................7 Risk Attitude – Risk Aversion and Risk Seeking ....................................................9 Risk Perception ......................................................................................................10 Risk Perception with Perceived Benefits and Purchase Intention .........................11 4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES .....................................................13 5 METHOD ....................................................................................................................15 Study Design ..........................................................................................................15 Population and Samples .........................................................................................16 Demographic ..........................................................................................................17 vii Procedure ...............................................................................................................17 Manipulation Checks .............................................................................................20 Independent Variables ...........................................................................................20 Dependent Measures ..............................................................................................21 6 RESULTS ....................................................................................................................22 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................22 Frequency of Social Media Use - the U.S. .............................................................22 Frequency of Social Media Use - China ................................................................24 Reliabilities of Independent Measures ...................................................................26 Reliabilities of Dependent Measures .....................................................................26 Level of Awareness on Health Risk Issues ............................................................27 Source Credibility ..................................................................................................27 Risk Attitudes ........................................................................................................29 Results of Manipulation Checks ............................................................................29 Testing Correlations among Three Dependent Variables ......................................31 Testing Main Effects of Source Credibility - the U.S. ...........................................31 Testing Main Effects of Source Credibility - China ..............................................32 Testing Main Effects of Risk Attitudes - the U.S. .................................................33 Testing Main Effects of Risk Attitudes - China .....................................................34 Testing Interaction Effects of Source Credibility and Risk Attitudes - the U.S. ...34 Testing Interaction Effects of Source Credibility and Risk Attitudes - China ......35 Uncertainty Avoidance ..........................................................................................36 7 DISCUSSION ..............................................................................................................37 viii Summary of Research Findings .............................................................................37 Examining Effects of Source Credibility ...............................................................37 Examining Effects of Risk Attitudes .....................................................................39 Examining Interaction Effects of Source Credibility and Risk Attitudes ..............40 Effects of gender ....................................................................................................41 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Study .......................................................43 8 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................45 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................46 APPENDICES ...............................................................................................................................52 A Tables ...........................................................................................................................52
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