Comparison of nanotechnology acceptance in Turkey and Switzerland

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to replicate the study of Siegrist et al. [2007] and to present a comparison of nanotechnology acceptance in Turkey and Switzerland. The participants in our survey acknowledge the benefits of nanotechnology in achieving a preferred future (significance on the country's economy and on wealth creation, as well as quality of life) while reserving some sceptism on the institutions' responsibility in utilizing nanotechnology in the food domain. The most beneficial application in our study is viewed as nanotechnology-used bread compared to food packaging of Swiss study. The most risky application is seen as the application for tomatoes, the most affect is observed again for the tomatoes and willingness to buy (WTB) choice is more for juice application than any other applications analyzed in this study. Perceived benefits and perceived risks are found to have influence on the WTB nanotechnology applications in the food domain. Results did not support any evidence suggesting that the nanoinside applications are perceived as less acceptable than nanooutside application as stated in the Swiss study. Affect evoked by the information existing in environment about the nanotechnology products have significant relation with benefits and risks of this emerging technology. The relation between affect and risk in our model is positive whereas it is negative in Siegrist et al. [2007]. The effect of social trust on affect is found to be insignificant in our study which was an assumption of Siegrist et al. [2007] and found to be significant in their research. This paper attempts to help the managers to understand the youth and young adults' perception of nanotechnology in Turkey and to consider the importance of those perceptions for the realization of technological advances in improving their products and developing new ones. © 2013 World Scientific Publishing Company.