Show me the benefits! Determinants of behavioral intentions towards CRISPR in the United States

Novel plant-breeding techniques such as CRISPR are potentially key tools in the transition to a more sustainable food and agricultural system. For such potential to be realized, greater attention is required to outstanding questions related to public and societal acceptance. The current research thus employed a structural model to elucidate the interplay of factors that influence behavioral intentions towards CRISPR, for a sample of 158 in-dividuals in the United States. By means of partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), we established the predominance of perceived benefits vis-`a-vis perceived risks for explaining behavioral intentions, along with the indirect effects of food technology neophobia, social trust, and environmental worldviews, all transmitted through perceived benefits - and less so, perceived risks. Overall, this offers key insights regarding behavioral intentions towards CRISPR food, highlighting how consumers may be more interested in under-standing potential benefits than being dissuaded about any possible risks and signaling ways in which percep-tions of benefits might be influenced. Indeed, the strength of the relationship between perceived benefits and behavioral intentions offers a counterpoint to arguments that benefits are not relevant for acceptance as well as marks a potential point of distinction between GM and GE food.