Analysis the Factors Influencing Specialist's Attitudes towards Iranian Genetically Modified Rice

One of the alternatives for increasing of rice production is using Bacillus thuringiensis rice. Genetically Modified crops are a new phenomenon in the country and its diffusion requires experts’ acceptance. Therefore, the main purpose of this research was to identifying the affecting factors on the attitudes of specialists in two sectors of scientific research and education centers and executive institutes in the Khuzestan province which is the third largest rice producer. All specialists related to this issue in these two sectors were considered as statistical population and among them, 108 participants were selected using proportional random sampling method. This is a quantitative and applied research. Data for this study was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire which assessed five perceptional constructs ‘attitude towards genetically modified rice’, ‘perception of benefits’, ‘perception of risks’, ‘trust in individuals and agencies’ and ‘ethics’ using the Likert seven-point scale (from ‘1- fully disagree’ to ‘7- fully agree’). The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed respectively by a panel of faculty members, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients (Alpha coefficient was 0.78, 0.86, 0.87, 0.63 and 0.74 respectively). Data was analyzed using SPSS (version 20) and AMOS (version 20). The results showed that the three components of ‘perception of benefits’, ‘trust’ and ‘ethics’ were predictors of attitude. Moreover, the findings revealed a positive attitude among the respondents and the lack of association between respondent's attitudes and perceptions of risks of GM rice. In this regard, establishing a joint committee consisted the representatives of two groups of academics and practitioners to monitoring the process of producing genetically modified rice is suggested.