Consumers’ avoidance of information on red meat risks: information exposure effects on attitudes and perceived knowledge

In accordance with cognitive dissonance theory, individuals generally avoid information that is not consistent with their cognitions, to avoid psychological discomfort associated with tensions arising from contradictory beliefs. Information avoidance may thus make risk communication less successful. To address this, we presented information on red meat risks to red meat consumers. To explore information exposure effects, attitudes toward red meat and perceived knowledge of red meat risks were measured before, immediately after, and two weeks after exposure. We expected information avoidance of red meat risks to be: positively related to (1) study discontentment; and (2) positive attitudes toward red meat; and negatively related to (3) information seeking on red meat risks; and (4) systematic and heuristic processing of information. In addition, following exposure to the risk information, we expected that (5) individuals who scored high in avoidance of red meat risks information to change their attitudes and perceived risk knowledge less than individuals who scored low in avoidance. Results were in line with the first three expectations. Support for the fourth was partial insofar as this was only confirmed regarding systematic processing. The final prediction was not confirmed; individuals who scored high in avoidance decreased the positivity of their attitudes and increased their perceived knowledge in a similar fashion to those who scored low in avoidance. These changes stood over the two-week follow-up period. Results are discussed in accordance with cognitive dissonance theory, with the possible use of suppression strategies, and with the corresponding implications for risk communication practice.     

Public Technology Infrastructure,R&D Sourcing,and Research Joint Ventures

In this paper, we define public technology infrastructure to mean public resources that bring new R&D into existence. Examples are public research that yields knowledge spillovers and government contracts that broker new research. Using this definition we explore the effect of public infrastructure on cooperative R&D, especially R&D sourcing and research joint ventures (RJVs). Our findings strongly suggest that public infrastructure promotes cooperative R&D. We begin by studying the role of federal laboratories in R&D sourcing by private laboratories, finding that sourcing increases as a result. Then we examine patents arising from RJVs sponsored by the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). We find that R&D subsidies as well as difficulty and novelty increase patents produced by the RJVs. Contractual oversight by ATP has no direct effect but an indirect effect appears to exist, since firms value ATP oversight more highly for more difficult and novel projects, and these produce more patents.     

The Geopolitics of the Eastern Border of the European Union: The Case of Romania-Moldova-Ukraine

Since the fall of the communist regimes, we have been witnessing in Europe two phenomena that dominate the geopolitical scene: on the one hand there is integration, with the advance of the borders of the European Union (EU) towards the east through its two enlargements, and on the other hand there is disintegration, as expressed by social crisis, and latent tensions and conflicts in the countries found beyond the said border. This article focuses on the geopolitical changes that came about on the eastern border of Europe (Romania-Moldova-Ukraine) and the border relations between these three countries after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the integration of Romania into the EU. This is both a multidimensional and ethno-territorial border, associated with tensions and conflict. ¹ 1. D. Newman, ‘Conflict at the Interface: The Impact of Boundaries and Borders on Contemporary Ethno-National Conflict’, in C. Flint (ed.), Geographies of War and Conflict (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2004) pp. 321–345; G. Blake, ‘State Limits in the Early 21st Century: Observations on Form and Function’, Geopolitics 5/1 (2000) pp. 1–18; S. Ratner, ‘Drawing a Better Line: Uti Possidetis and the Borders of New States’, American Journal of International Law 90/4 (1996) pp. 590–624; S. Waterman, ‘Boundaries and the Changing World Political Order’, in Clive Schofield (ed.), World Boundaries, Vol. I, Global Boundaries (London: Routledge, 1994). Using the territorial dialectic of the globalisation argument, we are able to analyse, describe and interpret from a theoretical-empirical standpoint, the two current discussions about that border: opening by means of cooperation, or closing by means of control and security.