Beyond Consumers Awareness: How Knowledge and Moral Values Shape Public Support for Gene-Editing

Abstract

Purpose – This study disentangles two dimensions of public familiarity—self-reported general awareness and objective factual knowledge—and examines their distinct influences on acceptance of gene-editing technologies, as well as whether moral and hereditary concerns moderate these relationships across diverse cultural contexts.
Design/Methodology/Approach – We conducted an online survey with 256 adults (mean age 34.8 years, SD = 10.2; 53% female) from Europe (45%), Asia-Pacific (25%), the Americas (20%), and Middle East & Africa (10%), all reporting prior exposure to gene editing. Participants completed: a 4-item general awareness scale (α = .84); a 4-question factual knowledge scale (α = .86); a 6-item acceptance scale covering clinical, agricultural, and environmental applications (α = .88); and 5-item moral (α = .82) and hereditary (α = .83) concern scales. Hierarchical regression models first controlled for age, gender, education, and region, then added awareness and knowledge predictors. Moderation effects were tested using Hayes’ PROCESS Model 1 with 5,000 bootstrap samples.
Findings – Control variables accounted for 8.2% of variance in acceptance (F (4,251) = 5.60, p<.001). Adding awareness and knowledge increased explained variance to 21.7% (ΔR² = .135, p<.001). Factual knowledge strongly predicted acceptance (β = .368, t = 6.12, p<.001), whereas general awareness was nonsignificant (β = .067, t = 1.10, p = .276). Moral concern moderated the awareness–acceptance link (interaction β = .118, SE = .055, p = .031), explaining an additional 3% of variance (ΔR² = .03). Simple slopes showed that awareness predicted acceptance at medium moral concern (β = .140, p = .036) and high moral concern (β = .208, p = .016), but not at low moral concern (β = .045, p = .452). Neither moral nor hereditary concern moderated the knowledge–acceptance relationship, and hereditary concern did not interact with either predictor.
Practical Implications – Communication managers should focus on delivering in-depth, fact-based content to cultivate substantive public understanding. Since knowledge uniformly drives acceptance, clear educational materials such as infographics and expert webinars are essential. For audiences with higher ethical sensitivity, coupling factual information with value-oriented framing and participatory engagement can leverage awareness to enhance support and foster enduring public trust.
Originality/Value – By isolating awareness from knowledge and demonstrating that moral concern selectively amplifies the impact of awareness but not knowledge, this study advances technology acceptance theory and provides actionable insights for ethically nuanced science communication strategies, stakeholder rapport.