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Abstract
Recent research has shown that by
decoupling the risk response behaviour of consumers
into the separate components of risk perception and risk
attitude, a more robust conceptualization and prediction
of consumers’ reactions to food safety issues is possible.
Furthermore, it has been argued that the influence of
risk attitudes and risk perceptions on consumer risk
behaviour for contaminated food products can be used
to formulate effective agricultural policies and
strategies in case of a food crisis. The question arises
whether or not the influence and magnitude of these risk
variables changes over time and, hence, whether policies
and strategies must be adapted. The BSE (mad cow
disease) crises in the USA, Germany and The
Netherlands in 2001 and 2004 provided us with a
natural experiment to examine the relationship between
risk attitudes and perceptions and behaviour over time.
The results show that in some countries consumers risk
behaviour changed, whereas in others not. These results
are useful to policy makers and decision makers in food
industry in developing more efficient supply chain
management and public policies.