Munoz Carolina A, Hemsworth Lauren M, Hemsworth Paul H, Rice Maxine, Coleman Grahame J
Animal Welfare Science Centre, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2022 Aug 2;13:876034. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.876034. eCollection 2022.
Opinion leaders (OLs) within the community may lead debate on animal welfare issues and provide a path for information to their social networks. However, little is known about OLs' attitudes, activities conducted to express their views about animal welfare and whether they are well informed, or not, about husbandry practices in the red meat industry. This study aimed to (1) identify OLs in the general public and among producers and (2) compare OLs and non-OLs' attitudes, knowledge and actions to express their views about the red meat industry. Two questionnaires, one for the Australian general public ( = 501) and one for Australian red meat producers ( = 200), were developed to identify general attitudes. From these questionnaires, OLs were identified using a two-step cluster analysis. Subsequently, a sub-sample of 19 OLs (including the public and producers) participated in a follow-up phone interview. Results disclosed some clear OLs' characteristics. Public OLs held more negative perceptions of the red meat industry and perceived they had more knowledge about husbandry procedures. However, their actual knowledge about animal husbandry was not different from non-OLs. Public OLs also used and trusted social and internet media more than did non-OLs. In the producer group, a large percentage of OLs were identified (64.0% compared to 29.1% in the public group). Producer OLs had more actual knowledge about animal husbandry and engaged in more behaviours to express dissatisfaction with the industry than non-OLs (dissatisfaction in relation to the image of the red meat industry). Unlike the public respondents, this group used conventional media more than social and internet media, and their levels of trust in all kinds of media were low. While there were clear differences, both groups believed that is important to increase communication and educate about farm practices. This may present an opportunity to develop an opinion leader intervention strategy where informed OLs could later disseminate accurate information to their social networks. Further studies should test if sustained and facilitated educational sessions between public and producer OLs can assist in increasing communication, knowledge and perhaps, may assist in achieving convergence of concerns and expectations between both groups.
社区内的意见领袖（OLs）可能会引发关于动物福利问题的讨论，并为向其社交网络传递信息提供途径。然而，对于意见领袖对动物福利的态度、为表达其观点而开展的活动，以及他们对红肉行业养殖实践的了解程度，我们所知甚少。本研究旨在：（1）识别普通公众和生产者中的意见领袖；（2）比较意见领袖和非意见领袖对红肉行业表达观点时的态度、知识和行动。我们设计了两份问卷，一份针对澳大利亚普通公众（n = 501），另一份针对澳大利亚红肉生产者（n = 200），以确定总体态度。通过两步聚类分析从这些问卷中识别出意见领袖。随后，19名意见领袖（包括公众和生产者）的子样本参与了后续电话访谈。结果揭示了一些明显的意见领袖特征。公众意见领袖对红肉行业持有更多负面看法，并认为他们对养殖程序有更多了解。然而，他们在动物养殖方面的实际知识与非意见领袖并无差异。公众意见领袖比非意见领袖更多地使用和信任社交及互联网媒体。在生产者群体中，识别出了很大比例的意见领袖（64.0%，相比之下公众群体为29.1%）。生产者意见领袖在动物养殖方面有更多实际知识，并且比非意见领袖更多地采取行为来表达对该行业的不满（对红肉行业形象的不满）。与公众受访者不同，这个群体更多地使用传统媒体而非社交和互联网媒体，并且他们对各类媒体的信任程度较低。虽然存在明显差异，但两组都认为加强关于农场实践的沟通和教育很重要。这可能提供了一个机会来制定意见领袖干预策略，让有见识的意见领袖随后能够向其社交网络传播准确信息。进一步的研究应测试公众和生产者意见领袖之间持续且得到促进的教育会议是否有助于加强沟通、增加知识，或许还能有助于使两组在关注点和期望上达成一致。
