Why should innovators care about morality? Political ideology, moral foundations, and the acceptance of technological innovations

Innovations have become an increasingly polarized issue between the political left and right. Recent debates around artificial intelligence, mRNA vaccines, and genetically modified (GM) foods, to name but a few, have shown that liberals and conservatives differ in their acceptance of innovation. One explanation for this divide is that liberals and conservatives rely on different moral foundations when judging new technologies. This study builds on moral foundations theory to explore how differences in political ideology determine moral judgements and subsequent acceptance of technological innovations. In Study 1 (N = 465) we utilize a mixed experimental design to show that liberals and conservatives vary in their acceptance of technological innovations, which can be explained by conservatives (vs liberals) being more concerned about binding (vs individualizing) moral foundations. In Study 2, we conduct a quantitative text analysis of liberal and conservative newspapers (N = 1045) to demonstrate that differences in moral judgements and acceptance between liberals and conservatives can also be observed in the public discourse. Study 3 (N = 699) utilizes a between-subjects design to evaluate how the reframing of technologies in line with moral foundations increases acceptance among liberals and conservatives. The research advances theory by highlighting the important role of moral foundations in technology acceptance at individual and group levels and offers important managerial and policy implications.