A Tale of Two Locational Settings: Is There a Link Between Pro-Environmental Behaviour at Work and at Home?

Several initially attractive possible explanations for the engagement of people in more ecological behaviour have been shown as not influencing individual pro-environmental behaviour, unless there is some personal benefit which is obvious and immediate. Although not all pro-environmental behaviours and practices used at work are transferrable to the home or community spheres of employees, it is reasonable to assume that organisations that embrace pro-environmental practices at the core, will have an impact on actual employee practices and behaviours, and consequently on awareness levels about environmental issues. It is argued that the current trend in organisations towards implementing pro-environmental greening behaviours and practices may contribute to a process of \'sustainability evolution\'. Understanding the factors and processes which determine employees\' pro-environmental behaviour patterns, with regard to the settings and interfaces of work, home and community permits one to grasp the main factors and processes that may influence the interaction of resource and sustainable waste management behaviours, among all life domains.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the role of human values and pro-environmental, vegetarian and activist behaviors in the formation of, here called, Expanded Sustainable Behavior. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework was divided into five parts: Theory of Planned Behavior; Schwartz's Theory of Values; pro-environmental behavior; behavioral profile of vegetarians, and consumers as activists. Based on the theoretical framework, a framework was created based on the 10 hypotheses outlined in the study. Method/design/approach: This is a survey carried out with 211 vegetarians and their variations. Data collection occurred through the application of a self-administered questionnaire, using non-probabilistic, cross-sectional sampling. Regarding the analysis, descriptive statistics, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques were used. Results and conclusion: The results indicate that the values of self-transcendence and conservation do not influence pro-environmental attitudes. However, the values of self-enhancement and openness to change influence pro-environmental attitudes: the first in a negative way and the second in a positive way. Furthermore, pro-environmental behavior is formed by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, being in line with what the TCP suggests. Regarding Expanded Sustainable Behavior, it was observed that pro-environmental behavior does not lead to vegetarian behavior. On the other hand, activism is positively influenced by pro-environmental and vegetarian behaviors. Research implications: Based on the knowledge developed and presented in this study, it is expected to stimulate empirical research that analyzes sustainable behavior in its different dimensions, with its multiple influences, in addition to expanding the discussion on issues of sustainability and conscious consumption. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature as it proposes the concept of Expanded Sustainable Behavior which emerges from the chain of pro-environmental, vegetarian, and activist behaviors, as well as their connections and mutual influences. Thus, the study signals that it is possible to expand the analysis of sustainable behavior and study it with a diverse number of variables, covering both personal and collective dimensions.

• This study helps us understand how the consumption values that lead to using a second-hand peer-to-peer platform affect green consumption practices and sustainable resale behavior. • Economic and practical values negatively affect green consumption values and subsequently weaken the consumers’ preparedness to engage in sustainable resale behavior. • Recreational, generative, societal benefit, and protestor values positively influence green consumption values and increase the consumers’ willingness to engage in pro-environmental behavior. • Gender moderates the relationship between green consumption values and the consumption values of using a peer-to-peer platform. Past research has extensively studied the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ green consumption values, as well as the psychological mechanisms that underlie an ethical consumer. Yet a frustrating paradox remains, indicated by the consumers’ intention–behavior gap for their sustainable behavior. To address this gap, the present study focuses on the consumption values that lead to using a sharing economy platform. Our study draws on the theory of consumption values and altruistic–egoistic values, as well as spillover effect psychology, to examine associations between context-specific values, green consumption values, and sustainable resale behavior. By collaborating with a Nordic second-hand peer-to-peer platform brand, our findings—obtained from large-scale field data ( n = 3256)—challenge the conventional wisdom by demonstrating that economic and practical values for using the second-hand peer-to-peer platform negatively affect green consumption values and subsequently weaken the consumers’ preparedness to engage in sustainable resale behavior. In contrast, recreational, generative, societal benefit, and protestor values positively influence green consumption values and increase the consumers’ willingness to engage in pro-environmental behavior. Further, such relationships are moderated by gender: stronger effects were identified among female consumers. These findings have important implications for theory and practice.

The perspective of environmental psychology is particularly valuable for understanding why individuals create new organizations that pursue sustainability targets (sustainable entrepreneurship) (Shepherd & Patzelt, 2011) or renew existing organizations and business models (sustainable intrapreneurship). In this chapter, we explore how individuals negotiate and align their private sustainability concerns with their working roles and if this leads to sustainable intra-or entrepreneurship, or to other types of pro-environmental behavior (PEB) at work. In this respect, we focus on spillovers of PEB between private and public spheres to the working sphere as a source for sustainable intra-and entrepreneurship. Spillovers occur when one PEB has a positive or negative effect on a person’s subsequent PEBs (Thogersen, 1999; Truelove, Carrico, Weber, Raimi & Vandenbergh, 2014). Based on in-depth interviews with 25 individuals, we explore spillover effects from private and public sphere PEBs to work sphere PEBs (life-work spillover effects) with a specific focus on sustainable intra-and entrepreneurial activities: Do individuals who installed a photovoltaic system at home (private PEB) in their role as employees also seek to introduce renewable energies at their companies? Is a member of a non-governmental organization for environmental protection (public PEB) more likely to establish a new sustainability-oriented business than somebody who has no public commitment to sustainability issues? Our overall research question is: Is there a potential in the life-work spillover of private and public sustainability involvement for sustainable entre-or intrapreneurship at work? On the basis of our qualitative study, we develop a typology of spillover processes and show that sustainable intra-and entrepreneurship, as well as other forms of PEB at work, is influenced by individuals’ environmental activities in private and public spheres. We show that people who are characterized by a relatively high degree of personal involvement in sustainability issues are more likely to engage in sustainable intra-and entrepreneurship than people with arelatively low degree of personal involvement. Those individuals who show the highest degree of involvement at work are also strongly engaged in public PEB and/or driven by the motivation to make their contribution to sustainability. Individuals who are largely driven by the motivation to save money are more focused on technologically oriented PEB in the private and work sphere (e.g., using technologies for increasing energy efficiency) and are not active in public PEB. We further explore different ways of dealing with organizational barriers that generate tensions and hinder intrapreneurial activities inside existing organizations as well as strategies that employees use to overcome them. The next section provides an introduction to the literature on sustainable intra-and entrepreneurship and life-work spillover of PEB. In the following section, we report results from qualitative research on 25 individuals and their ways to align their pro-environmental and sustainability behavior at home and at work. Our research enables us to identify different types of PEB spillover effects that are connected with behavioral strategies and motivational orientations towards sustainable entre-or intrapreneurship. In this way, we extend research on sustainable entrepreneurship by focusing on private and public sphere PEBs as “learned” behavioral strategies which can serve as a source for innovative forms of PEB at work or for sustainable intra-and entrepreneurship. On the basis of our findings, employers are encouraged to discover and understand the private and public engagement of environmentally conscious employees in order to release the motivational potential of their work force for the energy transition in their companies.

This study delves into the impact of traditional media and social media on acquiring environmental information and its influence on pro-environmental behaviors in rural tourism. The research employs traditional media and social media as independent variables and identifies pro-environmental contextual forces as mediating variables between media use and pro-environmental behaviors, investigating their effects on tourists’ pro-environmental behaviors in rural tourism. A questionnaire survey was conducted through travel groups on social media and public travel websites, resulting in 298 valid responses. The study findings indicate that the use of both traditional media and social media significantly and positively influences pro-environmental contextual forces. Furthermore, pro-environmental contextual forces have a significant positive impact on pro-environmental behaviors. The research also reveals that place attachment moderates the relationship between pro-environmental contextual forces and behavior. Traditional media proves effective in shaping pro-environmental behavior, while social media has a more pronounced impact on pro-environmental contextual forces.

The concept of sustainable development includes three interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars: economic development, social development and environmental protection [1]. Below, we provide arguments that proenvironmentalism and prosociality are components of a broader behavior, named “sustainable behavior”. We thus suggest that traditional emphasis of environmental education on protecting and/or preserving the environment may be reinforced with prosocial education. Such a combined educational approach can promote sustainable behavior, contributing to multi- and inter-disciplinary efforts to create an ecologically, socially and perhaps even economically sustainable society. Proenvironmental behavior is defined as actions which contribute towards environmental preservation and/or conservation [2]. In turn, prosocial behavior is defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit others or promote harmonious relationship with others [3], [4]. Previous studies demonstrate correlations between proenvironmental and prosocial behavior [5], [7]. For example, Joireman et al. [8] found an association between prosociality and the use of public transport, which has a lower impact on the environment, in comparison to the use of individual motorized transport. Furthermore, [5] and [6] empirically demonstrated that prosociality and proenvironmentalism are components of a broader behavior, which they called “sustainable behavior” since it includes actions aimed at protecting both the natural and the human (social) environments. With regards to the environmental aspects of sustainability, some authors suggest that “environmental problems” are actually problems of human behavior [9]. The first definition of environmental education [10] emphasized the importance of educating the general public about taking action to solve environmental problems. Based on the in-depth analysis of [11], the main emphasis of environmental education is limited to the protection and/or preservation of the environment, while education for sustainable development (or sustainability education) is usually defined as a tool for achieving sustainable development [12]. Prosocial education aims at educating people to share with acquaintances and strangers, to make friends, to work cooperatively, and to develop a sense of self as a moral person [13]. The term “prosocial education” is actually an umbrella concept since it conceptually overlaps with other terms, such as soft-skills development, social-emotional learning, whole child education, service learning, civic education, character education and moral education [2]. Schonert-Reichl & O’Brien [14] reviewed several social-emotional learning programs that have empirical evidence to support their effectiveness, demonstrating that it is possible to promote prosocial behavior through creating a prosocial classroom environment, which emphasizes caring for others, mutual respect and cooperation. Prosocial education could help to gradually bridge this gap of “otherness,” with the aim of helping students overcome alienation, emerging from oneself towards the other by learning to be concerned for the other as we are concerned for ourselves [15].Since on the individual level prosocial and proenvironmental behaviors are parts of the same behavior, prosocial and environmental educational approaches can reinforce each other. Thus, we suggest that the traditional emphasis of environmental education on protecting and/or preserving the environment could be reinforced with prosocial education. Such a combined educational approach would promote sustainable behavior, contributing to multi- and inter-disciplinary efforts to create an ecologically and socially sustainable society. With regard to the economic aspect of sustainable development, some leading economists [16], [17] claim that the current economic system requires the installation of a more social aspect in order to manage today’s interconnected reality. To prevent the enormous damage that is caused to the community as a whole by behavior triggered by fierce economic competition [18], there is a need to react educationally. One possible reaction may be to promote prosocial educational approaches that aim to increase our sense of responsibility towards others. Since the economy is considered a reflection of our relationships [19], the economy might perhaps adjust itself if we change our perception of others and our sensitivity toward others by promoting prosocial educational approaches. One of the biggest paradoxes of contemporary reality is that on the one hand, people, corporations and nations are being increasingly tied together in complex global networks, but on the other, human interactions within these networks are becoming more fragmented, alienated and in many cases motivated by self or local interest [19]. Perhaps the collision between these two opposite tendencies is one of the main reasons for the escalation of the financial crisis worldwide. As the contradiction between our interconnectedness and the nature of human interactions widens – so widens the crisis [20].In summary, prosocial education could not only reinforce environmental education but also contribute significantly to financial and economic sustainability, by cultivating in students a more socially oriented attitude to the world. This in turn can result in sustainable behavior in local and global social networks [21], [22]. Such an approach is aligned with the proposals of UNESCO [23] that promote the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, stressing that education must provide specific skills, such as learning to live together.

Encouraging sustainability in the workplace: a survey on the pro-environmental behaviour of university employees

Numerous studies have demonstrated that empathy and compassion are significant predictors of pro-environmental and sustainable behaviors. Nevertheless, these studies do not clarify how the relationship between empathy and compassion and consequent pro-social behavior develops. How can feeling the emotion of nature’s suffering move compassion and activate behaviors that support the environment? This study aimed to verify whether self-compassion could act as a mediator in the relationship between empathy with nature and compassion, which in turn is associated with pro-environmental behaviors. A serial mediation model was analyzed on a sample of N = 1213 individuals. The results showed that women had higher levels of empathy with nature, compassion, uncompassionate behaviors toward themselves, and pro-environmental behaviors than males. Furthermore, the serial mediation model was confirmed, demonstrating that our initial hypotheses were supported. Self-compassion and compassion served as partial mediators in the relationship between empathy with nature and pro-environmental behaviors. Additionally, we observed the direct effects of both empathy and self-compassion on pro-environmental behaviors. The findings suggest that fostering self-compassion and compassion through targeted interventions may enhance individuals’ pro-environmental behaviors, especially by leveraging their empathetic connection with nature. Clinicians and educators could integrate self-compassion training into programs aimed at promoting environmental sustainability.

Education plays a crucial role in fostering numerous established and sustainable behaviors in individuals. Among these behaviors, environmental awareness is particularly important because of its significant sociological impact. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of values education on environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior. This study employs a mixed-method approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative part of this research consists of 225 eighth-grade students and the qualitative part consists of six Turkish teachers. As a result of the quantitative analysis, it was found that the environmental attitude levels of the middle school students participating in this study were at a high level. In the qualitative analysis, it was found that the teachers participating in this study established a strong connection between mother tongue education, values education, and environmental education. The outcomes from the qualitative and quantitative analysis were discussed in depth and compared with the results previously presented in the literature. Additionally, the findings of this study indicated opportunities for future research as presented in the Discussion Section.

Environmental sustainability requires significant behavioral changes, yet there remains a gap between awareness and actual pro-environmental behavior. Despite the increasing global focus on sustainability, interventions often fail to produce long-term behavioral shifts. This research addresses the gap by exploring the psychological and socio-demographic factors influencing sustainable behavior and evaluating the effectiveness of various interventions. The study aims to: (1) identify key psychological drivers such as values, beliefs, and perceived behavioral control that influence pro-environmental behaviors, (2) assess the impact of interventions across different socio-demographic groups, and (3) provide recommendations for policymakers and educators to design more effective sustainability campaigns. A quantitative methodology was employed, using a structured survey administered to 70 participants with diverse backgrounds. Data were analyzed using the Relative Importance Index (RII) and statistical tests to determine the significance of psychological and demographic factors. Results show that government policies (RII = 0.737), perceived long-term benefits (RII = 0.737), and personal environmental ethics (RII = 0.729) are the most influential drivers of sustainable behavior, while celebrity endorsements (RII = 0.646) have minimal impact. The findings highlight the importance of tailored interventions based on psychological factors and demographic contexts. This research contributes to environmental psychology by offering empirical insights for developing effective policies and educational programs to foster long-term sustainable behaviors.

PurposeThe study analyses the factors that promote pro-environmental intentions and sustainable electronic waste management among households in a developing country context.Design/methodology/approachBased on a quantitative survey, a cross-sectional study of households was conducted. Data from 652 respondents were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).FindingsAmong the findings, environmental values was the major influencer of pro-environmental intentions, accounting for 54.8% of its variance. Whilst pro-environmental intention was hypothesised as a key predictor of sustainable waste management behaviours, results showed that sustainable e-waste management is mainly influenced by perceived behavioural control (β = 0.546, p = 0.000), followed by pro-environmental intentions (β = 0.302, p = 0.000). Perceived behavioural control, on the other hand, was influenced by perceived producer responsibility (β = 0.340, p = 0.000) and facilitating conditions (β = 0.141, p = 0.0.034).Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the study used a quantitative approach. The use of a mixed-methods approach could provide deeper insights into the determinants of sustainable e-waste management practices in a specific cultural context. Also due to the quantitative nature of the study, sustainable e-waste management was based on self-reports. Future studies may adopt longitudinal studies to validate self-reported behaviours with observation. Finally, the study does not include all constructs proposed by planned behaviour and norm activation theory. This is because the main aim of the study was to examine perceived behavioural control as an extrinsic motivator and environmental values as an intrinsic motivator to engage in sustainable waste management practices.Practical implicationsWaste is best managed at source, so the study recommends that producers of electronic equipment must reconsider their role in sustainable waste management, by taking physical and economic responsibility for the environmental costs of their products. Pro-environmental intentions must be encouraged; however, it is not sufficient to cause sustainable waste management behaviours. Consequently, governments must promote and encourage sustainable e-waste management among households by providing enabling policy conditions such as convenient e-waste collection points and positively reinforcing waste reduction, reuse and recycling behaviours. Also, a culture of environmental conservation should be encouraged among households.Originality/valueThe study explores the role of environmental values and perceived behavioural control as a source of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to engage in sustainable e-waste management. The inclusion of facilitating conditions and perceived producer responsibility is justified, based on the call for a collective approach towards electronic waste management. The results of the study throw more light on the tri-party approach, specifically, consumers, business and government role in developing and maintaining a sustainable approach towards the management of electronic waste in Ghana. Also, the study integrates planned behaviour and norm activation based on the strong sustainability argument.

Acquiring a better understanding of what drives pro-environmental and sustainable behaviour is important for both researchers and practitioners alike. The purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating role of locus of control and self-construal on the relationship between pro-environmental beliefs and pro-environmental consumer behaviour. We explicitly model the endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) as a predictor of three specific types of environmental behaviour—travel, purchasing and day to day activities. The results show a positive and significant association between the endorsement of NEP and a person’s pro-environmental traveling behaviour, purchasing behaviour and day to day activities. Moreover, we find that the effects are moderated by a person’s locus of control, specifically, it remains positive and significant only for people with an internal locus of control. However, we found no moderating effect of a person’s self-construal on the association between NEP and pro-environmental behaviour. The findings are important in the continuing work to understand what is limiting consumers to behave according to their beliefs. Practical and theoretical implications of the results as well as suggestions for future research are presented.

LEED, a green building rating system, provides a framework for sustainable building and assesses a building’s energy and resource efficiency. LEED prerequisites and credits are achieved by employing sustainable strategies. The efficiency and success of some of these strategies are dependent on future occupant behaviors. As occupant behaviors shape their building's energy-use, resource-use, and waste production, this paper aims to understand whether the achievement of LEED credits shapes occupant pro-environmental behaviors (energy-saving, resource-saving, and sustainable waste management). People spend the majority of their time at work; therefore, this paper takes the work environment as its setting. Further, it explores occupant behaviors in one LEED-certified (CAE) and one non-LEED-certified (ABBE) office building. Occupant surveys extract self-reported energy-saving, resource-saving, and sustainable waste management behaviors of building occupants in both settings. Results reveal a possible impact of LEED credit (SSc4.1) on commute behaviors and (M + R prerequisite) on sustainable waste management behaviors in LEED-certified building occupants. Results showed insignificant differences in both populations in terms of resource-saving behaviors. Further, a negatively significant difference was found in energy-saving behaviors of LEED-certified building occupants which were possibly influenced by limiting building policy.

Sustainable marketing and tourists' sustainable behavior in South Korea: The roles of emotional value, connectedness to nature, and green consumption values.

Although individuals are exposed to a variety of pro-environmental influences in childhood, it is unclear which has the biggest impact on adult beliefs and behaviour. The aim of the current study therefore examined how formal sustainability education and childhood caregiver pro-environmental motivations, beliefs and behaviour, influence motivations and behaviours in adulthood. An Australian adult sample (n = 230) completed a survey measuring pro-environmental motivation, anthropogenic climate change beliefs and pro-environmental behaviour. Recollections of childhood caregivers’ anthropogenic climate change beliefs and pro-environmental behaviours, and formal completion of sustainability education were obtained. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis found childhood caregiver pro-environmental behaviour significantly and uniquely predicted pro-environmental behaviour. Moderation analysis found no influence from formal sustainability education on this relationship. Caregiver and individual climate change belief were associated, but caregiver belief was not associated with pro-environmental motivation. No differences in adult pro-environmental behaviour were noted when considering childhood sustainability education. Results suggest transmission of anthropogenic climate change belief and pro-environmental behaviour occurs from childhood caregivers. Comparatively, formal childhood sustainability education was not significant in establishing ongoing pro-environmental behaviour patterns. This research adds to limited existing literature demonstrating caregiver impact on sustained pro-environmental behaviour and provides possible future direction for promoting sustainable behaviour.