Abstract
A survey of 1206 participants investigated determinants of positive environmental behaviors (PEBs) in Switzerland. Based on a principle component analysis on data for 23 different PEBs, three behavior types were distinguished: (i) public sphere PEBs with politically mediated impacts; (ii) socially salient private “lighthouse” PEBs that convey a pro-environmental message; and (iii) less socially salient private PEBs. An environmental behavior model identified general environmental knowledge and attitudes as the strongest predictors of PEBs, followed by green self-identity, justifications, assumed consequences, prescriptive social norms, gender, age, and perceived behavioral control (PBC), respectively. To promote sustainability-oriented behaviors and achieve corresponding societal and economic changes, the identified psychological factors need to be promoted by education and communication strategies as well as complementary measures ranging from policy changes to technology development and systems design. Green self-identity turned out to be significantly more influential for private PEBs than for public sphere PEBs, whereas prescriptive social norms and environmental knowledge were more important for public sphere PEBs. These findings indicate that promoting different types of sustainability-oriented behaviors may require distinct strategies. Public sphere PEBs may be enhanced well by conveying social practices and norms, whereas the promotion of a pro-environmental green self-identity may increase private sphere PEBs effectively.
Highlights
The world is currently facing a severe environmental crisis as increasing consumption, land use, forest degradation, desertification, and CO2 emissions change the world climate and lead to environmental degradation with severe economic and humanitarian consequences [1,2,3]
The findings of a principal component analysis (PCA) conducted to distinguish between different types of positive environmental behaviors (PEBs) are presented
A PCA was conducted on the 23 PEB items to investigate their factorial structure and identify factors that are able to account for common variance of certain behaviors
Summary
The world is currently facing a severe environmental crisis as increasing consumption, land use, forest degradation, desertification, and CO2 emissions change the world climate and lead to environmental degradation with severe economic and humanitarian consequences [1,2,3]. Individuals act privately, for example, as family members and as consumers; they act as members of organizations as agents and employees; and they act socio-politically as citizens with social, political, and environmental responsibilities, for example, as voters or environmental activists [19,20] In all these contexts and roles, individuals can help to prevent negative environmental devlopments and contribute to a change of society towards a path leading to a more sustainable future with healthy natural and environmental systems and enduring economic prosperity that is not based on an exploitation of the environment but rather on a symbiotic coexistence and on synergies between natural systems and economic activity. An important aim of sustainability-oriented psychological research is to increase our understanding of processes leading to responsible environmental behaviors of individuals in their private consumption decisions and in their role as citizens of socio-political systems. Corresponding insights regarding the drivers of individuals’ ecologically positive environmental behaviors (PEB) are crucial for the effective promotion and facilitation of responsible behavior through education, campaigns, technology development, and systems design
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