Factor Analysis of Psychological Factors Affecting Environmentally Responsible Behaviour: Evidence from Buea Municipality, Cameroon

Abstract

This research aims to investigate people's perceptions of what is deemed appropriate behaviours toward the environment and investigate the psychological factors and pro-environmental behaviour in daily life in the Buea municipality, Cameroon. The questionnaire was designed taking into consideration of the yes bias tendency that characterized previous research questionnaires on environmental consciousness. Twenty-five (25) statements were made, and respondents were asked to make a choice using a five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire results with both negative and positive prompts showed that the rate of people's consciousness toward the environment was lower compared to other surveys. Five psychological factors were identified and stratified by demographic features: low personal responsibility, high interest in attitude, low awareness in daily life, care about the judgment of others, and insufficient environmental information. Factor A analyses the psychological factors that show low responsibility awareness of oneself. 40% of the sampled population indicated that psychological factors that affect low personal responsibility awareness of oneself are on the increase. With 30.50% of the population scoring a high mark in the factor B shows that approximately one-third of the population have a negative attitude towards the environment. The proportion of people with high C scores is deemed not to care about the environment when purchasing. 36.20% scoring high mark indicates that environmental awareness may still be high, but more than a third's behaviour does not correspond with their level of awareness. A higher D score means that people exhibit PEBs depending on the fact that they may feel good or are being observed by others. Approximately one-third (30.83%) react positively to the environment when they observe that they are being watched by others. Approximately half (48%) of the sampled population scored a higher mark due to a lack of reliable environmental sources of information.