Abstract
Value–belief–norm (VBN) theory provides a valuable framework for identifying the social-psychological determinants of various types of pro-environmental behavior. However, limited empirical study has tested the applicability of VBN theory in the western minority areas of China. Given Mongolian college students’ crucial role in promoting the sustainable development of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) of China, this study investigates how VBN clusters of variables, namely, values, the new environmental paradigm (NEP) and pro-environmental personal norms (PPN), influence Mongolian college students’ self-reported public-sphere pro-environmental behavior (PSPB). The subjects were 1034 Mongolian college students from three large public universities in Hohhot. A structural equation model (SEM) and bootstrapping analyses revealed that: (1) altruistic values have a significant positive influence on PSPB, egoistic values negatively influence PSPB, and biospheric values have no significant influence on PSPB; (2) egoistic values negatively predict NEP and biospheric values positively predict NEP, whereas altruistic values have no direct impact on NEP; (3) NEP has a positive influence on PPN; (4) PPN has a significant positive impact on PSPB; and (5) biospheric and egoistic values have an indirect effect on PSPB through NEP and PPN. The findings provided evidence for the cross-cultural applicability of VBN theory in a Mongolian college student sample. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed, and recommended directions for future research were suggested.
Highlights
It is widely acknowledged that environmental problems are mainly rooted in human behavior [1,2,3]
The analysis revealed that the initial hypothesized model demonstrated good fit to the data: χ2 = 1024.439; df = 264; χ2/df = 3.880; goodness-of-fit index (GFI) = 0.920; adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) = 0.901; comparative fix index (CFI) = 0.919; incremental fit index (IFI) = 0.919; Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.908; SRMR = 0.062; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.053 [90% CI: 0.049, 0.056]
We investigated the structural relationships among the VBN clusters of variables, namely, egoistic values, altruistic values, biospheric values, new environmental paradigm (NEP), pro-environmental personal norms (PPN) and public-sphere pro-environmental behavior (PSPB) in this study
Summary
It is widely acknowledged that environmental problems are mainly rooted in human behavior [1,2,3]. One of these research lines has focused on identifying the sociodemographic factors related to pro-environmental behavior, such as gender [5], age [6], place of residence [7], ethnicity [8], income [9] and education [10] Another line has focused on the influences of social-psychological determinants, such as the influence of values, norms, attitudes, sense of control, personality and place attachment on pro-environmental behavior and has been tested over the last 40 years [11]. Empirical research repeatedly provides empirical support for the predictive power of VBN clusters of variables on various pro-environmental behavioral indicators It has received substantial recognition and is widely used to test the relationships among individual values, attitudes and beliefs, and various types of pro-environmental behavior
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