Abstract
Individualization trends encouraging young people to focus on their achievements seem to contradict the need for socially and environmentally sustainable behavior, and this requires additional empirical testing. The purpose of this paper is to present and provide basic testing of an original model of responsible behavior. The model is inspired by the theory of planned behavior distinguishing between consciousness, intentions, and behavior. The presented model applies these to an individual as well as to social and environmental responsibility while taking into account the social, technological, and natural environments. The research is based on the presumption that it is crucial to connect the individual dimension of responsibility with the environmental and social dimensions to achieve environmental and social sustainability at the micro-level. Data for the preliminary testing of the model was collected from an online social survey among Slovenian youth and analyzed through partial correlations and path analysis. The results show that individual responsibility is strongly connected to social and environmental responsibilities, but only in terms of behavior, and not values and intentions. Responsibility is also strongly connected to the social and technological environment, especially to the ways how young people are using digital technology.
Highlights
This paper explores the dimensions of the responsible functioning of Slovenian youth
The issue of responsible behaviour is tightly knit with the idea of sustainable development referring to “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987)
The main aim of this paper is to (1) explore the compatibility between one’s responsibility for oneself and their responsibility towards the community and nature; (2) test the consistency between values, intentions, and behaviour in this framework applied to the responsible functioning of Slovenian youth; and (3) ascertain how this is affected by the social, natural, and technological environments
Summary
This paper explores the dimensions of the responsible functioning of Slovenian youth. The issue of responsible behaviour is tightly knit with the idea of sustainable development referring to “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, 1987). It has at least three distinctive dimensions, i.e. economic, social, and environmental, which are closely intertwined and mutually interdependent (Purvis et al, 2019). One can notice an alarming effect of individualistic value shift to the behaviour patterns referring to responsible functioning in the last decades The latter calls for the need to explore the linkage between values and actual practices, while taking individual, social, and environmental responsibility into account. In this framework applied to the responsible functioning of Slovenian youth; and (3) ascertain how this is affected by the social, natural, and technological environments
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