Predicting college students' future intentions to engage in public-sphere water conservation behaviors

Austin Wise,George Wardlow,Donald Johnson,Kathi Jogan

doi:10.37433/aad.v2i2.107

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe selected college students’ (N = 252) perceptions of and future intentions (FI) to engage in public-sphere water conservation behaviors, and to determine if FI could be predicted by a single or linear combination of student demographic characteristics and latent variables. A majority of respondents agreed a growing population will negatively affect water quantity (90.5%) and there is a need for water resource management (85.6%). A majority disagreed or strongly disagreed that they (53.4%), their family (57.1%), or their friends (67.5%) practiced water conservation, or that people in their hometowns were concerned about local water availability (78.1%). A majority agreed they would engage in four of five public-sphere water conservation behaviors in the future: support water conservation programs (86.4%), care more deeply about water conservation (81.2%), join a water conservation organization (79.2%), and vote for stricter water use laws (55.0%). Fewer than one-half agreed or strongly agreed they would donate money to support water conservation (45.8%). Responses to statements concerning water conservation were factor analyzed and two factors were extracted: lack of agency (LA) and subjective norms (SN). A linear combination of gender, LA, and SN explained 36.7% of the variance in FI.

Highlights

Introduction and Problem StatementEarth’s surface is over 75% water, only about 2.5% of that is freshwater and even less is available for human use (United States Geological Survey, 2018)
Private-sphere behaviors refer to actions taken to conserve water on an individual or household level, such as use of low-flow shower heads or installation of high efficiency toilets
Courses were stratified as agriculture or non-agriculture courses based on their alpha codes, and 10 courses were randomly selected from each stratum

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and Problem StatementEarth’s surface is over 75% water, only about 2.5% of that is freshwater and even less is available for human use (United States Geological Survey, 2018). It is important to consider the conservation of such limited resources and to promote responsible use practices and policies (Chaudhary et al, 2017). Water conservation behaviors have been categorized as either private- or public-sphere behaviors (Stern, 2002). Private-sphere behaviors refer to actions taken to conserve water on an individual or household level, such as use of low-flow shower heads or installation of high efficiency toilets. Public-sphere water conservation behaviors refer to civic engagement in proconservation actions designed to influence public policies relative to water conservation. Such behaviors include voting, membership in water conservation organizations, and support for water conservation policies (Stern, 2002)

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