Sustainable behaviors, prosocial behaviors, and religiosity in Colombia. A first empirical assessment

Abstract

Religion is a powerful institution that models human behaviors at all levels. In a time of proven environmental crisis, it is useful to think about how this institution can improve conservation efforts and nature care through promoting sustainable and prosocial behaviors. Although some research argues that the effect of political ideology and economic status is by far a stronger predictor than religiosity per se, this varies across cultures. We develop a first research strategy, based on two sources: 1) The World Values Survey, between 1997 and 2018, to identify trends regarding the importance of religion in Colombians’ life. 2) Self-administered survey (a total of 450 surveys applied to Colombians, under snowball sampling in 2020) the sample size is adjusted to the data analysis technique, which was Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), to understand the potential relationship between religiosity, environmental perception, prosocial, and sustainable behaviors in a megadiverse country, and highly religious such as Colombia. The results of this first research, in the Colombian case, reiterate and provide empirical support to earlier theoretical studies that have pointed out the contribution of religiosity and spirituality to sustainability and prosocial behaviors. This case shows that acting sustainably is not just a matter of belief or unbelief, nor of being spiritual or atheist. Prosocial behaviors, in combination with environmental perception and knowledge, have a major influence on sustainable behaviors for the Colombian case.