The Influence of Biographical Situational Factors upon Environmental Activist Behaviour: Empirical Evidence from CEE Countries

Audronė Telešienė,Aistė Balžekienė

doi:10.5817/soc2015-3-159

Audronė Telešienė, Aistė Balžekienė

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5817/soc2015-3-159

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Abstract

This study aims to provide an empirically verified exploration of factors influencing environmental activist behaviour. The authors focus on the determinants of personal environmental activist behaviour as a characteristic of the culturally specific group of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. A two-stage model of the biographical availability thesis is explored. Results reveal evident regional differences in patterns of public-sphere environmental behaviours across Europe. CEE countries exhibit lower levels of engagement in environmental activist behaviours than Western and Nordic European countries. The two-stage model of the biographical availability thesis is only partially confirmed. Age and employment status have a significant influence on behaviour: specifically, being 17–24 years old and in education increases availability for environmental activist behaviour. Gender has an additional influence upon participation in demonstrations and protests, with men being more participative. A low-commitment partnership status has additional influence on behavioural intentions. The results imply the need for further research into the context and cognitive determinants of environmental activist behaviour in CEE countries.

Highlights

Environmental behaviour studies have increasingly been testing socio-psychological explanatory models
Exploration of environmental activist behaviours in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries initially needs a descriptive analysis of the levels of active involvement in public-sphere environmental behaviours
After analysing the differences and specific characteristics of environmental publicsphere behaviour in CEE and WEO regions, we further turned to the main questions of the article: Can environmental activist behaviours in CEE region be explained through the biographical availability thesis? Before testing the model we explored the relation between behavioural intentions and activist behaviour

Summary

Introduction

Environmental behaviour studies have increasingly been testing socio-psychological explanatory models. There is a lot of empirical support for the value-belief-norm theory (Stern 2000; Schwartz 1992), the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen 1991; Ajzen, Albarracín and Hornik 2007), the thesis of limitative and operative determinants (Spaargaren 1997), and the thesis of constrained behaviour (e.g. Guagnano, Stern and Dietz 1995), to name a few. In analysing environmental activist behaviour, the thesis of biographical availability was introduced (McAdam 1986, 1990) and extensively tested (Beyerlein and Hipp 2006). There is still disagreement about how well activist behaviour might be predicted from biographical situational determinants.

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