The Relationship between Religiosity, Environmental Orientation and Environmental Behaviors: An Empirical Study with Turkish and British Muslim Samples

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between environmental orientation, behaviour, and religiosity. It also deals with the relations between environmental orientations, behaviours and socio-demographic variables, such as, gender, country and age. The correlational survey method and the questionnaire technique are used for research. The sample covers 342 people ranging from ages 16 to 74. 26% (N= 90) of the sample are British Muslims and 74 % (N= 252) are Turkish Muslims. “Environmental Orientation Scale”, “Environmental Behaviour Scale”, and “Religiosity Scale” measures are applied. The findings indicate that religiosity has a positive effect on ‘environmental stewardship’ and ‘waste management’ however it has no relation to ‘environmental ominion’ and ‘active environmentalism’. In addition, the findings demonstrate that the age and the environmental dominion factors were more effective on environmental behaviour rather than religiosity. The implications of these results and the suggestions for future research are discussed.