Differences In Environmental Concern Research Articles

The moderating effect of gender equality consciousness on environmental concern among males and females.

In the discourse on the heterogeneity of gender and environmental concern, gender equality awareness can further illuminate the complexity of gender and environmental concern across different cultural backgrounds. Differing from prior research, our study focuses on exploring the relationship between different genders, gender equality awareness, and environmental concern, as well as investigating whether gender equality awareness has distinct effects on environmental concern among different genders. Utilizing data from the 2021 China General Social Survey (CGSS), we conducted a theoretical investigation into gender differences in environmental concern. First, we used descriptive statistics to observe the differences between the samples. Secondly, in order to compare the influence of gender equality awareness on different genders, we conducted t-tests on gender subgroups. Subsequently, an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model was employed to examine the effects of gender and gender equality awareness on environmental issues. Finally, gender equality awareness was introduced as a moderating variable to explore its potential interaction with gender and investigate whether a moderation mechanism exists between gender and environmental concern. Findings indicate that 1) male respondents in China exhibit greater concern for the environment compared to female respondents; 2) higher levels of gender equality awareness are positively correlated with higher levels of environmental concern; 3) the influence of gender on environmental concern is moderated by the degree of gender equality awareness. Specifically, when gender equality awareness is strengthened, female respondents exhibit a higher degree of environmental concern. Enhancing gender equality awareness contributes to improving both social gender equality and equitable concern for the environment. The findings could provide insights for similar developing countries like China.

The Gender Gap in Environmental Concern: Support for an Ecofeminist Perspective and the Role of Gender Egalitarian Attitudes

Quantitative studies analysing individual differences in environmental concern (i.e., apprehension about the quality of nature and natural resources including air, water, soil and animal and plant species) have consistently found differences between men and women, whereby women are more likely to display pro-environmental attitudes, although the underlying reasons remain largely unclear. Understanding the gender gap in environmental concern is crucial for designing and targeting environmental policies and for developing environmental education programmes. This paper examines five prominent theories that address the gender gap: Socialisation theory, Economic Salience theory, Parenthood Status theory, the Class-Gender effect and Ecofeminism. Ecofeminism constitutes a theoretical perspective which, despite offering a joint analysis of feminism and environmentalism, has rarely been employed in applied research regarding the gender gap in environmental concern. Using hierarachical regression techniques and data from the World Values Survey (N = 51,763) across 45 countries, this study finds that attitudes of gender equality are positively correlated with environmental concern. The present study supports ecofeminist theory by highlighting the positive role played by gender egalitarian attitudes in environmental concern. This research is the first of its kind to study the influence of gender egalitarian attitudes on environmental concern with such a large representative sample of countries, using hierarchical models to evaluate the effect of contextual factors.

Do Consumers Intend to Use Indoor Smart Farm Restaurants for a Sustainable Future? The Influence of Cognitive Drivers on Behavioral Intentions

Smart farms are eco-friendly and sustainable agriculture practices that also play a crucial role in the foodservice industry. This study investigated cognitive drivers, which included biospheric value, environmental concern, problem awareness, and ascription of responsibility, in order to form consumers’ behavioral intentions in the context of indoor smart farm restaurants. The current study also investigated the differences among the four sub-dimensions of cognitive drivers, which are based on the respondents’ demographic factors. This study was performed using data from 310 participants. The study conducted multiple linear regression to test the causal relationships and t-test and one-way ANOVA to test the demographic differences. The results of the data analysis revealed that all four sub-dimensions of the cognitive drivers aid in regard to increasing behavioral intentions. Furthermore, the data analysis results showed that age and marital status were associated with differences in biospheric value, and gender was associated with differences in environmental concern and problem awareness. This study empirically identified the direct effect of cognitive drivers on consumers’ pro-environmental behavior and their demographic differences, and it also presents practical suggestions from the perspective of green marketing.

A new look at the racial differences in environmental attitudes: the roles of risk perception and group consciousness

Racial minorities bear disproportionate share of pollution and environmental risk. A key solution to such disparities is to increase their participation in the environmental policymaking process. In this article, I test various theories of environmental attitudes and participation—with a special focus on risk perception and group consciousness—on Whites and Minorities and use them to explain the racial differences in environmental concern and participatory intentions. Using survey data, I find that risk perception is positively associated with environmental concern and participatory intentions for both Whites and Minorities. I also find that many theories of environmental attitudes apply to Whites and Minorities differently. While the traditional explanations of political orientation and social connectedness apply to Whites, their patterns are less clear for Minorities. Instead, group consciousness plays an exceptionally important role for racial minorities, and it accounts for much of racial minorities’ higher levels of concern and participatory intentions compared with Whites. This study provides new perspectives to understand the racial differences in environmental concern and participation and has important implications for the environmental justice research and movement and environmental public policy.

Understanding Local Environmental Concern: The Importance of Place

AbstractUrban‐rural differences in environmental concern are the primary way that place has been conceptualized within the social bases of environmental concern framework, yet there has been little convergence in empirical findings to support such differences. We assess the influence of place of permanent residence and other sociodemographic measures of the social bases of environmental concern approach alongside two social‐psychological constructs: place attachment and place outlook. Our work focuses on second homeowners in three rural, natural amenity communities of the northeastern United States (n = 405). Second homeowners who permanently reside in rural places exhibited lower levels of local environmental concern about their second home area than suburban and urban residents, when “rural” was defined at the county scale. We did not observe differences in local environmental concern based upon urban‐suburban‐rural permanent residence when place of permanent residence was defined at the tract, block group, or zip code levels. Place attachment and place outlook explain more variance in local environmental concern than all sociodemographic indicators combined. Our findings suggest that second homeowners' local environmental concern is not strongly or consistently shaped by the urbanity or rurality of their permanent residence, but that place‐based, social‐psychological constructs may offer mechanisms through which social‐structural forces shape environmental concern.

Cross-National Variation of Gender Differences in Environmental Concern: Testing the Sociocultural Hindrance Hypothesis

Although it is widely accepted that women are more pro-environmental than men, findings regarding gender differences in environmental concern have actually been mixed. In this study, we attempt to reconcile these mixed findings by considering the influence of sociocultural contexts. Specifically, we propose that some sociocultural contexts tend to hinder the psychological process that underlies gender differences in environmental concern. We tested this sociocultural hindrance hypothesis with an international survey data set (International Social Survey Programme) that involved respondents from 32 countries. We found that gender differences in environmental concern were smaller in societies with higher levels of gender inequality, economic scarcity, power distance, and collectivism. These results highlight the need to examine both the “why” and “when” questions for gender differences in environmental concern. They also indicate the importance of considering not only individual-level variables but also societal-level factors in the study of environmental concern.

Gender Differences in Environmental Concern: Reevaluating Gender Socialization

ABSTRACTWe examine the direct effects of social roles and value orientations believed to be derived from gender socialization on environmental concern. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) and Wave 2 of the Baylor Religion Survey (BRS), we find that among U.S. adults, value orientations about social roles, but not social roles themselves, influence environmental concern. Gender traditionalism is found to have a significant negative relationship with environmental concern for women, and no effect for men. Conversely, an ethic of care is found positively related to environmental concern for both men and women. The results suggest that observed differences between genders in environmental concern are related to gender socialization; however (1) different forms of socialized value orientations influence environmentalism in opposing ways, and (2) the effects of an ethic of care may be gender neutral. We conclude with a discussion of potential directions for future research on gender differences in environmental concern.

The moderating role of individual differences in responses to benefit and temporal framing of messages promoting residential energy saving

This study examined how framing of residential energy-saving benefits as environmental or economic (i.e., benefit framing) and long-term or short-term (i.e., temporal framing) influenced individuals' attitudes toward and perceived outcome efficacy of energy-saving behaviors, and, especially, how individual differences in environmental concern, political orientation and consideration of future consequences (CFC) moderated message framing effects. Data were collected from 461 U.S. residents in an online experiment. Results from moderated regression analyses suggested that environmentally framed benefits induced more positive attitudes toward energy saving than economically framed benefits among those with moderate levels of environmental concern and among more politically liberal participants, suggesting that environmentally framed messages might stimulate positive responses only within a subset of U.S. energy consumers. Short-term, economic benefits induced the most positive attitudes and highest outcome efficacy among participants with lower levels of CFC. Implications for promotional messages about energy saving are discussed.

An eco-label effect in the built environment: Performance and comfort effects of labeling a light source environmentally friendly

People tend to idealize eco-labeled products, but can eco-labeling have consequences for performance? To address this question, 48 university students were asked to undertake a color discrimination task adjacent to a desktop lamp that was either labeled “environmentally friendly” or “conventional” (although they were identical). The light of the lamp labeled “environmentally friendly” was rated as more comfortable. Notably, task performance was also better when the lamp was labeled “environmentally friendly”. Individual differences in environmental concern, but not pro-environmental consumer behavior and social desirability indexes, were related to the magnitude of the eco-label effect on performance. Whilst some previous studies have shown similar placebo-like effects of eco-labels on subjective ratings, this is the first study to show an eco-label effect for artifacts in the built environment on performance, and the first study to relate this effect to environmental concern. Psychological mechanisms that may underpin the eco-label effects are discussed.

Socio-demographic Differences in Environmental Concern and Willingness to Pay for Addressing Global Climate Change in Pakistan

Previous research indicates that socio-demographic attributes are important predictors of environmental concern. However, this research mainly focused on Western societies, with minimal representation of non-Western contexts. In this article, we argue that a stronger representation of non-Western societies is necessary for a more global understanding of pro-environmentalism. On this basis, we explored socio-demographic differences in environmental concern and willingness to pay for addressing climate change in Pakistan. We aimed to assess demographic trends in public perceptions of environmental problems in the Pakistan, and their level of convergence with Western-derived theories of the social bases of environmental concern. Although our findings are largely congruent with trends previously observed in Western contexts, we found some divergent demographic patterns in environmental concern among Pakistanis that are likely the result of a number of contextual influences that prevail in Pakistan and other similar developing countries.

Gender differences in environmental concern among Swedish citizens and politicians

Numerous studies find modest, consistent gender differences in environmental concern within the general publics of North American and European countries, but results from the few studies of gender differences among politicians are inconsistent. We test if women report stronger environmental concern than men across four levels of the Swedish polity, utilising three data sets: a representative sample of the general public, a survey of all representatives in municipal-level and county-level councils, and a survey of members of the Swedish Parliament. Results from our multivariate ordered logistic regression models reveal a consistent pattern across the lower three levels: women report greater environmental concern than men in the general public and in municipal and county councils. In the Swedish Parliament, however, the apparent effect of gender is largely explained by political orientation.

Affluence and objective environmental conditions: Evidence of differences in environmental concern in metropolitan Brazil.

In an age of climate change, researchers need to form a deepened understanding of the determinants of environmental concern, particularly in countries of emerging economies. This paper provides a region-specific investigation of the impact of socio-economic status (SES) and objective environmental conditions on environmental concern in urban Brazil. We make use of data that were collected from personal interviews of individuals living in the metropolitan areas of Baixada Santista and Campinas, in the larger São Paulo area. Results from multilevel regression models indicate that wealthier households are more environmentally concerned, as suggested by affluence and post-materialist hypotheses. However, we also observe that increasing environmental concern correlates with a decline in objective environmental conditions. Interactions between objective environmental conditions and SES reveal some intriguing relationships: Among poorer individuals, a decline in environmental conditions increases environmental concern as suggested by the objective problems hypothesis, while for the wealthy, a decline in environmental conditions is associated with lower levels of environmental concern.

Oregon water: Assessing differences between the Old and New Wests

The history of the American West is intimately tied to the movement and management of water. As the West developed, so too did the image of rural Westerners. As stressors like climate change and population growth strain existing water supplies, resource management benefits from understanding whether fundamental differences exist between the residents in the Old (rural) West and the New (urban) West. Using a survey conducted in the spring of 2010 of Oregon residents, this study explores whether residents in Oregon show distinct differences in environmental concern based on rural or urban residency. The results show that there are differences between groups on environmental beliefs, but likely attributed to factors other than rural and urban residency, and there are no significant differences between groups on water.

National Differences in Environmental Concern and Performance Are Predicted by Country Age

There are obvious economic predictors of ability and willingness to invest in environmental sustainability. Yet, given that environmental decisions represent trade-offs between present sacrifices and uncertain future benefits, psychological factors may also play a role in country-level environmental behavior. Gott’s principle suggests that citizens may use perceptions of their country’s age to predict its future continuation, with longer pasts predicting longer futures. Using country- and individual-level analyses, we examined whether longer perceived pasts result in longer perceived futures, which in turn motivate concern for continued environmental quality. Study 1 found that older countries scored higher on an environmental performance index, even when the analysis controlled for country-level differences in gross domestic product and governance. Study 2 showed that when the United States was framed as an old country (vs. a young one), participants were willing to donate more money to an environmental organization. The findings suggest that framing a country as a long-standing entity may effectively prompt proenvironmental behavior.

Making Sense of the Senseless: Identity, Justice, and the Framing of Environmental Crises

Responses to environmental crises will depend on the way in which these events are understood and characterized, perceptions that may be affected by media frames as well as by individual motivations. This paper reports on two studies looking at the role of justice and framing of environmental problems. In Study 1, 297 participants were asked to characterize the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon as an injustice, a crime, or a natural disaster following a description of the event that focused on one of several different types of harm. They also rated harm caused, responsibility for the harm, and their own affective response. In Study 2, 387 participants read a paragraph about climate change that focused on one of several targets of harm and then rated the threat of climate change, responsibility for addressing climate change, and affective response. In both studies, general belief in a just world was associated with weaker negative affect, whereas environmental identity and a liberal political orientation were associated with stronger responses. Business and industry were seen as primarily responsible for both causing and remediating the problems. Framing the issue had a limited influence. The results suggest that political differences in environmental concern are associated with different characterizations of environmental crises and that a desire for justice can both facilitate and hamper pro-environmental responses.

Gender Differences in Environmental Concern

Research on environmental concern has consistently found that women have modestly stronger pro-environmental values, beliefs, and attitudes than do men. Scholars have proposed and examined several explanations and have found that only a few hypotheses receive somewhat consistent empirical support, including the institutional trust hypothesis. Given that recent research suggests that men and women have equivalent levels of trust in social institutions, we chose to revisit the institutional trust hypothesis. We use a structural equation modeling technique on General Social Survey data from 2000 and 2010. In both years, we found that women report greater pro-environmental views and concern about environmental problems than do men. Yet, we found only minimal gender differences in institutional trust and no evidence that institutional trust mediates the relationship between gender and environmental concern. Our study does not support the institutional trust hypothesis. We end by identifying potential implications of our findings and suggestions for future research.

Explaining Gender Differences in Concern about Environmental Problems in the United States

We examine theoretical arguments explaining gender differences in environmental concern using data from six Gallup surveys in the 2000s. Using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, we examine the direct and indirect effects of gender and other key variables on two factors of environmental concern: worry about health-related environmental problems and worry about global environmental problems. We find weak but consistent support for the safety concerns hypothesis, which expects that women are more concerned than are men about health-related environmental problems. Our results offer no support for various arguments that men's and women's differential performance of key social roles in society account for gender differences in environmental concern. We find consistent support for the claim that risk perception mediates the direct effect of gender on environmental concern. We end with a discussion of fruitful avenues for future research on gender differences in environmental concern.

Rural‐Urban Differences in Environmental Concern in Canada

Abstract Distinctions between rural and urban populations are well documented in environmental sociology literature. Rural and urban places may exert different influences on participation in environmentally supportive behavior (ESB) as well as on other forms of environmental concern (EC). The influence of these distinct geographies may be due to present circumstances or because of childhood socialization in these places. Using data from a national survey in Canada (n=51 664), we use cognitive (basic values, environmental worldview, and environmental attitude) and behavioral indicators (public and private sphere) of EC to explore differences among rural and urban populations and we include analyses accounting for place of socialization. We extend the conventional private sphere category of ESB by including stewardship behaviors. Results showed few differences between rural and urban residents on indicators of EC. Rural residents, however, scored higher on altruistic values, placed a higher priority on the environment, and reported higher participation in recycling and stewardship behaviors. Analysis that included place of socialization showed differences on environmental worldview, basic values, and some ESB. In terms of ESB, we conclude that residence and place of socialization may be less of a factor than opportunity and highlight the importance of providing services and facilities. We recommend future research on residence and ESB include a variety of behaviors that reflect opportunities for both rural and urban residents.

Gender and environment in the Japanese workplace

Previous literature depicts women as more pro-environment than men in terms of attitudes and behaviour. A survey was conducted in two sectors of Japanese society – industry and academia – whose workplace is considered relatively male dominated. The study sampled 221 respondents from 15 schools and ten firms to evaluate gendered differences in environmental concern. Women were found to demonstrate greater levels of pro-environmental behaviour compared to men due to their higher level of consideration of the impacts of their companies' production processes and products on the environment, their willingness to pay slightly more for environmental products than men, their positive perception of sustainable behaviours and their higher general level of concern about the environment. The study also reveals that the successful implementation of environmental sustainability programmes in organisations hinges on the interest and participation of management.

Self-construal predicts environmental concern, cooperation, and conservation

The purpose of this study was to determine whether individual differences in self-construal predict differences in environmental concern, resource sharing, and pro-environmental behaviour. University students completed measures of environmental concern, cooperation, and competition in sharing environmental resources, and conservation behaviour. It was found that the independent self-construal uniquely predicted egoistic environmental concern and competitiveness in sharing resources. The interdependent self-construal predicted resource cooperation, and the metapersonal self-construal uniquely predicted biospheric environmental concern, ecological cooperation, and self-reports of environmental conservation behaviour. These results suggest that self-construal plays a key role in predicting important environmental thoughts and behaviours. It is proposed that one's environmental concern stems partly from self-construal. Quite simply, if one considers the self to include all living things, then one is less likely to harm and more likely to protect the environment.