General Environmental Attitudes Research Articles

Large-scale disruptive activism strengthened environmental attitudes in the United Kingdom

The 2019 London Extinction Rebellion was the first attempt by environmental protesters to create prolonged large-scale disruption in a Western capital city. The effects on public opinion were difficult to predict because protests seen as extreme can reduce support, but protests seen as justified can increase support. We studied longitudinal opinion changes in a nationally representative sample (n = 832) before, during, and after the rebellion, in conjunction with experimental analysis of the causal effects of media reports (n = 1441). The rebellion was longitudinally associated with national increases in environmental concern, and activist media increased dissatisfaction with current government action. Reports from different media sources caused activism intentions and support to move in different directions, contributing to longitudinally increased polarisation in attitudes to activism. The rebellion had minimal effects on belief in whether ordinary people can produce relevant change (based on collective efficacy and support for a Citizens’ Assembly). The rebellion thus apparently succeeded in strengthening general environmental attitudes without polarising them, and probably somewhat grew the pool of engaged activists, but did not lead to major growth in collective mobilisation or improved environmental policy.

Perceived impacts of the Fridays for Future climate movement on environmental concern and behaviour in Switzerland

Calling for increased action on climate change, Fridays for Future (FFF) quickly gained momentum around the world and became highly visible through strikes and protests in more than 150 countries. Considering its scale and magnitude, questions about the impact of this newly emerging climate movement arise. This article is based on a survey investigating the perception of Swiss residents (N = 1206) of how the FFF movement and Greta Thunberg’s climate activism changed their environmental awareness and behaviour. We found that the Swiss public by and large perceives Greta Thunberg and the FFF movement positively, and a considerable share of participants report that Greta Thunberg (30%) and the FFF activism (23%), respectively, positively influenced their environmental concern and behaviour. Structural equation modelling revealed that the strength of the behaviour change motivation depended mainly on how a participant evaluated the FFF movement and Greta Thunberg. The latter was influenced positively by general environmental attitudes, and education level and negatively by the acceptance of justifications for environmentally harmful behaviours. Participants reported environmentally positive changes most frequently in private sphere behaviours, particularly in the domains of mobility, consumption and waste, whereas few changes in public sphere behaviour were reported. Next to increased awareness and motivation gains, also the reinforcement of existing pro-environmental behaviour was reported. Although the influence on sympathisers was stronger, some of those sceptical of the climate strike movement also reported behaviour changes, indicating that the unconvinced have to some extent been reached.

Theory of planned behavior and value-belief norm theory as antecedents of pro-environmental behaviour: Evidence from the local community

ABSTRACT Native residents are indispensable participants in developing and conserving the natural environment. Specifying the factors that lead to responsible behavior among the local people can help increase sustainability. This paper aims to investigate the pro-environmental behavior among the local residents of the Kashmir region defined by the components of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Value Belief Norm (VBN) Theory. To analyze the data, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) has been used as research methods. The results reveal that the three components of TPB (general environmental attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control) have a positive and significant impact on the pro-environmental behavior of residents. Moreover, the findings also demonstrate that the factors of VBN (altruistic, egoistic and biospheric values) significantly influence the general environmental attitude which in turn impacts the pro-environmental behavior of local residents. The paper seeks to contribute to the existing literature by adding local community insights based on the explanations given by socio-psychological theories within the context of natural environment. The study will help policymakers to understand better the residents’ intentions and pro-environmental behavior so that they can develop strategies to manage and combat the environmental problems.

Marine Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes among University Students in Hong Kong: An Application of the Ocean Literacy Framework

In this study, we assessed the general marine environmental knowledge and attitudes of university students from eight public universities in Hong Kong. The Ocean Literacy Framework and revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) were used as tools for questionnaire development. Data were collected via in-person and online surveys. An in-person survey was conducted at the university canteen from 16 May to 24 May 2017, and an online survey was conducted via email from 1 May to 31 May 2017. A structured questionnaire was provided to interested students from different levels of study and majors. Data obtained from these surveys were summarized based on participants' correct answers in the general knowledge section and five-point Likert scaling for attitude statements. Results show that Hong Kong university students possess moderate marine environmental knowledge and pro-environmental attitudes. Knowledge scores significantly correlate with demographic variables, such as major of study, gender, institution, and parents' education. Students' pro-environmental attitudes are associated with different factors, including participation in various marine recreational activities, taking marine-related courses, and attachment to conservative marine initiatives. The study results have implications regarding the advancement of marine environmental knowledge and the pro-environmental attitudes of university students, such as mapping a well-structured pathway for disseminating marine environmental knowledge, curricular involvement, and the development of an integrated web resource.

Environmentally friendly urban development: changes in decision-makers’ attitudes, problem perceptions and policy preferences over three decades

This paper investigates changes in decision-makers’ attitudes toward environmentally sustainable urban development in selected Norwegian urban settlements between 1991 and 2020. Changes in general environmental attitudes, problem perceptions and policy preferences concerning urban development are analyzed based on a survey conducted three decades apart in the same case areas among similar samples of decision-makers. The results show a general picture of some mainstreaming of environmental concern, environmentally friendly attitudes and positive attitudes toward measures supporting nature and climate friendly urban development. At the same time, there has been an increased divide between the political left and the political right in their attitudes toward environmental issues in general, as well as toward environmentally sustainable urban development. The results point to a widening gap between environmental attitudes and problem perceptions on the one hand, and the physical reality of escalating crises in the natural world.

Exploratory examination of environmental protection behaviors in a hospital setting using the theory of planned behavior and ethical leadership

Most research focused on understanding the general environmental awareness or attitudes around the world, targeting residents, students, or undergraduates. There were limited attempts to understand the environmental protection behaviors in Taiwan healthcare sector. A questionnaire survey was designed with current healthcare personnel in Taiwan as target population. From the theory of planned behavior and ethical leadership, structural equation modelling allowed a better explanation of the social-psychological indicators affecting environmental protection behaviors in the healthcare sector. Attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are positively impacted by ethical leadership. Environmental protection behavior is significantly influenced by environmental protection intention, while environmental protection intention is strongly affected by perceived behavioral control which is the strongest predictor, followed by attitude. However, there is insignificant correlation of subjective norms to environmental protection intention, due to the weaken social connection among healthcare personals, especially with the heavily burdened workload and restrictive measure during the COVID-19 crisis in a hospital environment.

Economic Valuation on Conservation of Rainforest in Eastern Sinharaja, Sri Lanka

The value for goods and services is noticeable as the price is paid for those goods and services, but in environmental goods and services the real price or value is misrepresent in ordinary markets. Especially the forest benefits or non-market values are not normally exchange in markets and generally ignored in decision making. Benefits obtained from environmental elements cannot be estimated and it causes for the continuous damages which can be reason for long term worldwide effects. Therefore such values and damages need to be justified at least by ensuring that they can be identified and conserved for future generations. But conserving forest features, improving or managing is costly. Eastern Sinharaja – Sri Lanka is a world heritage rainforest which represented with valuable resources for all living beings. However, the resources in Eastern Sinharaja is under continuous degradation and requires conservation measures. The research problem focuses on what is the economic value on conservation of Eastern Sinharaja rainforest environment. This research is attempt to estimate the total value of conservation of Eastern Sinharaja rainforest environment using Contingent Valuation method (CVM). The information was gathered from a questionnaire survey under random sampling method using 234 of sample size. The results has discovered, respectively socio economic variables, general environmental attitudes and willingness to pay sections designed have identified as key sections which derived the main features which are affecting to the economic value of the conservation of the rainforest environment. Gender, employment, voter, income are socio economic features which affect to the economic value. In general environment attitudes for willingness to pay (WTP) and the respondents attitudes are positive when consider about the significance values of the features for Mean WTP of Rs. 257.30 from a household. This study indicated that despite Sri Lanka is a developing country, people are willing to contribute for conservation of the resource. Those derived values may significantly contribute in conservation of rainforest environment and deliver materials to design applicable policies for future rainforest environment management.

Willingness to Pay for Implementation of an Environmentally Friendly Pharmaceutical Policy in Finland-A Discrete Choice Experiment Study.

The use of pharmaceuticals is their main pathway to the environment, making the public a major stakeholder in environmentally friendly pharmaceutical policies, including an environmental classification system for medicines. We studied the Finnish adult population’s (n = 2030) preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for an environmentally friendly pharmaceutical policy by means of an online survey employing a discrete choice experiment (DCE). We also studied the relative importance of the policy attributes, namely, the environmental impact, geographical scope, available information about the environmental impact of a pharmaceutical, and the effect of the respondents’ general environmental attitudes on the WTP. The total annual WTP of the Finnish adult population ranges from 37 million to 134 million euros, depending on the attribute levels. Moreover, the environmental attitude of a respondent had a significant impact on the WTP. Generally, the environmental impact of the policy was the most important attribute, the geographical scope of the policy the second, and information about the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals was the third most important attribute. However, the most environmentally friendly respondents preferred information as the second important attribute. This study provides insights into the environmental valuations of the public to be used in preparing new pharmaceutical policy measures.

Awareness days and environmental attitudes: The case of the “Earth Hour”

Environmental awareness campaigns disseminate information about the state of the natural environment, aiming to affect public attitudes and encourage pro-environmental behavior. I test the influence of awareness days on the general public's environmental and climate change attitudes and concern, focusing on the case of the Earth Hour, an international campaign organized annually by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The Earth Hour highlights environmental consequences of human activity and encourages sustainable behavior, culminating with a call to mass action. To assess the Earth Hour's effect, I use longitudinal data from Germany and the UK, exploiting the orthogonality of the Earth Hour observance to the timing of data collection, to estimate models comparing individual attitudes and concern before and after the event. I find no evidence of an Earth Hour effect on environmental and climate change attitudes and concern. Results suggest that more research is needed to assess the influence of environmental advocacy campaigns and awareness days on the general public.

Moving towards sustainable restaurants: bridging the attitude-behaviour gap

This paper proposed a path model to test the causal links from environmental values to environment-related attitudes, and how these variables lead to the intention to dine at sustainable restaurants among the patrons in Malaysia. SPSS and AMOS-SEM were used to test the data collected from 500 respondents. The results showed that the environmental values did not affect intention to dine at sustainable restaurants directly, but indirectly affected the intention via both attitude variables, and presented a three-path mediated effect on the path model. Besides, the specific attitudes towards sustainable practices of restaurants acted as the only predictor of intention, and not the general environmental attitudes. It concluded that using a specific environment-related attitude variable can better explain a specific behavioural intention to close the attitude-behaviour gap debated in the past studies. Both general and specific attitude variables should be included to mediate the relationship between environmental values and intention in the context of sustainable restaurants.

Analysing the consumer purchasing behaviour for certified wood products in Italy

Sustainable or ethical consumption increases over time and involves a growing variety of products. In this research we focus on consumption of wood products with Sustainable Forestry Management certification in Italy considering two specific labels: Forest Stewardship Council and Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. We test the role of several attitudinal characteristic of Italian consumers on their purchasing intention with a structural equation model. We consider both direct and indirect impact of ecolabel knowledge, general environmental attitude, attitude toward environmental certification, trust in certification. The results show that all the attitudinal constructs of our model play a significant role in affecting the willingness to pay a premium price for certified wood products. This suggests that firms, policymakers, certifying organizations and all the stakeholders involved in the forestry supply chain can successfully implement targeted information campaigns on ecolabels and environmental issues to increase sustainable consumption. These strategies would also improve trust in ecolabels.

Measuring functions and structure of environmental attitudes from environmental educators in public sanitation (Medición de las funciones y la estructura de las actitudes ambientales de los educadores ambientales en el ámbito del saneamiento público)

Environmental education towards sanitation can be effective to promote water conservation in a cycle of use framework. Considering attitudes as main determinants of pro-environmental behaviour and the need to expand knowledge from an educator’s point of view, this research aimed to comprehend the relations between environmental education and the development of environmental attitudes from sanitation workers. Group differences in activity execution and age were investigated. A mixed-method research design was conducted in a Brazilian sanitation company, CASAN, in two phases. In phase 1, 119 workers from treatment plants where environmental education is performed were submitted a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Environmental Attitudes Inventory. Data submitted to descriptive and comparative analyses indicated higher levels for preservation and general environmental attitudes for younger workers. In phase 2, 19 environmental educators were interviewed and their data submitted to content analysis to verify attitude functions. Participants confirmed the importance of performing activities for environmental attitudes development; institutional determinants were discussed, considering workers’ role in the promotion of natural resources conservation and adequate sanitation.

Investigating the Determinants of Greek Households Food Waste Prevention Behaviour

Food waste prevention is globally an urgent policy priority. Multiple studies have demonstrated that in the developed world, households are the main producers of food waste along the food supply chain, being responsible for about half of the edible food wasted. This study aims to analyse consumers’ food waste behaviour and identify the factors that influence food waste generation in Greek households. A survey of 921 Greek households was conducted using a structured questionnaire based on the explanatory framework of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, which is currently the most widely used cognitive model in environmental psychology. The study investigated the validity of relations between the main model parameters (attitude towards food waste, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intention, and self-reported behaviour), in addition to knowledge regarding food waste prevention, general environmental knowledge, planning and shopping habits and demographic characteristics. Results demonstrated that food waste prevention Intention and food provisioning habits are direct determinants of food waste generation Behaviour. Intention was predominantly determined by General Environmental Attitude, followed by Perceived Behavioural Control, Attitude towards Food Waste, and Consequences/Outcomes of waste prevention, while Subjective Norms did not exert a statistically significant influence, indicating that formal and informal environmental education can positively influence food waste prevention behaviour through a combination of experiential actions and instruction. The findings of the study can inform policymaking and support the development of effective campaigns for food waste prevention at the consumption stage.

Reducing personal air-travel: Restrictions, options and the role of justifications

Abstract An integrative environmental behavior model was applied in an online survey to investigate the determinants of intentions to reduce personal air travel and corresponding perceived restrictions and options among participants in Switzerland (N = 1206). Flying habits emerged as the most powerful predictor of air travel intentions, followed by prescriptive social norms, general environmental attitudes, flight-specific personal norms, and acceptance of general justifications for environmentally negative behavior. The overall model achieved substantial explanative power (multiple R = 0.75). Availability of alternative means of transportation was most frequently mentioned as requirement for reducing personal flights, and participants proposed replacing physical business meetings with online formats. Trains were often proposed as alternative transportation mode; however, concerns regarding travel duration and price constrain their use. Faster connections, attractive pricing, and measures facilitating the enjoyment of lengthier travel times could help reduce the number of flights and contribute toward deceleration of life.

Determinants of Different Types of Positive Environmental Behaviors: An Analysis of Public and Private Sphere Actions

A survey of 1206 participants investigated determinants of positive environmental behaviors (PEBs) in Switzerland. Based on a principle component analysis on data for 23 different PEBs, three behavior types were distinguished: (i) public sphere PEBs with politically mediated impacts; (ii) socially salient private “lighthouse” PEBs that convey a pro-environmental message; and (iii) less socially salient private PEBs. An environmental behavior model identified general environmental knowledge and attitudes as the strongest predictors of PEBs, followed by green self-identity, justifications, assumed consequences, prescriptive social norms, gender, age, and perceived behavioral control (PBC), respectively. To promote sustainability-oriented behaviors and achieve corresponding societal and economic changes, the identified psychological factors need to be promoted by education and communication strategies as well as complementary measures ranging from policy changes to technology development and systems design. Green self-identity turned out to be significantly more influential for private PEBs than for public sphere PEBs, whereas prescriptive social norms and environmental knowledge were more important for public sphere PEBs. These findings indicate that promoting different types of sustainability-oriented behaviors may require distinct strategies. Public sphere PEBs may be enhanced well by conveying social practices and norms, whereas the promotion of a pro-environmental green self-identity may increase private sphere PEBs effectively.

Environmental Psychology Approach: Understanding Tourist’s Intention to Reducing Food Waste in Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia

Bali is one of the destinations with the highest tourist visiting in Indonesia. One concern is food waste produced by tourists during the holiday. Most of the food waste comes from consumers level. Thus, needed to understand what factors influence of tourist’s intention to reduce food waste during the holiday. This study aims to understand tourist behavioural intention of reducing food waste during the holiday. The conceptual model was built based on the new environmental paradigm scale and environmental psychology approach. There are six hypotheses designed through environmental attitude, feeling personal responsibility, knowledge and intention to reduce food waste during vocation. Correlation and multiple regression were chosen to analyse the data. Environmental attitude did not have a direct association of tourist’s intention to reduce food waste (p-value=.23). Meanwhile, feeling personal responsibility and knowledge to reduce food waste has a significant relationship with the outcome (p-value=.001). In the environmental attitude, both local and foreign tourists are not profoundly correlated with the understanding of tourist’s intention to reduce food waste during the holiday. Overall, the study concludes that tourists can figure out the intention of reducing food waste, even though they do not concern about general environmental attitude.

Environmental attitudes and place identity as determinants of preferences for ecosystem services

Stated preference methods are frequently employed to measure people's willingness to pay (WTP) for ecosystem services. However, these techniques are also criticized for following a simplified approach, which often ignores the role of complex psychological and sociological factors, such as general environmental attitudes and place identity beliefs. By means of a discrete choice experiment exercise, we explored the influence of general environmental attitudes and place identity perceptions on WTP, taking peatland restoration in Scotland as a case study. Our research adds to the existing literature by providing a more nuanced picture of the determinants of WTP and by exploring and mapping the distribution of the estimated welfare measures. Our results, obtained from the estimation of hybrid choice models, show that people with more positive environmental attitudes and greater attachment to peatlands and Scotland tend to display higher WTP for peatland restoration. However, differences exist across respondents, depending on their socio-demographic profile and the geographical area. A better understanding of the heterogeneity of preferences for ecosystem services is helpful to guide more efficient policy design and to inform policy-makers about the distributional impacts of planned policies for equity considerations in project appraisal.

Environmental attitudes among students of Early Childhood Education program in University of Jember

This study aimed to describe the environmental attitudes of students of Early Childhood Education (ECE) program in University of Jember. Descriptive quantitative approach with survey method were employed. For data collection, the Environmental Attitude Scale were distributed to 102 students of ECE program in University of Jember from 2nd, 4th and 6th semester, with age ranged from 19 – 23 years old. Analysis were done based on mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum score computation with N=101. The results of this study indicated that (1) Most students of ECE program in University of Jember have general positive environmental attitude, (2) The energy saving is the most concerned environmental issues among the students, and waste products get the least attention. Some additional findings and limitations are discussed.

How does environmental knowledge translate into pro-environmental behaviors?: The mediating role of environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions

This paper explores how general environmental knowledge shapes environmental attitudes, behavioral intentions, and pro-environmental behaviors in relation to the surrounding environment. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping estimation was conducted to assess a causal chain from environmental knowledge to pro-environmental behaviors with a nationally representative sample of 2824 respondents from China. The results show that environmental knowledge has a significant positive effect on environmental attitudes, environmental attitudes have a significant positive effect on environmental behavioral intentions and pro-environmental behaviors, and environmental behavioral intentions have a significant positive effect on pro-environmental behaviors. We also concluded that although environmental knowledge has no significant direct effects on pro-environmental behaviors, it is a crucial distal variable whose significant effect is fully mediated by environmental attitudes and environmental behavioral intentions. The results of the multigroup SEM showed that the moderating effect of external context on the relationship between environmental behavioral intentions and pro-environmental behaviors and various demographic variables (e.g., gender, urban vs. rural residence, education level, and region) have diverse effects on the model in this study.

Sustainable changes in a worksite canteen: An exploratory study on the acceptance of guests

This study analyzes employees’ acceptance for sustainable restructurings in their worksite canteen. In reference to past research, we explore how personal food choice preferences, lunchtime habits and general environmental attitude influence the acceptance of seven changes related to pre-ordering, payment systems, portion sizes, the availability of sustainable dishes and the avoidance of packaging waste. Our results for 365 respondents from three public institutions show that the importance of food choice preferences, lunchtime habits and environmental attitude in predicting consumer acceptance differs for different restructurings. However, all three suggested dimensions of determinants are supported in their relevant contribution. Overall, the findings transfer general notions about the complexity of food-related behavior in canteen settings to the specific topic of accepting sustainability-oriented service changes. Practical as well as research oriented implications for realizing sustainable restructurings in worksite canteens are discussed.