General Environmental Beliefs Research Articles

An Information-Theoretic Approach to Modeling the Major Drivers of Pro-Environmental Behavior

Researchers attempting to identify and understand the so-called drivers of public concern for the environment and engagement in pro-environmental behaviors have conceptualized and modeled numerous theoretical constructs. This has made it hard to establish generalities across studies regarding the causal ordering of relationships between these constructs. This study reviews some of the major constructs employed within this area of research, and uses an information-theoretic approach to assess six models that position these constructs within different causal orderings to predict general pro-environmental behavior (G-PEB). The results indicate that environmental values and general environmental beliefs are distal drivers of engagement in G-PEB, and form the foundation—or primary motivational base—for environmental identity, concerns, attitudes, and norms that—directly and more proximally—influence this broad set of behaviors. This suggests that effective policies and interventions need to target both the proximal and distal influences on behavior, as well as the contexts and structures that support shared values and primary beliefs within a society or culture. Recommendations for ways that researchers could better understand individuals and their behaviors impacting the environment more deeply, both systematically and socio-ecologically, are suggested.

Support for wilderness preservation: An investigation of the roles of place attachment and environmental worldview

Wilderness areas worldwide continue to face a range of threats, however public support for wilderness areas is lacking. Similarly, there is a paucity of research literature pertaining to public support for federally-designated wilderness areas within the U.S. Borrowing from the broader pro-environmental behavior literature, the purpose of this investigation was to explore the role that individuals' environmental worldview and place attachment play in their support for wilderness. Specifically, we asked residents of the southeastern United States about their political and financial support for the management and continued protection of current wilderness areas. Data was obtained via an online panel of adults who had visited a protected natural area in the previous five years. Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis results revealed that place attachment partially mediated the relationship between environmental worldview and support for wilderness preservation. The data suggest that models of pro-environmental behavior, generally, and wilderness preservation, specifically, should include both a measure of general environmental beliefs and a measure of an individual's thoughts and feelings ascribed to a specific setting. • Wilderness area support is associated with a visitor's environmental beliefs and the bond they develop with the area. • Managers should continue to seek to understand the reasons for visitors' place attachment intensity levels. • Managers should continue to engage visitors with programs that increase visitors' place attachment to their wilderness area.

The role of psychological factors on vehicle kilometer travelled (VKT) for battery electric vehicle (BEV) users

Electric vehicles (EVs) are related to various symbols, identities, and beliefs, and are considered much more than a means of transport. Existing literature has investigated the contribution of financial incentives and various psychological factors to the EV purchase decision. However, few studies investigate the effect of psychological factors on post-purchase EV use. We emphasize that the ultimate success in the widespread acceptance of EVs depends acutely on their post-purchase use. This study empirically addressed the effect of perceived attributes related to EVs, perceived accidental risk, self-environmental identity, and general environmental beliefs on the annual vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) by battery electric vehicle (BEV) owners. Drivers who own only BEVs and those who own both internal combustion engine vehicles and BEVs were compared to identify the role of psychological factors in BEV use in a Norwegian sample. The dataset was analysed using an ordinary least squared regression model. The socio-demographic characteristics and mobility patterns of the two groups are investigated. The findings indicate that economic aspects are positively associated with annual VKT for sole BEV owners, whereas perceived operating barriers have a negative effect on annual VKT for the other group. The results suggest the inclusion of psychological factors in predicting a more precise model of the induced travel demand of EV owners, which, in turn, is necessary to estimate energy demand accurately and to take steps in establishing the required infrastructure.

Investigating Orchard Men's Behavioral Intentions of Dashtestan County toward Water Conservation Using Stern Value-Belief-Norm Theory

Investigating Orchard Men's Behavioral Intentions of Dashtestan County toward Water Conservation Using Stern Value-Belief-Norm Theory

The CSR green halo effect on the corporate–public communication: an experimental study

ABSTRACTEnvironmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a popular practice among corporations. However, the mechanism and effectiveness of environmental CSR in affecting corporate–public communication are still unclear. Against the theoretical backdrop of the ‘halo effect’ and through a controlled experiment with 742 participants from Hong Kong and mainland China, we find that: if a company’s environmental CSR activity receives higher support from the consumers, it is less likely for consumers to avoid advertisements endorsed by the company. The CSR green halo effect therefore exists. Moreover, consumers’ nationality and their three preexisting attitudes (general environmental CSR support, environmental beliefs, and favorability of products’ country of origin) are important moderators of the green halo effect and need to be considered in practice.

The Influence of Religious Affiliation on Community Views about Environment, Climate Change, and Renewable Energy in and around the Mormon Culture Region

ABSTRACTWhile political ideology is a consistent predictor of public environmental views in the United States, religious affiliation may also be an important correlate of environmental attitudes, especially in regions with a majority denomination. Using data from a 2014 survey in five communities across Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming (n = 906) experiencing renewable energy development, we investigate the influence of religious affiliation on environmental beliefs, views about climate change, and support for renewable energy. We are particularly interested in the influence of Mormonism, an understudied area of research. We find Mormonism, Protestantism, and Catholicism all significantly and negatively related to general pro-environment beliefs. However, this relationship doesn’t hold as consistently for views about global warming or renewable energy development. We also find income, gender, length of residence, and political orientation to be important predictors of environmental attitudes, and that general environmental beliefs are only weakly related to views about renewable energy.

Are American households willing to pay a premium for greening consumption of Information and Communication Technologies?

The United States lags other nations in adapting policy approaches that would stimulate cleaner consumption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by limiting the use of potentially toxic materials in electronics production. This study analyzes nationally-representative U.S. data from a unique web-based survey to investigate whether American households are willing to support greening the ICT devices by paying a premium for a green cell phone. Green cell phone does not contain hazardous materials and can be safely disposed with general municipal waste. A survey-based economic technique of contingent valuation was utilized to examine the relationship between socio-psychological and economic parameters for evaluating and explaining a stated willingness to pay a green phone premium, controlling for socio-economic and demographic characteristics. The findings indicate that respondents with higher scores on general environmental beliefs, greater engagement in pro-environmental behavior, and positive attitudes toward recycling small electronics are likely to be willing to pay a premium to purchase a green cell phone compared to a conventional cell phone with similar capabilities. This suggests that educating the public about benefits of electronics recycling, promoting pro-environmental norms, and encouraging pro-environmental behavior can help increase public support for implementing policies aimed at greening ICT production and consumption in the United Sates.

Seeing shellfish from the seashore: The importance of values and place in perceptions of aquaculture and marine social–ecological system interactions

In increasingly crowded and contested marine and coastal spaces, there is a pressing need to identify the values, context, culture and other factors that shape what activities will be resisted, tolerated, or desired in those spaces. The concept of wellbeing provides a useful analytical lens to address this need. This study characterizes the impact of shellfish aquaculture on local residents in Baynes Sound, British Columbia across environmental, economic and experiential dimensions by creating an overall index of attitudes towards the industry. Findings suggest that perceptions of impacts within the environmental and experiential dimensions are connected, while the economic dimension is somewhat distinct. Attitudes towards the industry were also widely variable within the sample, and the most important predictor variables of attitudes are not those related to common narratives about groups who ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ the industry. Rather, these variables are related to general environmental beliefs and place (local community of residence). These findings have important management implications as they demonstrate that local contextual (cultural and other) boundaries have critical influences on any assessment of well-being, how it is defined, and its relationship to marine coastal zone activities like aquaculture.

Beliefs about Ecological Impacts Predict Deer Acceptance Capacity and Hunting Support

Ecological impacts of deer overbrowsing often lead resource managers to recommend deer control through hunting, which may be strongly opposed by local residents. Adaptive impact management argues that understanding wildlife impacts of concern to the public can improve wildlife management. However, research on public wildlife acceptance capacity for deer, and on support for hunting, has emphasized concerns about household impacts and deer well-being, general environmental beliefs and attitudes, and beliefs about consequences of hunting, but not public concerns about deer ecological impacts. Our survey of neighbors of urban wetlands shows that beliefs about deer ecological impacts are statistically significant predictors of deer acceptance capacity and of support for hunting, controlling for other factors. Including ecological-impact beliefs adds substantially to the explained variance in deer acceptance capacity, and slightly to the explained variance in support for hunting.

The influence of consumers' environmental beliefs and attitudes on energy saving behaviours

With a heightened focus on the concept of sustainability in the past few decades, government, business and individuals have become increasingly aware of the need to reduce our environmental footprint. Consequently there has been much research on consumer environmental behaviour, and the beliefs, norms and attitudes that influence this behaviour. In this article we develop a conceptual framework of consumer environmental behaviour and its antecedents, and test hypotheses within the framework by means of a survey of green consumers. The results show that general environmental beliefs do influence norms on environmental actions and prices, but only norms on price are correlated with environmental attitudes; both intrinsic and extrinsic environmental drivers together with social norms and community influence are associated with environmental attitudes, but cost barriers may have a negative influence. It was also found that there was a strong association between environmental attitudes and energy saving behaviours but the latter was not in any way influenced by government policies or subsidies.

Promoting Ecotourism Among Young People

Ecotourism in natural protected areas is receiving growing international recognition as a means to enhance sustainability. Nonetheless, research on ecotourism and, in particular, on young ecotourists segmentation is still scarce. This study aimed at segmenting the market of young tourists using a range of psychosociological factors. First, a sample of 365 young tourists was segmented on the basis of holiday motivations (considered driving factors of attitudes and behaviors). Second, each group identified was characterized by a consistent set of other psychosociological variables, such as personality traits, personal values, general environmental beliefs, and behavioral variables (ecotourism behavioral intentions and consumption habits). The results show that about 80% of the sample would be open to the ecotourism, and different communication strategies for promoting ecotourism for different segments of potential ecotourists are also proposed.

Determinants of risk perception and willingness to tackle climate change. A pilot study

Different research papers have demonstrated that risk perception related to climate change can be attributed to different variables such as general environmental beliefs, knowledge about climate change and self-efficacy (Heath and Gifford, 2006; Sundblad, Biel and Gärling, 2007). However, the lack of agreement in the work carried out so far and the need to define specific scales of attitudes towards climate change indicate that further research must be conducted along these lines. This pilot study analyzes the determinants of risk perception and behavioral intentions in relation to climate change found in the literature. A Likert-type scale was developed to assess the following variables: knowledge, attitudes towards climate change and self-efficacy as predictive variables and risk perception and behavioral intentions as criteria variables. This scale was tested on 84 university students. The internal consistency of the scale was acceptable for all variables with the exception of attitude toward climate change where consistency was low. The results of the regression analyses showed that 44% of the variance observed in risk perception related to climate change can be explained by the level of knowledge, attitudes toward climate change and self-efficacy. 17% of the variance observed in relation to behavioral intentions can be predicted by attitudes toward climate change and self-efficacy.

Environmental Concern and Knowledge of Ecotourism among Three Groups of Swedish Tourists

The present study is aimed at investigating whether eco-tourists are more ecologically oriented than nature tourists and city tourists. In questionnaire surveys, in line with the hypotheses, the ecotourists expressed more general environmental beliefs than the nature tourists, who, in turn, had more pro-environmental beliefs than the city tourists. Similar results were found in the attitudes the three groups of tourists had toward the impacts of tourism on local people. The eco-tourists and the nature tourists also reported a more pro-environmental behavior than the city tourists. The ecotourists and nature tourists, did not, however, differ in this respect. In all three groups, knowledge about ecotourism was limited and mainly associated with ecologically sound tourism. The application of Stern and colleagues’ schematic causal model of environmental concern proved to be useful, and implications for the tourism industry can be derived.

The Earthscan Reader in Environmental Values

Review: The Earthscan Reader in Environmental Values By Linda Kalof and Terre Satterfield (Eds.) Reviewed by Byron Anderson Northern Illinois University, USA Linda Kalof and Terre Satterfield (Eds). The Earthscan Reader in Environmental Values. London; Sterling, VA: Earthscan, 2005. xix, 334 pp. ISBN: 1-84407-167-7 (paper); 1-84407-166-9 (cloth) UK£22.95,US$39.95; UK£80.00, US$150.00. Elemental chlorine-free paper. Value is a hotly contested term among environmentalists. The Earthscan Reader in Environmental Values attempts to tackle the gargantuan task of assigning economic value to nature. The book is part of The Earthscan Readers, a series of books that bring together a core collection of key articles on environmental topics. This reader contains eighteen paper reprints, sixteen journal articles and two book chapters that originally appeared between 1984 and 2002. The contributors were selected based on expertise in their respective fields. The editors, both academics, establish three goals for the book: lay groundwork for understanding contingent valuation practices, provide an overview of current economic approaches, and place a value on ecosystem services. The papers were, for the most part, originally written for their respective constituency and not for the layperson. Some of the articles may require some disciplinary knowledge to fully comprehend. The book divides environmental values into four thematic parts, each with a separate introduction. First, economic themes focus on the discipline’s move beyond traditional barriers to “incorporate political theory, moral philosophy, institutional economics, social psychology and socialism” (p. 56). This is due, in part, to a willingness of economists to debate the rights of future generations, treatment of the poor, and other “nontraditional” economics topics. Second, philosophical and ethical themes question our moral obligation to the environment that initially rose in the 1960s over concern about species extinction and population growth. Third, anthropology and sociology themes explore socio-cultural links with environmental values, including “social sources of values (religion, gender and geography), and general environmental beliefs (such as scared beliefs about how the world works and endorsement of an ecological worldview)” (p. 153). Finally, judgment and decision making themes explore the experiments designed to measure the value individuals attach to environmental goods and services and “analyses the kinds of decisions individuals reach by democratic political

Cultural change and environmentalism: a cross-national approach of mass publics and decision makers

The main focus of this study - the Global Environmental Survey (GOES) - is the impact of cultural influences on environmental attitudes. GOES examines the cultural impact from a basic cross-national perspective, investigating the impact of cultural change and value shifts on environmental concern, attitudes, and behavior in both Western and non-Western societies. This study provides cross-national insights in how mass publics and decision makers in both developed and developing countries frame environmental problems and solutions. In addition, the project has shown how leading environmental decision makers and opinion leaders assess the environmental beliefs and attitudes of the public. Apparently, citizens are not yet ready to translate pro-environmental concerns into acceptance of far-reaching environmental policy measures. Citizens in both developed and developing countries seem to prefer voluntary lifestyle changes. Moving from environmental concern via policy support to actual (reported) environmental behavior, we can conclude that persistent pro-environmental behavior does not describe citizens' environmental involvement and commitment. Our data indicate that environmentally relevant behaviors (e.g., transportation, energy use, recycling, household purchases, political activism) do not form a consistent and coherent pattern. Practice of one type of ecologically conscious behavior does not predict engagement in another. It is not that people reserve a distinctive spot in their mental software for judging the environmental impact of habitual behaviors. Their mental mapping probably consists of manifold decisional heuristics, including comfort, health, safety, price, efficiency, effectiveness, and social responsibility, which are likely to be hierarchically ordered and in competition with environmental heuristics. A focus on specific behaviors, though, reveals that citizens may be deeply involved in "green" behavior. This is related in part to differences in opportunity structures, social situation and, arguably, cultural differences in exposure to green ideas. The policy lesson from this is not to prompt "general" environmentally friendly consumer behavior, but to promote single citizen actions having positive environmental impacts and, certainly, to create appropriate opportunity structures. In addition to the general national sample GOES study, an additional decision makers' module addressed the following questions, among others: Is there a systematic bias in environmental decision makers' estimates of environmental attitudes and environmental policy preferences of the general public? How do decision makers value a number of policies that are direct implementations of international environmental treaties, and how do they judge their own national performance in this respect? The new module enabled us to study differences between environmental decision makers and general public attitudes and policy preferences in the environmental policy arena, and we did find some remarkable and systematic cross-national biases in decision makers' competence of estimating the general public's environmental beliefs and policy support. These biases, interestingly, are related to issues at the core of the sustainability debate.

Environmental beliefs and water conservation: An empirical study

Observations of residential water consumption were conducted with 510 individuals living at two northern Mexican cities. In addition, they responded to a questionnaire investigating their general environmental beliefs and their specific (utilitarian–anthropocentric, and ecological) beliefs regarding the status of water as a natural resource. General environmental beliefs were modeled as having a tri-factorial structure, including beliefs regarding (1) the need of maintaining a “balance” with nature, (2) the need of imposing “limits” to human growth, and (3) a human exception paradigm (HEP). Two structural models of relations between general environmental beliefs, specific water beliefs and water consumption were specified and tested. The first model failed in producing direct effects of general environmental beliefs on water consumption. The second model revealed that general environmental beliefs differentially influenced the development of specific beliefs regarding water: Utilitarian water beliefs were positively affected by the HEP, while ecological water beliefs were positively influenced by “limits” beliefs and were negatively related to the HEP. Utilitarian water beliefs, in turn promoted water consumption, while the ecological water beliefs inhibited that behavior.

In what sense does the public need to understand global climate change?

In a survey of 1,218 Americans, the key determinant of behavioral intentions to address global warming is a correct understanding of the causes of global warming. Knowing what causes climate change, and what does not, is the most powerful predictor of both stated intentions to take voluntary actions and to vote on hypothetical referenda to enact new government policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Identifying bogus causes (e.g., insecticides) correlates with the belief that the globe will warm, but is only weakly related to voluntary actions and not at all related to support for government policies. General pro-environmental beliefs and perceptions that global warming poses serious threats to society also help to explain behavioral intentions. The explanatory power of an air pollution framework is substantial in bivariate analyses, but has little explanatory power in multivariate analyses that include knowledge, risk perceptions, and general environmental beliefs. Translating public concern for global warming into effective action requires real knowledge. General environmental concern or concern for the negative effects of air pollution appear not to motivate people to support programs designed to control global warming.

Risk Perceptions, General Environmental Beliefs, and Willingness to Address Climate Change

The research reported here examines the relationship between risk perceptions and willingness to address climate change. The data are a national sample of 1225 mail surveys that include measures of risk perceptions and knowledge tied to climate change, support for voluntary and government actions to address the problem, general environmental beliefs, and demographic variables. Risk perceptions matter in predicting behavioral intentions. Risk perceptions are not a surrogate for general environmental beliefs, but have their own power to account for behavioral intentions. There are four secondary conclusions. First, behavioral intentions regarding climate change are complex and intriguing. People are neither “nonbelievers” who will take no initiatives themselves and oppose all government efforts, nor are they “believers” who promise both to make personal efforts and to vote for every government proposal that promises to address climate change. Second, there are separate demographic sources for voluntary actions compared with voting intentions. Third, recognizing the causes of global warming is a powerful predictor of behavioral intentions independent from believing that climate change will happen and have bad consequences. Finally, the success of the risk perception variables to account for behavioral intentions should encourage greater attention to risk perceptions as independent variables. Risk perceptions and knowledge, however, share the stage with general environmental beliefs and demographic characteristics. Although related, risk perceptions, knowledge, and general environmental beliefs are somewhat independent predictors of behavioral intentions.

Risk Perceptions, General Environmental Beliefs, and Willingness to Address Climate Change

The research reported here examines the relationship between risk perceptions and willingness to address climate change. The data are a national sample of 1225 mail surveys that include measures of risk perceptions and knowledge tied to climate change, support for voluntary and government actions to address the problem, general environmental beliefs, and demographic variables. Risk perceptions matter in predicting behavioral intentions. Risk perceptions are not a surrogate for general environmental beliefs, but have their own power to account for behavioral intentions. There are four secondary conclusions. First, behavioral intentions regarding climate change are complex and intriguing. People are neither “nonbelievers” who will take no initiatives themselves and oppose all government efforts, nor are they “believers” who promise both to make personal efforts and to vote for every government proposal that promises to address climate change. Second, there are separate demographic sources for voluntary actions compared with voting intentions. Third, recognizing the causes of global warming is a powerful predictor of behavioral intentions independent from believing that climate change will happen and have bad consequences. Finally, the success of the risk perception variables to account for behavioral intentions should encourage greater attention to risk perceptions as independent variables. Risk perceptions and knowledge, however, share the stage with general environmental beliefs and demographic characteristics. Although related, risk perceptions, knowledge, and general environmental beliefs are somewhat independent predictors of behavioral intentions.