Self-reported Pro-environmental Behavior Research Articles

Behavioural spillover in the environmental domain: An intervention study

This study tests hypotheses about behavioural spillover in the environmental domain as well as the impacts of monetary inducements and verbal praise on behavioural spillover by means of a field experiment. A sample of 194 students from a large university in Denmark were randomly allocated to a control group or to one of two experimental conditions where they were encouraged to purchase “green” products by means of either financial compensation and incentives or verbal encouragement and praise. Participants answered a baseline survey containing questions concerning a wide range of environmentally relevant behaviours and after a six weeks intervention period where they were requested to keep track of their purchases by means of a shopping diary they answered a second survey with the same content as the first. This allowed us to analyse the change in self-reported pro-environmental behaviours over the six weeks, to identify instances of behavioural spillover from “green” purchase behaviour to other pro-environmental behaviours and to investigate if such spillover was affected by the nature of the intervention. The study revealed a positive spillover from “green” purchasing to other pro-environmental behaviours. However, the spillover mostly affects low-cost behaviours. Not unexpectedly, the monetary inducement had a stronger direct impact on “green” shopping than verbal encouragement and praise. However, contrary to popular beliefs, the spillover effects of a monetary inducement on other pro-environmental behaviours are at least as strong as that of verbal encouragement and praise.

Predicting residents' pro-environmental behaviors at tourist sites: The role of awareness of disaster's consequences, values, and place attachment

This research focuses on local residents' self-reported pro-environmental behaviors in the Great Jiuzhai Tourism Area, China. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether residents' awareness of disaster's consequences, values and place attachment affect their pro-environmental behaviors based on value-belief-norm theory and theory of place attachment. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to confirm the fitness of the collected data for the model. This research concludes that residents' awareness of disaster's consequences, values and place attachment impact their pro-environmental behaviors positively. It reveals that altruistic values are a more powerful predictor of pro-environmental behaviors compared with egoistic values. Place attachment has a stronger impact on pro-environmental behaviors than the awareness of disaster's consequences and values. Several practical implications were derived from the research findings, which contributes to the policy of tourism management in general and environment management in particular outside the field of tourism sites.

Predictors of Pro-Environmental Behavior in Rural American Communities

Place and community attachment, community satisfaction, and environmental attitudes have all been independently linked to environmental behaviors. However, few efforts have attempted to determine the relationship between these factors, and together, how they relate to pro-environmental behaviors. Moreover, few studies have analyzed these concepts and relationships in the context of rural and low amenity settings. This study integrates these factors in a conceptual framework and examines them in the context of rural, low amenity communities. Based on the analysis of data from a survey of residents in six small, rural communities in Kansas and Iowa ( N = 1,088), we find that environmental attitudes and place attachment are the strongest predictors of self-reported pro-environmental behaviors, while community satisfaction—including satisfaction with services and satisfaction with community leadership—is not a significant predictor. Recommendations for future research following the theoretical approach used in the study are presented.

Measuring cultural values and beliefs about environment to identify their role in climate change responses

Cultural perspectives shape responses to climate change. This research examines ‘myths of physical nature’ outlined in cultural theory. Patterns of values and beliefs about the environment are described as ‘cultural biases’, which legitimize four ways of life – worldviews. We test whether cultural biases about the environment have the same structure as those about society. Study 1 details sound psychometric measures developed through a survey of Australians (n = 290). Study 2 replicates the measures (n = 5081), and demonstrates their predictive validity in relation to climate change beliefs and self-reported pro-environmental behaviors. Two negatively correlated dimensions are identified that differ from the grid-group framework. Individualistic and fatalistic perspectives frame the environment as ‘elastic’ to justify damaging behaviors. Hierarchical and egalitarian perspectives frame the environment as ‘ductile’ to justify environmental conservation. Theoretical implications and differences to established measures of environmental concern and worldview are discussed.

Key Factors Influencing the Environmental Behavior of Green Buyers within the Scope of Turkish Households

In this study, the key factors influencing in Turkish households are examined in light of the theory of environmentally significant behavior. It focuses particularly on the households in the largest city in Turkey: Istanbul. The city holds 18% of Turkey's population and 14% of its households, which are, to some extent, significant indicators of its representation in the country. The related literature suggests two approaches to measuring environmentally significant behavior: which are mostly based on self-reported pro-environmental behavior, and impact-oriented which study the direct or indirect energy-saving actions of the consumers. Although there are certain drawbacks for the intent-oriented measures, they are worth examining due to their use of non-behavioral data of possession or of some household goods and services, which are assumed effective for certain environmental problems. This gives policy-makers a chance to determine and implement appropriate policies for environmental problems in the micro scale. This study concentrates on the main drivers of green buyers in Istanbul, Turkey. In the study, quantitative research technique will be used and different scales will be employed while collecting the data. Statistical analyses, including factor analysis, are to be applied to obtain subsets of variables.

Exploring the influence of outdoor recreation participation on pro-environmental behaviour in a demographically diverse population

This study used structural equation modelling to examine the effects of socio-demographic variables and outdoor recreation participation on pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) among an ethnically diverse population of adult state-park visitors near Atlanta, Georgia, USA (N = 319). Data collected through intercept surveys at three state parks were used to examine interactions among potential predictors of PEB, including socio-demographics (ethnicity, gender, education, and income), outdoor recreation participation (during childhood and adulthood), and environmental value orientations (biocentric and anthropocentric). The best fitting model accounted for 40% of the variance in self-reported PEB and indicated the strongest positive relationship between adult outdoor recreation participation and PEB (β = 0.54, t = 5.70). Biocentric and anthropocentric value orientation scores were also significant antecedents of PEB (β = 0.17, t = 1.99, and β = 0.19, t = 2.56, respectively), and both were influenced by socio-demographic variables. Overall, results suggest that a diverse public's environmental ethos and propensity to engage in PEBs could be influenced by outdoor recreation opportunities.

The role of perceived government style in the facilitation of self-determined and non self-determined motivation for pro-environmental behavior

Most North Americans are concerned about the environment and feel that responsibility for its protection lies primarily with government; however, no research to date has examined the influence of the government's approach toward environmental regulation on the motivation of individual citizens. According to self-determination theory, social contexts that support one's autonomy should facilitate self-determined motivation and social contexts that thwart autonomy should lead to non self-determined motivation and a sense of apathy or amotivation. In this study ( n = 283), we examined the influence of perceptions of the government's approach toward environmental regulation on motivation toward the environment and frequency of self-reported pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Using structural equation modeling, we tested the hypothesis that frequency of PEB is predicted by motivation toward the environment and that motivation is predicted by the extent to which individuals perceive the government to be autonomy-supportive versus controlling in the implementation of environmental policies. The analysis revealed that perception of government autonomy-support contributed positively to autonomous motivation and negatively to amotivation, while perception of government control was positively related to both controlled motivation and amotivation. As predicted, autonomous motivation was positively, and amotivation was negatively, associated with frequency of PEB.

Comparative optimism for environmental risks

The present research tested whether people display comparative optimism for environmental risks and the link between comparative optimism and pro-environmental activity. Study 1 found comparative optimism for water pollution, air pollution and nuclear energy in normal conditions, but not when participants were asked to think about pollution arising from a hypothetical accident. In Study 2, both environmental activists and nonactivists displayed comparative optimism for a list of 22 environmental risks. However, comparative optimism was not associated with self-reported pro-environmental behaviour. Instead, absolute perceived risk, ecological attitude and social value orientation were associated with behaviour. Furthermore, when controlling for group membership, the effect of absolute risk disappeared. These findings are used to address ways in which pro-environmental behaviour might be encouraged.

Students’ Viewpoint to the Environment and Health

From the psychological point of view in explaining and predicting behaviour the most effective way is to find links between perceived seriousness of pollution problems, general environmental evaluation, world ecological problems and self-reported proenvironmental behaviours. Sometimes evaluation of environmental events depend upon more general orientations. In this connection the main task of investigators would be to discover what people know about main environmental problems, how do they perceive and evaluate them and how the events are related to their social life. That is why the person in the environment approach was used in the research. On the other hand the information and knowledge serve as a bases for development of environmental viewpoints. For that reason in the process of the research it was necessary to find out the level of knowledge related to the environmental events. In the future students/respondants who have participated in the research are going to became high quality specialists and they will be responsible for person-environment conditions in general: planning of houses, residences, and areas for recreation, management of toxic products and waste, protection of human health conditions, person-environment relationship, decision making processes, related to pollution of the environment. For the above mentioned reasons the decision was made to study the students many-sided viewpoints to the environment.

A Multinational Perspective on the Relation between Judeo-Christian Religious Beliefs and Attitudes of Environmental Concern

Drawing on a recent multinational survey of environmental attitudes and behaviors, we examined the relation between religious beliefs and environmental concern. Measures included the revised New Environmental Paradigm (NEP), Thompson and Barton’s ecocentrism and anthropocentrism scales, a 12-item proenvironmental behavior scale, a measure of biblical literalism, and a measure of religious importance. Data are reported from 2,160 university students from Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, the United States, and Venezuela. The data revealed a consistent pattern across countries. Respondents who expressed more literal beliefs in the Bible scored significantly lower on the NEP, lower on ecocentric environmental concerns, and higher on anthropocentric environmental concerns. No significant relation was found between biblical literalism and self-reported proenvironmental behavior.

Values and Proenvironmental Behavior

This multinational study examined the relationship between values, awareness of the consequences for environmental damage, ascribed responsibility, and proenvironmental behaviors. Survey data were collected from college students in Mexico (n = 187), Nicaragua (n = 78), Peru ( n = 160), Spain ( n = 187), and the United States ( n = 345). Measures included items from Schwartz's values instrument, self-reported proenvironmental behaviors, ascribed responsibility, the New Environmental Paradigm, and demographics. Regression analyses revealed a positive relationship between items within self-transcendence (especially the environment-oriented items) and proenvironmental behavior in Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain, and the United States. Additional analyses provided partial support for the extension of Schwartz's model of norm-activation to proenvironmental behavior.