Relationship among values, beliefs, norms and ecological behaviour

European Psychologist, 1999

Given their definition of subjective norms, rational-choice theories must be located within the realm of social conventionality. However, subjective norms can be grounded in moral as well as conventional considerations. Not surprisingly, then, rational-choice theories insufficiently explain behaviors that are at least partially moral, such as ecological behavior. The present paper establishes an expanded rational-choice model of environmental attitude that extends into the moral domain by using feelings of personal obligation toward the environment (i. e., feelings of responsibility) as an additional predictor of intentions to behave ecologically. Findings from two studies are presented. In Study 1 a sample of Swiss adults (N -436) was used to. test the proposed model. Study 2 replicates the

This paper establishes environmental attitude as a powerful predictor of ecological behaviour. Past studies have failed in this enterprise because they did not consider three shortcomings that limit the predictive Ž . Ž . power of environmental attitude concepts: 1 the lack of a unified concept of attitude, 2 the lack of Ž . measurement correspondence between attitude and behaviour on a general level, and 3 the lack of consideration of behaviour constraints beyond people's control. Based on Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour, the present study uses a unified concept of attitude and a probabilistic measurement approach to overcome these shortcomings. Questionnaire data from members of two ideologically different Swiss transportation associations are used. This study confirmed three measures as orthogonal dimensions by means of factor Ž . Ž . Ž . analysis: 1 environmental knowledge, 2 environmental values, and 3 ecological behaviour intention. One other measure, general ecological behaviour, is established as a Rasch-scale that assesses behaviour by considering the tendency to behave ecologically and the difficulties in carrying out the behaviours, which depend on influences beyond people's actual behaviour control. A structural equation model was used to confirm the proposed model: environmental knowledge and environmental values explained 40 per cent of the variance of ecological behaviour intension which, in turn, predicted 75 per cent of the variance of general ecological behaviour.

Journal of Cross- …, 2005

Findings from these studies have found values of self-transcendence (positively) and self-enhancement (negatively) to predict general concern for environmental problems. Other recent findings have differentiated between environmental attitudes based on concern for self (egoistic), concern for other people (socialaltruistic), and concern for plants and animals (biospheric). This article reports the results from a study of the relationship between values and environmental attitudes in six countries: Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, India, New Zealand, and Russia. Results show strong support for the cross-cultural generalizability of the relationship between values and attitudes and on the structure of environmental concern. In addition, analyses of the relationship between values and environmental behavior show evidence for norm activation only for self-transcendence; results for self-enhancement show a consistently negative relationship.

The aims of this study were to investigate (a) the relationship between connectedness to nature and pro-environmental behaviours; (b) the relationship between environmental values and behaviours; and (c) whether or not there is a mediating effect of values in the relationship between connectedness and behaviour. Seventy-six undergraduate students completed an online survey that measured connectedness to nature, egoistic values, altruistic values, biospheric values, pro-environmental behaviours, and social desirability. The results showed that connectedness to nature, altruistic values and biospheric values were positively related to pro-environmental behaviours; and that environmental values partially mediated the relationship between connectedness to nature and pro-environmental behaviour. These results lend support to Wilson's (1984) biophilia hypothesis, which suggests that all humans are innately and emotionally connected to nature, and the value-belief-norm model of Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guagnano and Kalof (1999), which suggests that values activate cognitions that create a positive environmental personal norm to engage in pro-environmental behaviours.

Environment and Behavior, 2013

Various scholars argue that egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric value orientations are important for understanding environmental beliefs and behavior. However, little empirical evidence has been provided for the distinction between altruistic and biospheric values. This study examines whether this distinction is valid across different countries (i.e.and Sweden) by using a new value instrument. Relationships between these value orientations and behavior-specific beliefs (i.e., awareness of environmental consequences and personal norms) are investigated to further examine the validity of the value instrument. Results provide support for the generalization of the three-way distinction. Furthermore, value orientations were related to behavior-specific beliefs in all countries. The authors conclude that the distinction between the three value orientations is valid and useful for examining environmentally relevant behavior.

ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT: 2012. 17 (1) ISSN 1822-6515, 2012

Growing global social and environmental problems draw attention to rethinking traditional marketing approaches. There are many signs of social and environmentally conscious marketing being now rediscovered. The main objectives of our comprehensive research project on social marketing were to find out how values influence general environmental behaviour. In order to achieve our objectives, we conducted a questionnaire survey with a representative sample of 501 respondents in 2011 in Hungary. Security proved to be the most important, extremely important value, which supports pro-environmental behaviour. Excitement, followed by being well respected and fun and enjoyment in life, all of which are negatively correlated by pro-environmental behaviour, are the least important values in Hungary. Additionally, we found that more than the half of the Hungarian population usually lived green. However, only weak correlations were found between environmentally conscious behaviour and value items. Since the direct influence of values on GEB is only weak, more variables (e.g. attitudes) are needed when modelling someone’s pro-environmental behaviour.

Trames. Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences

The aim of this study is to describe the links between the system of values and environmental orientations in the Estonian context. The sample consisted of 440 residents of Hiiumaa Island (representative random sample of the adult population). Value orientations were measured using the abridged version of the Schwartz value scale; composite indexes of ecological activity and various aspects of environmental awareness were constructed. The hypothesis concerning the sinusoidal pattern of relations between value types and environmental orientations was partly confirmed. Significant links were found between value dimensions and environmental attitudes. Associations of environmental attitudes and beliefs with value types confirm the assumption that individualistic (self-enhancement, autonomy) versus non-individualistic values (self-transcendence, contact with others, interdependence) form a major dimension that organizes various forms of environmentalism.

Ecopsychology, 2016

— Many studies have been undertaken to examine whether environmental attitudes predict ecological behaviors. The assumption is: someone with an environmental attitude behaves in ways consistent with that attitude. Some studies have highlighted the important role of environmental attitude in explaining the ecological behavior and have found a positive relationship (Arbuthnot &Lingg, 1975). However, some other researchers have reported completely different outcomes. A weak to inexistent relationship has been found between environmental attitude and ecological behavior (Wicker, 1969; Oskamp et al., 1991). The key question in the present article is: why do we get different results and so many discrepancies in attitude-behavior relationship, mainly in the ecological field? The article represents a theoretical analysis and a review of research analyzing the gap between the environmental attitude and ecological behavior.