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Different people become engaged in environmental issues and perform proenvironmental behavior because they believe in and are concerned about adverse consequences of environmental problems for themselves (egoistic beliefs and concerns), others (social-altruistic beliefs and concerns), or the biosphere (biospheric beliefs and concerns). These different beliefs and concerns are assumed to derive from corresponding value orientations. Yet, distinguishing egoistic, social-altruistic, and biospheric value orientations has proved difficult in previous research. Based on a survey of 494 Swedish residents between 18 and 69 years old, the present study provides empirical support for that egoistic, social-altruistic, and biospheric environmental concerns are related to corresponding awareness-of-consequences beliefs, and that both the beliefs and environmental concerns are related to the three value types power, benevolence, and universalism. Show
IntroductionWhy do people become engaged in environmental issues and perform proenvironmental behavior? In general people are likely to do this to the extent that the environmental problems have threatening and harmful consequences for egoistic, social-altruistic, or biospheric objects that they value (e.g., ones’ own health, humankind, or animals and plants, respectively). This insight is captured in the Value Belief Norm (VBN) theory of proenvironmental behavior developed by Stern and collaborators (e.g., Stern, 2000; Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guagnano, & Kalof, 1999; Stern, Dietz, Kalof, & Guagnano, 1995). The theory is an extension of Schwartz’ (1977) norm-activation theory of altruistic behavior (see also Schwartz & Howard, 1981) augmented with Schwartz (1992), Schwartz (1994) universal value structure. In the VBN theory, the determinants of intentions to perform proenvironmental behaviors include awareness of consequences – understood as individuals’ beliefs about the adverse consequenses of environmental problems. In order for people to perform proenvironmental behaviors, an awareness of consequences must induce an ascribed responsibility to perform the behaviors that in turn activates a personal norm or moral obligation to perform the behaviors. The crucial role social and personal norms play for proenvironmental behaviors has been demonstrated by, for instance, Kaiser, Hübner, and Bogner (2005) (see review in Biel & Thøgersen, 2007). Of most importance in the present paper is the distinction between awareness of egoistic, social-altruistic, and biospheric consequences corresponding to three different underlying value orientations (Stern, 1992; Stern, Dietz, & Kalof, 1993; Stern et al., 1995). In previous research structural models based on the VBN theory have been empirically tested (Gärling, Fujii, Gärling, & Jakobsson, 2003; Nordlund & Garvill (2002), Nordlund & Garvill (2003); Oreg & Gerro, 2006; Steg, Dreijerink, & Abrahamse, 2005; Stern et al., 1999). The present study attempts to remedy several shortcomings in this previous research. The following subsections discuss these shortcomings related in turn to value orientations, awareness of consequences, and environmental concerns. A final subsection summarizes aims and hypotheses. Values are conceptualized as guiding principles important in a person's life (Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz, 1992; see Rohan (2000) for an analysis of the value construct). Similar values are referred to as value types. Value orientations are defined as clusters of compatible values or value types. Some value orientations have been found to be positively related to proenvironmental attitudes and behavior. These include Schwartz’ (1992) self-transcendence value types universalism and benevolence. The self-enhancing value types achievement and power have been shown to be negatively related to proenvironmental attitudes and behavior. Universalism is a wider form of altruism that encompasses humankind (examples of universalism values include social justice, equality, and peace on earth). In contrast, benevolence is defined as altruism towards in-groups. Examples of benevolence values are loyality, foregivingness, and responsibility. Suggesting important differences between the value types, Gärling (1999) found that universalism corresponded more closely to a prosocial value orientation than benevolence, which was equally related to both a prosocial and proself value orientation. Hence, universalism and benevolence should probably not be aggregated to an overall measure of self-transcendence as previously has been done in studies of proenvironmental attitudes and intentions (e.g., Nordlund & Garvill (2002), Nordlund & Garvill (2003); Schultz, 2001). One aim of the present study is to examine differences in how universalism and benevolence are related to awareness of consequences and environmental concerns. It has been difficult to distinguish the biospheric value orientation from the social-altruistic value orientation. The former implies that the biosphere has an intrinsic value, that is that nature is worth protecting for its own sake and not exclusively because of the benefits to humans (see Attfield, 1981; Merchant, 1992; Naess, 1984). However, empirical support is largely lacking for a separate biospheric value orientation. In factor analytic studies social altruistic and biospheric value items tend to load on the same factor (Schwartz, 1992; Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guagnano, & Kalof (1999), Stern, Dietz, Kalof, & Guagnano (1995)) referred to as a biospheric–social-altruistic value orientation. Steg et al. (2005) appears to be the only study that has reported direct evidence for a distinct biospheric value orientation. Still, social-altruism has been distinguished from biospheric in proenvironmental attitudes, such as awareness-of-consequences beliefs or environmental concerns (Schultz, 2001; Stern et al., 1993; Thompson & Barton, 1994). In previous studies (e.g., Schultz & Zelezny, 1999) a connection has been made between value orientations and Schwartz’ (1992) value types. Theoretically, a biospheric value orientation may be related to universalism. This is consistent with an alternative interpretation of self-transcendence proposed by Schultz (2001): Self-transcendence (universalism) can be assumed to “… reflect the degree to which a person includes other people and other living things in their notion of self” (p. 336). Universalism may thus, partly in line with the interpretation of the new environmental paradigm (NEP) (Dunlap & Van Liere, 1978), be understood as a broad cognitive representation of the self that reflects the extent to which individuals define themselves as part of nature, that is as one species among others. Several studies have demonstrated positive correlations between universalism and biospheric concerns emphasizing the intrinsic value of nature (Nordlund & Garvill (2002), Nordlund & Garvill (2003); Schultz, 2001; Schultz & Zelezny, 1999; Stern et al., 1995). However, the reason may be that three biospheric value items (“protecting the environment,” “unity with nature,” and “world of beauty”) are included in the measure of universalism (see Schultz, 2001; Schultz & Zelezny, 1999; Schwartz, 1992) and four (“protecting the environment,” “unity with nature,” “respecting the earth,” and “preventing pollution”) in a modified universalism scale referred to as biospheric–social-altruistic (Stern, Dietz, & Guagnano, 1998; Stern et al., 1999). Since these biospheric value items tend to have high factor loadings on universalism (Schwartz, 1992) and the highest factor loadings on the biospheric–social-altruistic scale (Stern, Dietz, & Guagnano (1998), Stern, Dietz, Kalof, & Guagnano (1995)), criterion contamination (biospheric items included in both the attitude and value measures) may produce a spurious correlation between biospheric attitudes and self-transcendence/universalism. A second aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between universalism and biospheric awareness of consequences and environmental concern by removing the three biospherical items (“protecting the environment,” “unity with nature,” and “a world of beauty”) from the measure of universalism, thus testing if a purer social-altruistic operationalization of universalism is still related to biospheric attitudes. As noted above, universalism and benevolence should not be included in the same measure. A social-altruistric value orientation may be related to benevolence. A third aim of the present study is thus to investigate the relationship between benevolence and social-altruistic awareness of consequences and environmental concerns. An egoistic value orientation comprising the value types power and achievement has been shown to correlate negatively with proenvironmental attitudes and behavior. However, differences between power and achievement (Schwartz (1992), Schwartz (1994)) would imply that the value types influence environmental attitudes and behavior differently. The common denominator of power (e.g., authority, social power, and wealth) is control or dominance over people and resources. In contrast, achievement is defined as “personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards” (Schwartz, 1992, p. 8). The former value type should not be consistent with altruistic proenvironmental attitudes, as it is opposite to universalism in Schwartz’ (1992) value structure and therefore represents the highest degree of self-enhancement. Consistent with this, power has been demonstrated to correlate negatively with the NEP scale (Schultz & Zelezny, 1999; Steg et al., 2005; Stern et al., 1999) and positively with Thompson and Barton's (1994) anthropocentric–egocentric scale, while achievement has not been found to correlate with these scales (Schultz & Zelezny, 1999). A fourth aim of the present study is to investigate whether power but not achievement is positively related to egoistic awareness of consequences and environmental concern. In the VBN theory (e.g., Stern, 2000; Stern et al., 1999) it is posited that awareness-of-consequences beliefs (ACself, AChum, and ACbio) are causally related to value orientations. A rational for this is that a value orientation biases individuals to select and believe in information that is congruent with their value orientation and to deny value-incongruent information. In this way specific information-based AC beliefs would develop. Although awareness-of-consequences beliefs clearly are central constructs in the VBN theory, questions about the validity and reliability of the AC scales used to measure these constructs need to be raised. Four studies (Gärling et al., 2003; Joireman, Lasane, Bennett, Richards, & Solaimani, 2001; Snelgar, 2006; Stern et al., 1993) all faced difficulties in reaching acceptable reliability levels. Stern et al. (1993) argued that the low reliabilities were due to that too few items (3) were used to measure each construct. However, Gärling et al. (2003) had to remove one item from each AC scale in order to improve reliability, and Joireman et al. (2001) reported low to moderate reliabilities even after increasing the number of items to 4 or 5 per scale. Low validity may also be an issue. First, the scale measuring beliefs about consequences for oneself (ACself) has neither been reported to correlate positively with direct measures of an egoistic value orientation such as Schwartz’ (1992) self-enhancement scale (see Stern & Dietz, 1994; Stern et al., 1995), nor with Schultz’ (2001) more recently developed egoistic environmental concern scale (Snelgar, 2006). Note, however, that Schultz’ (2001) egoistic environmental concern scale is positively related to self-enhancement values. Second, in Stern et al. (1995) ACself was positively correlated with the social-altruistic–biospheric value orientation and with the other AC scales. Schultz’ (2001) egoistic environmental concern scale again showed an opposite pattern, being negatively correlated with self-transcendence values. Yet, as mentioned above, a value orientation is assumed to make individuals focus on information and threats that are congruent with their value orientation (Stern et al., 1995). Thus, a person with, for example, an egoistic value orientation would be aware of and focus on those objects or situations that are threatening to his or her wealth, power, or authority (egoistic value objects). If the object is measures to abate the environmental problems that limit job opportunities or increase taxes, energy prices, or fuel prices, then “egoists” should pay selective attention to these adverse consequences and thus form beliefs about them. A possible reason why previous studies have failed to find the hypothesized positive correlation between egoistic values and ACself may be the reverse-coded scale items. Respondents who agreed with the two ACself statements “Laws that protect the environment limit my choices and personal freedom” and “Protecting the environment will threaten jobs for people like me” were believed to not be aware of adverse egoistic consequenses caused by environmental problems. Conversely, persons oriented towards social-altruistic values, who tend to disagree with these statements, are considered to be aware of adverse egoistic consequences. On the contrary, we believe that agreements with the two statements express awareness of adverse consequences for oneself. However, the referent is adverse consequences of abatement of environmental problems. In the present study, we will not reverse-code the ACself scales. We then expect to find a positive correlation between power and ACself. The positive correlations between the three AC scales can also be seen as an indication of low validity. If the three AC scales are intended to reflect three different value orientations, then the ACself scale should be negatively correlated with the ACbio scale, the AChum scale, or both. This is because the egoistic value type power and the altruistic value type universalism in Schwartz’ (1992) value structure are opposite poles of the self-transcendence-to-self-enhancement continuum. We therefore expect to find negative correlations between ACself and the other AC scales. Environmental concern (EC) refers to an attitude towards environmental issues (Fransson & Gärling, 1999; Schultz & Zelezny, 1999; Thompson & Barton 1994), that is an evaluation (Eagly & Chaiken, 1998). However, AC is not an explicit evaluation or concern but refers to awareness of or beliefs about potential future world states (e.g., “thousands of species will die within the next decades”), and is thus comparable to NEP (Dunlap & Van Liere, 1978), and close to what Rokeach (1973) termed existential beliefs. Yet, environmental concern and awareness of consequences appear to be treated as interchangeable (Stern et al., 1993). Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) (see also Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) in their theory of reasoned action or its successor the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) make a similar distinction between beliefs and attitudes or evaluations. One may alternatively propose that concern and worries about environmental issues are explicitly expressed in EC beliefs (“I am concerned,” “It makes me sad”) and implicitly expressed in AC beliefs. Schultz (2001) distinguished between concern for the biosphere, concern for others, and concern for oneself. His egocentric concern scale was found to have acceptable reliability and to be positively correlated with self-enhancement and negatively correlated with self-transcendence value types. Since it can be assumed that Schultz’ (2001) EC scales correspond closer to an evaluation than do AC beliefs, and that these scales are more tuned towards environmental issues expressing concerns about specific attitude objects than general values and worldviews (e.g., NEP, Dunlap & Van Liere, 1978), it seems as if EC should be treated as attitudes that are causally related to value types and AC beliefs. It may then be hypothesized that egoistic concerns (ECself), social-altruistic concerns (EChum), and biospheric concerns (ECbio) presuppose awareness of adverse consequences of environmental problems for self, others, and the biosphere, respectively, since one would not be concerned about consequences one is not aware of. An additional aim of the present study is to test whether Schultz’ three EC attitudes are causally related to AC beliefs and value types assuming that the AC beliefs mediate the effects of value types on EC attitudes. The aim of the present study is to test the different hypotheses derived above and illustrated in Fig. 1. First, AC beliefs and EC attitudes are hypothesized to be distinct but related to each other if they both target the biosphere, others, or self. Second, both AC beliefs and EC attitudes are hypothesized to be related to the same different value types (ACbio and ECbio to universalism, AChum and EChum to benevolence, and ACself and ECself to power). Third, AC beliefs are hypothesized to mediate the relationship between EC attitudes and value types. Section snippetsParticipants and procedureA random sample of 1965 Swedish residents between 18 and 69 years old were obtained from the national register of tax payers. A survey questionnaire was mailed to them with a free-of-charge return envelope. This was followed by a combined thank-you card and reminder mailed after a week. A total of 494 (25.1%) usable questionnaires were received. The participants consisted of 242 (49.0%) men. Their average age was 48.9 years (SD=13.2 years). A university degree was held by 174 (35.3%), whereas ResultsThree multiple linear regression analyses were performed with each of the awareness-of-consequences scales (ACself, AChum, and ACbio) as dependent variables and the indexes corresponding to the value types power, achievement, benevolence, and universalism as independent variables. In order to control for the influence of the other AC scales, the two other AC scales were each time also entered as independent variables. The results are given in Table 3. Each of the AC beliefs were as hypothesized DiscussionThe present results showed as hypothesized that environmental concern for self, others, and the biosphere were related to awareness-of-consequences beliefs for oneself, others, and the biosphere, respectively. Also as hypothesized, each of the awareness-of-consequences beliefs corresponded to only one value type (power, benevolence, and universalism, respectively). However, inconsistent with the hypothesis the value types also had direct effects on environmental concerns; the mediation by AcknowledgmentsThis research was financially supported by Handelsbanken research foundations to the Center for Consumption Science at the School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Sweden. We thank Anders Biel, Jörgen Garvill, Terry Hartig, Florian Kaiser, John Thøgersen, and Wesley Schultz for valuable comments, Phillip Gamble and Boel Siljebråt for assistance in collecting and processing the data. References (40)
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One such initiative is electric vehicles, which can lead to environment-oriented sustainable development. However, limited studies have tried to uncover the norms underlying behavioural intention towards electric vehicles. The present research adapts to the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) framework and integrates pro-environment variables to understand the direct and indirect relationship with behavioural intention. Four hundred sample data were analysed using the structural equation modeling technique to examine the validity of the proposed model. Personal norm is found to be playing a significant role in developing positive behavioural intention towards e-vehicles. Environmental knowledge is found to have a significant indirect effect on the model. The study's conclusions will enhance the evidence on electric vehicle acceptance in India and provide meaningful implications for practitioners. 2023, International Journal of Information Management Show abstractNavigate Down Global initiatives on climate protection and national sustainability policies are accelerating the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. Many electricity suppliers are engaged in efforts to monetize this transition with ‘green’ services and products, such as Green Electricity Tariffs. These promise customers that their supply includes a specific share of green electricity, yet since electricity suppliers often fail to deliver on those promises, many customers have lost trust in their suppliers. Further information asymmetries may not only exacerbate this loss of trust, but also spark distrust and lead to an overall feeling of ambivalence. Eventually, ambivalent customers may feel inclined to switch suppliers. To prevent this domino effect, electricity suppliers must eliminate ambivalence by increasing customer trust and reducing customer distrust. Here, we discuss how these challenges can be met with a customer loyalty program built on blockchain technology. We developed the program following a Design Science Research approach that facilitated refinement in four iteration and evaluation cycles. Our results indicate that the developed customer loyalty program restores trust, reduces distrust, and resolves customer ambivalence by providing four features: improved customer agency, sufficient and verifiable information, appropriate levels of usability, and unobstructed data access. 2022, Forest Policy and Economics Show abstractNavigate Down Environmental benefits have become priority objectives for the management of forests, including for private forest owners in many countries. Understanding and promoting environmental-friendly private forest management requires a measure of environmental concern of forest owners and knowledge of factors that influence it. Such a measure allows to explore underlying motivations of forest owners to include environmental aspects in their forest management. This in turn helps in developing and implementing effective pro-environmental forestry policies. In this paper, we assess environmental concern in forest management of 226 non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners in Sweden. In particular, we sought to achieve a two-fold objective: a) to quantitatively explore the content and dimensionality of the environmental concern construct of forestry owners and b) to identify the association between environmental concern of forest owners and their personal values and personality traits. A principal factor analysis resulted in a two-dimensional environmental concern construct encompassing: environmental strategy and environmental orientation. Hierarchical seemingly unrelated regressions (SUREG) showed that personal values and personality traits help to explain environmental concern in forest management of NIPF owners. A better understanding of environmental concern of forest owners and its relation with individuals' attributes will help in better designing, framing and targeting of tailor-made interventions to promote environmental considerations in forest management. Exploration of seaweed consumption in Norway using the norm activation model: The moderator role of food innovativeness2022, Food Quality and Preference Show abstractNavigate Down Seaweed is considered to be a sustainable and healthy food source. However, for western consumers, it remains an unfamiliar source of food. Using a sample of 426 Norwegian consumers, this study aimed to explain and predict seaweed consumption using an extended version of the norm activation framework with a prospective design, including behaviour and consumer food innovativeness. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to validate the reliability of the measurements, while structural equation modelling was applied to test the hypothesised relationships. The findings support the ability of the norm activation framework to explain the intention of consuming seaweed. Moreover, this study determined a positive relationship between awareness of health consequences and intention, as well as ascription of responsibility and intention. Intention and food innovativeness are both predictors of seaweed consumption. Consumer food innovativeness positively moderates the relationship between intention and seaweed consumption. Public deliberation on nuclear power plant construction: The impact of values, processes, and personal attributes2022, Journal of Cleaner Production Show abstractNavigate Down Public deliberation is a way of integrating the collective decision-making of the public into policy-making processes through the use of a representative sample in a series of debates and discussions of controversial issues, including on nuclear power plant construction. This study examines the driving factors behind participants' decisions, examining their value priorities regarding energy, deliberation processes for decision-making, and their personal attributes. Why did citizens who participated in public deliberation on nuclear power plants decide to resume its construction? In particular, this research investigates how those who were undecided in the first survey decided on the resumption of the nuclear power plant construction in the final (fourth) survey. To answer the research question, statistical analysis suggested that those with a conservative political ideology and those who emphasize a stable energy supply and nuclear power plants’ industrial impacts were likely to support the construction resumption. In contrast, those who had concerns regarding the environmental impacts and who watched televised debates were likely to support the suspension of the construction. This study makes a contribution to the literature on sustainable energy governance and individual behavior by providing (1) theoretical links between a value priority on energy, sources of information in the deliberation process, personal attributes, and individual decision-making, and (2) empirical evidence of the undecided coming to a decision on nuclear energy policies. Self-transcendent emotion dispositions: Greater connections with nature and more sustainable behavior2022, Journal of Environmental Psychology Show abstractNavigate Down In three studies, we explored how different classes of positive emotion dispositions may have different relations with pro-environmental outcomes despite sharing positive valence. We hypothesized that self-transcendent emotions (awe, compassion, love) would relate to more sustainable behaviors, beliefs, values, and self-nature representations because these emotions support a prosocial mindset and broaden the self-concept. Conversely, we hypothesized that self-interested emotions (joy, contentment, pride, amusement) would not relate to more of these pro-environmental outcomes and would instead predict more self-orientated beliefs and values because these emotions involve a greater self-focus. In Study 1, self-transcendent emotions uniquely predicted greater self-reported pro-environmental behavior, biospheric concern, nature connectedness, and more sustainable self-nature representations, whereas self-interested emotions did not and instead predicted greater egoistic concern. Study 2 aimed to replicate these findings and added measures of values and political beliefs. For self-transcendent emotions, the results of Study 1 were replicated, and it was also found that they uniquely predicted greater endorsement of self-transcendent values and less political conservatism. Self-interested emotions uniquely predicted less pro-environmental behavior and greater endorsement of self-enhancement values and conservative beliefs. Finally, Study 3 found that self-transcendent emotions but not self-interested emotions uniquely predicted more actual recycling weeks later. Implications for the intersection of positive emotions research and sustainability are discussed. Research article Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 38, 2014, pp. 288-297 Show abstractNavigate Down Theoretical advances in research on the antecedents of human behavior have offered promising explanations for why people choose to undertake environmentally friendly action. This investigation provides further insight on the psychological processes driving self-reported behavioral engagement among visitors to Channel Islands National Park in the United States. We used latent variable structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized structure stipulated by the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory of environmentalism. Biospheric-altruistic values geared toward non-human species and concern for other people positively predicted environmental worldview and pro-environmental behavior, whereas egoistic values negatively influenced moral norm activation. Consistent with previous research, findings also showed that belief structures and personal moral norms gave rise to conservation behaviors reported by visitors to the park. Research article Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 40, 2014, pp. 131-146 Show abstractNavigate Down 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. Research article Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 6, 2015, pp. 8-14 Show abstractNavigate Down One of the most influential models explaining how and which (normative) factors influence environmental behaviour is the norm activation model (NAM). In support of the compatibility principle, research revealed that the NAM predicts behaviour best when all variables are measured on the same level of specificity. Yet, at the same time such approaches imply that the predictive power of the NAM would be limited, as behaviour-specific conceptualisations of the NAM variables only predict the behaviour being studied, but not other, related behaviours. We propose that it is important to understand if a general conceptualisation of the NAM, focussing on energy use in general, predicts a range of different energy savings behaviours. We indeed found that NAM variables that focus on energy use in general predict a range of different energy behaviours in different domains, including energy use in the house, for transport and for food, which reflect direct as well indirect energy use. Our results have important implications for policy makers who aim to promote a wide range of energy-saving behaviours needed to effectively combat climate change. Research article Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 172, 2018, pp. 3546-3556 Show abstractNavigate Down Mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), environmentally friendly and sustainable innovations, is critical to reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases. However, research investigating the effect of altruism on EV adoption from a pro-environmental behavior perspective is limited. To fill this gap, we propose an extended norm activation model to study the relationship between personal norms and consumers' intention to adopt EVs, and to explore how such relationship is influenced by external costs and the antecedents of personal norms. The model is empirically tested with data collected from 396 participants in China. Results show that personal norms have a positive influence on EV adoption intention, and such influence is moderated by external costs, including perceived price and perceived complexity. The former negatively moderates it, while the latter has a nonlinear moderation effect on it. Moreover, awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and perceived consumer effectiveness are positive predictors to personal norms. The findings help to understand consumers' adoption behavior of EV better, and contribute to promoting EV development. Research article Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 43, 2015, pp. 175-183 Show abstractNavigate Down Understanding the structure and composition of environmental concern is crucial to the study of society's engagement with environmental problems. Here, we aim to determine if components of the VBN model emerge when applying a combination of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to a large UK dataset, one designed without a priori commitment to a theoretical model. A three-factor model was confirmed to be the most substantively and methodologically optimal. Two of the factors correspond to the VBN's ecocentric and anthropocentric factors. However, the third factor does not routinely map onto the third factor of the VBN (ecocentric concern). We have called our factor ‘denial’, as high scorers tend to be responding positively to statements that would suggest inaction. The association between these factors and level of reported pro-environmental behaviour is assessed. Research article Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Volume 33, 2016, pp. 98-108 Show abstractNavigate Down This paper presents a unique model which investigates the effects of consumers' biospheric values on their purchase behaviour of energy efficient household appliances. Data were obtained in Vietnam from 682 shoppers in large electronic appliance stores. The findings reveals that biospheric values encourage active engagement in pro-environmental purchase behaviour by enhancing consumers' attitudes towards environmental protection, their subjective norms and environmental self-identity, and by mitigating their perceived inconvenience associated with eco-friendly products. Additionally, these findings were moderated by consumers' past purchase behaviour. The implications for retailers, marketers and other stakeholders are discussed and future research directions presented. |
