This study used both self-reported behavior (SB) and other-reported behavior (OB) as measures of responsible environmental behavior (REB) and examined their validities. The validation process included (a) comparing the frequency of behavioral intention (BI), SB and OB; (b) comparing the model fit of Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) with SB and OB as dependent variables respectively; and (c) testing the effect of social desirability on BI, SB, and OB. Data were collected through survey and observation. The observers were 65 students trained to observe their 172 roommates. These roommates also reported their own REBs in the survey. Results showed that frequency of BI and SB were significantly higher than those of OB, and the TPB model predicting SB fitted much better than that predicting OB. These and other findings suggest that researchers should be careful in interpreting results based solely on self-reported REB.
This study compares residents and visitors on the island of Wang-An in Penghu archipelago (Taiwan) in terms of four variables (ecotourism perception, environmental attitude, ecotourism behavior, local environmental knowledge). Results show that island visitors are positioned closer to the deep end of a shallow-deep spectrum on a few ecotourism characteristics such as stronger environmental commitment, smaller groups, and more personal experience. With a fuzzy cluster analysis reducing the four variables to two dimensions (ecotourism literacy, environmental familiarity and concern), the two clusters of island residents and visitors are found to overlap greatly with a noticeable divergence in the dimension of environmental familiarity and concern as a result of residents' better local environmental knowledge. Residents express greater approval of economic development on some items of the environmental attitude subscale. It is recommended that visitors have longer tours that increase interaction with residents to learn more about the local environment while serving as educators of ecotourism.
Using different measures of self-reported and other-reported environmental behaviour (EB), two important theoretical models explaining EB -Hines, Hungerford and Tomera's model of responsible environmental behaviour (REB) and Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour (TPB) -were compared regarding the fit between model and data, predictive ability, solidarity of the model structure and model modifications. Results of structural equation modelling revealed that the predictors in the TPB model explained much more variance in behavioural intention than those in the REB model (approximately 69 vs. 37%) but the two models differed little in explaining the variance in EB (about 75% with selfreported measure and 26% with other-reported measure). In addition, both suffered weakness of ineffective paths in the model structure. It was found that the operationalizations of the variables in the models might affect the results of the tests of these models and some adjustments and examinations were suggested. Although the REB model was shown to be imperfect in many aspects, it should be evaluated from a different viewpoint and was encouraged to be applied and tested in the context of environmental education.Keywords: environmental behaviour; theory of planned behaviour; model of responsible environmental behaviour
IntroductionIn the study on how and why people act toward the environment, considerable efforts have been focused on the identification of factors influencing the behaviour and the construction of these factors into theoretical models predicting or explaining the behaviour. Starting from the simplest linear assumption of knowledge-attitudebehaviour to complicated models with various variables and structures, researchers proposed, tested and modified these models. Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera's (1986/87) model of responsible environmental behaviour (REB) and Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behaviour (TPB) emerged as two important models through the discussions and extensive applications in many environmental behaviours (EBs) over the past two decades. A comparison between these two theoretical models in aspects concerning the fit between model and data, predictive ability, solidarity of the model structure and model modifications provides insights into the operationalization of the variables in the models and other relevant methodological considerations that would help refine the models. The comparison particularly focuses on
Emulating the practice of regional centers for expertise on education for sustainable development, a new type of environmental education (EE) centers with a multi-county jurisdiction was established in Taiwan. Reflections on the functional roles and EE expertise are crucial for these EE regional centers after implementing initiatives while trying to lead environmental educators. The operation team members of these centers and the practitioners and educators from EE institutions, facilities, and venues in Taiwan all participated in this investigation on the roles of these centers and evaluated their performance. Results show that at this initial stage of EE regional center development, the mixed views of center operation teams were averaged into a position close to the mean between a practice-orientated and a strategy-orientated methodology on a spectrum of the center roles. The evaluation results revealed a certain insufficiency in the experiences and expertise in EE of some EE regional centers. As these centers are endowed with a central status by policy to promote and guide regional EE, they need to learn from local grass-root environmental educators as well as other EE regional center personnel to substantiate their expertise, which could be achieved through practical experiences and co-research with local environmental educators.
An experiment was conducted to test whether a coffee package bearing a Rainforest Alliance Certified (RAC) label triggered affective responses favoring the coffee and further influenced the pro-environmental behaviour of participant consumers in convenience stores. One group of customers viewed an RAC-labeled package and tasted the coffee while the other group viewed a non-labeled package and tasted the coffee. Both groups filled out a questionnaire collecting Likert-type scale data on their affective responses to, perceived flavors of, and willingness to pay for the coffee during the tasting and viewing. Whether they disposed of the paper cup for the trial taste in a recycling box or a trash box was observed. A logit model was employed to estimate the probabilities of their recycling the cup over discarding the cup. Results revealed that more positive feelings were expressed and recycling behaviour was increased among customers exposed to the package with an RAC label, although the two groups did not differ significantly in their perceived flavors and willingness to pay. It was estimated that the probability of the RAC-labeled group to recycle the paper cup was 2.89 times higher than that of the non-labeled group. Based on the theory of central and peripheral routes of information processing, the mechanisms of the behavioural influence of the label are discussed with a few possible factors such as involvement and self-identity. This study contributes to the advancement of eco-label research by shifting the focus to the non-purchasing behavioral effects of eco-labels on consumers and observing the behaviors in real, rather than laboratory, settings. It might also inform the promotion of sustainable consumption of the merits of employing experiential marketing.
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