Assessing the impact of a wildlife education program on Japanese attitudes and behavioral intentions

Abstract

Human-wildlife conflicts are common in agricultural communities and mountainous villages in Japan. Tochigi prefecture has one of the highest amounts of agricultural damage caused by wildlife in the country. To reduce conflicts, the Nature Preservation Division of Tochigi Prefecture launched a wildlife damage prevention program. We evaluated the effects of this program on residents' attitudes and behavioral intentions by comparing a model district receiving the treatment program to a nearby control district. We conducted a survey of all households registered either in the residential organization or telephone book in each district (n = 423), with a 46% response rate. The model district did not differ from the control except for greater perceived behavioral control regarding wildlife damage among residents in the model district (F = 3.83, df = 1, p = 0.05). An unanticipated outcome was the development of a community-based wildlife group in the model district. In both model and control districts, subjective norm (perceived social pressure to engage or not to engage in a behavior) was the strongest predictor of behavioral intentions, unlike results of studies conducted in the US.

Collective Factors Reinforce Individual Contributions to Human‐Wildlife Coexistence

“…Our findings are particularly relevant for wildlife managers aiming to influence individual actions on private lands, where collective benefits amount to reduced conflict with wildlife across the landscape. Although there is increasing research on collective activities like participatory or deliberative decision‐making and stakeholder engagement in wildlife management (Riley et al 2003, Ban et al 2013, Clark and Rutherford 2014, Lundmark and Matti 2015, Biggs et al 2017), very little research examines how individual perceptions of collective factors—such as norms (Martin and McCurdy 2009, Willcox et al 2012, Sakurai et al 2015, Young 2018, Eklund 2019), discussion networks, and group‐based beliefs—influence individual behaviors. If the current philosophy of increasing or stabilizing wildlife populations through improved coexistence between people and wildlife is to be successful, effective prevention and mitigation is needed.…”

“…Furthermore, social‐psychological dynamics may compound the collective nature of human‐wildlife coexistence. For example, an individual's decision to secure carnivore attractants may be influenced by the behaviors and expectations of peers (i.e., social norms; Martin and McCurdy 2009, Willcox et al 2012, Young 2018), even more so than their own attitudes and perceived behavioral controls (Sakurai et al 2015) or emotions (Eklund 2019). There is a large body of evidence reporting that social norms substantially influence human behavior in a wide range of contexts, including wildlife management (Zinn et al 1998, Campbell and Mackay 2003, Marchini and Macdonald 2012, Ceauşu et al 2019).…”

“…There is a large body of evidence reporting that social norms substantially influence human behavior in a wide range of contexts, including wildlife management (Zinn et al 1998, Campbell and Mackay 2003, Marchini and Macdonald 2012, Ceauşu et al 2019). Additionally, there is a small but growing effort to understand the role of social norms on carnivore attractant securing behaviors (Martin and McCurdy 2009, Willcox et al 2012, Sakurai et al 2015, Young 2018, Eklund 2019).…”