Consumer knowledge in pro-environmental behavior

Abstract

Purpose Environmental behavior studies suggest that knowledge, in addition to other psychological and social factors, can play an important role in consumers’ environmental behavior change. The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between knowledge and various psychological factors which encourage consumers’ participation in pro-environmental behaviors. The relationships that link an individual’s attitudes toward science, environmental values, different types of knowledge (i.e. scientific facts, environmental facts, and subjective environmental knowledge), environmental risk perception, and willingness to pay (WTP) for the environment with pro-environmental behavior were examined. Design/methodology/approach Theoretically guided hypotheses and model were formulated and tested with multiple linear regression models. The study was based on measures and data obtained from the large-sample secondary database of the 2010 General Social Survey (n=2,044). Findings Results indicated that while attitudes toward science had direct effects on knowledge of scientific facts and knowledge of environmental facts, environmental values showed effects on knowledge of environmental facts and subjective knowledge on environmental issues. The results also indicated that from different types of knowledge, subjective knowledge on environmental issues had effects on both environmental risk perception and WTP for the environment. Knowledge on environmental facts, on the other hand, was able to predict only environmental risk perception. The scientific factual knowledge did not show an effect on mediator of pro-environmental behavior. Also, subjective knowledge indicated indirect effects on pro-environmental behavior through environmental risk perception and WTP for the environment. Originality/value Although research on understanding factors influencing pro-environmental behaviors and potential relations to individual knowledge has grown in recent years, there has been very little attempt at distinguishing between different types of knowledge and investigating their potential roles in the context of environmentally relevant behaviors. This study will help understand the functioning of different types of consumer environmental knowledge and their impacts on pro-environmental behaviors more in depth.

The Effects of Regional Characteristics and Policies on Individual Pro-Environmental Behavior in China

“…When a person has a higher level of subjective and objective environmental knowledge, non-anthropocentric concern, and willingness to pay for the environment, he or she practices a higher level of PEB. These results are like the previous research [22,32,36,54], confirming the positive effects of individual psychological factors on PEB.…”

“…Specific factors for each category come from a review of existing studies, even if each of the studies deals with only some factors. Primarily, environmental attitude and environmental knowledge are listed as the personal determinants of PEB in the literature [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]31,32]. Specifically, researchers generally categorize environmental attitude into sub-types of environmental concern, environmental risk perception, and willingness to pay for environment conservation, and environmental knowledge into subjective and objective knowledge.…”

“…Second, the willingness to pay for environment conservation refers to the intention to pay the cost or the willingness of the individual living for the benefit of the environment. According to past studies [32,34,35], the greater the willingness to pay for environment conservation, the more frequently PEB will be shown.…”

“…Fourth, environmental knowledge is also an important personal factor for PEB [32,37]. It may be divided into subjective knowledge and objective knowledge.…”

Aesthetic Experience as an Essential Factor to Trigger Positive Environmental Consciousness

“…Environmental knowledge is widely viewed as the basis for encouraging participation in environmental protection activities [54]. Onel and Mukherjee [64] indicated that, when an individual possesses more scientific knowledge or is more familiar with environmental issues, he or she is more willing to pay higher taxes to protect the environment, pay higher prices to purchase environmentally-friendly products, and are even willing to reduce personal living needs.…”