Determinants of pro-environmental behavior among voluntary sport club members

Abstract

Environmental sustainability and climate change have become increasingly important in public debates and politics. This study examines the determinants of sport club members’ pro-environmental behavior in Germany. Theoretically, we draw on the theory of planned behavior, ecofeminism, and the luxury good hypothesis to explain the effects of individuals’ environmental consciousness, gender, and income on their pro-environmental behavior, respectively. Data collection took place in 2019 and 2020 via a nationwide online survey of active sport club members in five team/racket sports (n = 3038). Regression analyses were estimated to examine the determinants of two indicators of pro-environmental behavior, i.e., the monthly carbon footprint resulting from traveling to training sessions and pro-environmental actions. The results reveal that environmentally consciousness members behave more environmentally friendly, supporting the theory of planned behavior. Women have a significantly higher carbon footprint, but only in the model including the interaction with environmental consciousness, indicating that female gender only works in conjunction with environmental attitudes. Income is associated with a significantly higher carbon footprint for training, while it has no effect on pro-environmental actions related to club sport. The findings have implications for sport managers and policy makers.

Does Environmental Knowledge Matter? Social Influence and Pro-Environmental Behavior in University Students: An Indirect Effect Model

“…Results from the analysis supported this hypothesis. These findings are in line with prior studies, which have indicated that consumers' behavior is frequently influenced by their social groups, and they would always want to associate with people who care about environmentally friendly products (Blose et al 2020;Geng et al 2017;Khalique et al 2020;Khare, 2019;Li & Wu, 2020;Thormann & Wicker, 2021).…”

“…For example, Thormann and Wicker (2021) discovered that social norms (social influence) are significantly related to pro-environmental behavior in a study conducted in Germany on the determinants of proenvironmental behavior among voluntary sport club members. The study results are also consistent with the findings of Blose et al (2020), who identified that social groups, acquaintances, neighbors, and family relationships play an essential role in cultivating recycling behaviors in the young US and Chinese consumers.…”

Stadium Travel and Subjective Well-Being of Football Spectators

“…Transportation behavior, in terms of carbon footprint analyses, in sport have been conducted in several contexts, including the carbon footprint of sport spectators (e.g., [21]), sport tourists [29], and active sport participants (e.g., [10]).…”

“…However, previous studies have suggested that sport events, such as football games, have rather negative environmental impacts [1]. Especially travel activities are a major contributor to the carbon footprint of the sport sector, which includes not only travel activities to actively participate in sports [10,11] but also spectator travel to all sorts of sport events, including games of various sport leagues [12,13]. These sport spectator travel activities can be attributed to leisure travel, which contributes to up to 8% of the global carbon footprint [14].…”

Willingness-to-Pay for Environmental Measures in Non-Profit Sport Clubs

“…Following the theory of planned behavior, individuals' attitudes towards a specific behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control shape behavioral intentions [45]. Behavioral intentions do not only include intentions to perform different forms of pro-environmental behavior such as recycling behavior [46]. In fact, WTP as an expression of individuals' future financial behavior also qualifies as a behavioral intention in line with the concept of stated preferences, which represent behavioral intentions.…”