Ecological Behavior, Environmental Attitude, and Feelings of Responsibility for the Environment

Abstract

Given their definition of subjective norms, rational-choice theories must

The effects of social desirability on self-reported environmental attitudes and ecological behaviour

“…Kaiser et al (1999) found that social desirability was only marginally related to measures of environmental attitudes, intentions to engage in ecological behaviours and selfreported ecological behaviour, and that the relationship with environmental values was not significant. Hartig et al (2001), Schahn (2002) and Wiseman and Bogner (2003) found only marginally significant correlations between social desirability and both environmental attitude and ecological behaviour measures.…”

“…That SDR is not a serious problem in environmental issues research is an important finding because there are several claims in the literature that social desirability concerns affect people's response to measures on environmental attitudes and ecological behaviour (see, e.g., Costarelli and Colloca 2004;Thøgersen and Ö lander 2006). However, as discussed before, these claims do not seem to be based on empirical evidence since only a few studies have indirectly evaluated the impact of SDR on environmental issues measures, and those who did, have found only a low impact (see, e.g., Kaiser et al 1999;Pato et al 2004;Wiseman and Bogner 2003). Moreover, the focus of these empirical studies was to reject the null hypothesis, showing that SDR has an influence, albeit small, on environmental issues measures.…”

Care and Commitment in Ethical Consumption: An Exploration of the ‘Attitude–Behaviour Gap’

“…Moreover, taking action on one's responsibility of care is evident from Stacey and is reflected in the literature on ethical consumption, both through a moral obligation to take action on issues of concern (e.g. Kaiser et al 1999;McEachern et al 2007;Ozcaglar-Toulouse et al 2006;Shaw et al 2000Shaw et al , 2006aShiu 2002a, b, 2003;Sparks et al 1995;Spence and Townsend 2006;Tanner and Wölfing 2003;Thøgersen 1999) and through viewing purchases as votes for change in the marketplace (e.g. Shaw et al 2006b) embracing the concept of consumer sovereignty.…”

Understanding Consumer Response to Water Efficiency Strategies

“…Secondly, the factor of 'personal responsibility', which is closely related to emotional involvement, considers the extent to which people feel they have a role to play in improving a situation, while the associated variable of perceived control may be defined as the extent to which an individual feels it is possible to influence a given situation and facilitate change through their locus of control (Kaiser and Shimoda, 1999;Kaiser et al, 1999b;Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002). These two concepts gain importance when investigating attitudes to water conservation strategies, because the construct of responsibility is often representative of underlying values and attitudes towards a problem, with the level of perceived control also influencing the likelihood of an individual adopting pro-conservation attitudes and changing behaviour accordingly (Blake, 1999;.…”

“…In fact, barriers to responsibility and control can arise through numerous pathways, including an individual or group feeling that a situation cannot be influenced (a feeling of powerlessness), a viewpoint that suggests it is not the responsibility of a given individual or group to address a specific issue that has been highlighted (a feeling of disassociation and the notion of attributing the problem to another group), a distinct lack of trust in institutions that are expected to guide action when addressing environmental issues, as well as the failure of required (or encouraged) changes in behaviour to align with personal priorities, thereby causing motivation for change to decline significantly (Kaiser and Shimoda, 1999;Kaiser et al, 1999a,b;Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002). For example, Blake (1999) and Kaiser et al (1999b) claim that responsibility can decline through a lack of efficacy, limited situational control and, perhaps most damaging to potential behaviour change, a lack of trust in governing agents or institutions. In particular, through work focused on the implementation of sustainability objectives, Blake (1999) highlights that a lack of institutional trust fundamentally stopped individuals from acting in a pro-environmental manner, as the population had become suspicious of local and national government.…”