Environmental responsibility: millennial values and cultural dimensions

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine how students in business colleges across three countries, the United States, India and China, interpret environmental sustainability. This study also explores where students from different cultures believe responsibility lies in caring for the environment and how these beliefs represent their cultural and millennial values. The purpose of this study, then, is to investigate millennial business students’ perspectives toward the environment across the three countries holding the largest ecological footprint. Design/methodology/approach College of business students from the United States, India and China were surveyed. Student responses regarding environmental sustainability were compared to values of the millennial generation and placement of responsibility compared to national culture dimensions. Findings An average of 66.3 per cent of the coded responses reflect the optimism of the generation. Concern for future generations was a frequent theme. Most responses assigned responsibility for environmental sustainability to “all”. Results support the work of Husted (2005) and Park et al. (2007) as well as the expectations of the millennial generation’s values related to environmental sustainability. Originality/value The authors connect national cultural research to environmental sustainability. This study explores where students from different cultures believe responsibility lies in caring for the environment and how these beliefs represent their cultural and millennial values. National cultural combined with millennial opinion is an important area of research for understanding the assignment of responsibility related to environmental sustainability.

On how business students’ personal values and sustainability conceptions impact their sustainability management orientation

“…All three dimensions of sustainability (economic, socio-cultural, and ecological) have been found to have a positive effect on SMO. In this regard, these results extend findings of previous studies, which either did not specifically address the relationship between selftranscendence values and the economic dimension of sustainability (Hanson-Rasmussen and Lauver, 2018) or provided mixed results concerning the association of these constructs (Wang and Juslin, 2011;Kausch, 2013). We show that having self-transcendence values does not necessarily contradict conceptualizing aspects such as economic growth, efficiency, and technological progress as integral parts of sustainability.…”

Impact of Consumer Environmental Responsibility on Green Consumption Behavior in China: The Role of Environmental Concern and Price Sensitivity

“…Environmental responsibility refers to "a state in which a person expresses an intention to take action directed toward remediation of environmental problems-acting not as an individual consumer with his or her own economic interests, but through a citizen-consumer concept of societal-environmental well-being" [48]. Prior study has shown that consumers' environmental responsibility is closely related to environmental education, which varies across different nationals and cultures [47,49]. The positive relationship between consumers' environmental responsibility and green consumption behavior has been examined in some different countries.…”

The great Millennials’ trouble: leading or confused green generation? An Italian insight

“…As Millennials are aware of the problems concerning the ecosystem, even if few young people have real in-depth knowledge on the subject, it is logical to expect that they adopt new behaviours that support sustainable development (Ivanova et al 2019). Many studies identify a greater propensity to sustainable buying for Millennials than previous generations (Fischer et al 2017;Hanson-Rasmussen and Lauver 2018). The results of the research by Kanchanapibul et al (2014) show that there is a good relationship between the Millennials and the world of ecology.…”

“…Among consumers, Millennials are regularly considered the ones driving the sustainable movement with their lifestyle and behavioural changes (Sheahan 2005;Smith 2011;Hanson-Rasmussen and Lauver 2018). Therefore, they are also referred to as the "Green Generation".…”