Living green: examining sustainable dorms and identities

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of living in "green" dorms on students' environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs), in concert with other factors, including individual identity and social context in the form of behavior modeling by peers. Design/methodology/approach -The sample of 243 consists of students who resided in two newly constructed, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold-certified dorms and two conventional dorms. The authors analyze the data collected at the end of the respondents' freshmen year at Emory University using seemingly unrelated regression analysis. Findings -Findings indicate that students who live in "green" dorms engage in more recycling and advocacy behaviors than students in conventional dorms. Environmental identity and perceived behavior modeling by peers positively affect recycling, advocacy and conservation. Furthermore, results indicate an interaction between dorm and identity whereby students with weak environmental identities experience a greater increase in ERBs from living in green dorms than do students with strong environmental identities. Practical implications -These results show that universities do promote students' ERBs through the construction of green residence halls. Universities can also facilitate ERBs by encouraging students to develop strong environmental identities and fostering opportunities for them to engage in ERBs with their peers. Originality/value -This study is valuable for both its practical implications and the theoretical implications for predicting ERBs. The findings indicate that to predict ERBs, it is necessary to consider both contextual and individual level factors.

When Legitimacy Shapes Environmentally Responsible Behaviors: Considering Exposure to University Sustainability Initiatives

“…Furthermore, initiatives to provide feedback about energy conservation, including energy competitions among residence halls, generally result in increased awareness with regard to energy expenditures as well as decreased consumption [3,16]. Indeed, Kahler argues that green structures generally have positive, enduring effects on environmental behaviors and identities [17], and research has confirmed her speculation [4].…”

“…Literature reviews and meta-analyses and have identified attitudes as an important antecedent of ERB [10,28,29]. Subsequent studies provide evidence that environmental identity, or an individual's sense of personal connection to his or her environment, can serve as an even stronger predictor of ERB than attitudes [4,8,9]. With that in mind, we include pro-environmental attitudes and environmental identity as control variables in our model, in addition to socio-demographic characteristics.…”

“…Attitudes exert a significant, positive effect on recycling (b = 0.163, p ≤ 0.05) and conservation (b = 0.154, p ≤ 0.001). Based on previous studies [4,8,9], we expected that environmental identity would exert strong, positive effects on ERBs. Results clearly confirm our expectation about the influence of environmental identity on recycling (b = 0.526, p ≤ 0.001) and conservation (b = 0.311, p ≤ 0.001).…”

“…While sustainability initiatives at institutions of higher education take a variety of different forms, Barlett and Chase identify several key features that compose the core of such initiatives at many campuses: (1) leadership for sustainability; (2) institutionalizing a curriculum around sustainability; (3) incorporating green building design; (4) engaging the campus population and surrounding community on sustainability issues, and (5) creating a system-wide framework to foster sustainability [11]. While a growing body of literature is exploring how curriculum design affects students' ERBs (see [12]), this study expands to consider the involvement of university administrators in developing sustainable buildings, particularly residence halls.…”

“…As an important component of these efforts, campus-housing initiatives involve green construction, operation, and programming. Research illustrates that educational programs and campus demonstrations enhance the likelihood that students will perform sustainable behaviors such as recycling or turning off lights [2,3], and that living in green buildings can increase the frequency of self-reported recycling and environmental advocacy behaviors [4]. Universities use such initiatives to create and maintain a culture of sustainability in which ERB becomes common practice by all university actors.…”