Measuring Values in Environmental Research: A Test of an Environmental Portrait Value Questionnaire

Abstract

Four human values are considered to underlie individuals’ environmental beliefs and behaviors: biospheric (i.e., concern for environment), altruistic (i.e., concern for others), egoistic (i.e., concern for personal resources) and hedonic values (i.e., concern for pleasure and comfort). These values are typically measured with an adapted and shortened version of the Schwartz Value Survey (SVS), to which we refer as the Environmental-SVS (E-SVS). Despite being well-validated, recent research has indicated some concerns about the SVS methodology (e.g., comprehensibility, self-presentation biases) and suggested an alternative method of measuring human values: The Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ). However, the PVQ has not yet been adapted and applied to measure values most relevant to understand environmental beliefs and behaviors. Therefore, we tested the Environmental-PVQ (E-PVQ) – a PVQ variant of E-SVS –and compared it with the E-SVS in two studies. Our findings provide strong support for the validity and reliability of both the E-SVS and E-PVQ. In addition, we find that respondents slightly preferred the E-PVQ over the E-SVS (Study 1). In general, both scales correlate similarly to environmental self-identity (Study 1), energy behaviors (Studies 1 and 2), pro-environmental personal norms, climate change beliefs and policy support (Study 2). Accordingly, both methodologies show highly similar results and seem well-suited for measuring human values underlying environmental behaviors and beliefs.

The Relationship Between Sociodemographics and Environmental Values Across Seven European Countries

“…Behaving pro-environmentally often produces immediate negative consequences for the individual (e.g., reduction in comfort, higher financial costs), but positive long-term consequences for society and the environment. In line with this assumption, research shows that altruistic and biospheric values are positively related to pro-environmental attitudes, intentions, and behaviors ( Marshall et al, 2019 ; Shi et al, 2019 ), while egoistic values are often negatively related to them ( Honkanen and Verplanken, 2004 ; Nilsson et al, 2004 ; De Groot and Steg, 2008 , 2010 ; Steg et al, 2011 ; Bouman et al, 2018 ). As altruistic, biospheric, and egoistic values are all relevant in relation to pro-environmental behavior, we refer to these three values as “environmental values” throughout this paper.…”

Environmental Citizenship Questionnaire (ECQ): The Development and Validation of an Evaluation Instrument for Secondary School Students

“…Therefore, this group of items was modified by the authors to relate exclusively to environmental citizenship and not to citizenship in general. Another source of items was the study by Bouman et al [22] from which the whole E-PVQ (Environmental Portrait Value Questionnaire)-with 17 items related to environmental values-was used. This group of items was translated into Greek and piloted as described above to increase readability and comprehensibility.…”

Who is more likely to influence others? A value-based approach to pro-environmental social influence behavior (Preprint)

“…Recent findings, however, point self-enhancing reasons as a basis of proenvironmental behaviors: Actions benefiting the environment might develop based on selfinterest (e.g., being healthy or gaining social status) or without individuals knowing that they are behaving pro-environmentally (Dominicis, Schultz, & Bonaiuto, 2017). Furthermore, some authors raised the need for a further inspection of relationships between egoistic values and a wider range of actions that could be considered more beneficial for individuals with stronger self-enhancement values as related findings seem to be scarce (Bouman, Steg, & Kiers, 2018).…”