Sustainability behaviors among college students: an application of the VBN theory

Whitley, Cameron T.; Takahashi, Bruno; Zwickle, Adam; Besley, John C.; Lertpratchya, Alisa P.

doi:10.1080/13504622.2016.1250151

Cited by 140 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…In a recent study on the determinants of urban residents' environmental complaints in China, Zhang et al [85] demonstrated that the PPN of citizens could influence environmental complaint intention positively and significantly. In the university environment, researchers have also found that the PPN of college students are a positive predictor of support for environmental policies [18]. Thus, this study proposes the following hypothesis:…”

Section: Pro-environmental Personal Norms (Ppn)mentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Stern et al [27] developed a connection between NEP and NAM with the argument that NEP is a generalized environmental belief or a sort of "folk ecology" that may play a mediating role in the relationship between generalized values and specific attitudes, beliefs, behavioral intentions and behavior. Applications of the VBN vary in the way belief is measured, and most studies focus on general environmental beliefs [18]. In addition, some researchers consider NEP an indicator of the awareness of consequences in NAM in testing the relationship between socialpsychological factors and pro-environmental behavior [28].…”

Section: Value-belief-norm (Vbn) Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, some researchers consider NEP an indicator of the awareness of consequences in NAM in testing the relationship between socialpsychological factors and pro-environmental behavior [28]. Since its proposal, VBN has been widely employed to explain many specific pro-environmental behaviors in the private or public sphere, such as green consumer behavior [29][30][31][32], biodiversity conservation [33,34], travel behavior [35][36][37], sustainability behavior [18,38], recycling [39,40], energy conservation [41][42][43][44][45][46], transport modes [47][48][49], and support for pro-environmental policies [50][51][52][53]. Because of value orientations, the new environmental paradigm (NEP) and pro-environmental personal norms (PPN) are vital predictors of pro-environmental behavior in the VBN framework [54].…”

Section: Value-belief-norm (Vbn) Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…De Groot and Steg [80] also found that students who strongly endorsed egoistic values were less likely to prefer a car that performed highly on environmental aspects, whereas altruistic and, especially, biospheric values were positively related to the environmental performance of the car. In a recent study, Whitley et al [18] revealed that these three values play a stable function in predicting college students' sustainable behavior in the public sphere. More specifically, they found that college students who adhered to biospheric and altruistic values were more likely to engage in PSPB, such as supporting environmental protection policy, whereas those who adhered to egoistic values were less likely to engage in such behavior.…”

Section: Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…College students, whose values and beliefs are in a transitional state, are a unique group to test and expand VBN theory [18]. However, studies of college students' pro-environmental behavior and its antecedents within the VBN framework have mainly been conducted in Western contexts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors Influencing Public-Sphere Pro-Environmental Behavior among Mongolian College Students: A Test of Value–Belief–Norm Theory

Liu

Zou

2018

Sustainability

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Value-belief-norm (VBN) theory provides a valuable framework for identifying the social-psychological determinants of various types of pro-environmental behavior. However, limited empirical study has tested the applicability of VBN theory in the western minority areas of China. Given Mongolian college students' crucial role in promoting the sustainable development of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) of China, this study investigates how VBN clusters of variables, namely, values, the new environmental paradigm (NEP) and pro-environmental personal norms (PPN), influence Mongolian college students' self-reported public-sphere pro-environmental behavior (PSPB). The subjects were 1034 Mongolian college students from three large public universities in Hohhot. A structural equation model (SEM) and bootstrapping analyses revealed that: (1) altruistic values have a significant positive influence on PSPB, egoistic values negatively influence PSPB, and biospheric values have no significant influence on PSPB; (2) egoistic values negatively predict NEP and biospheric values positively predict NEP, whereas altruistic values have no direct impact on NEP; (3) NEP has a positive influence on PPN; (4) PPN has a significant positive impact on PSPB; and (5) biospheric and egoistic values have an indirect effect on PSPB through NEP and PPN. The findings provided evidence for the cross-cultural applicability of VBN theory in a Mongolian college student sample. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed, and recommended directions for future research were suggested.

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Section: Pro-environmental Personal Norms (Ppn)mentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Value-belief-norm (Vbn) Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Value-belief-norm (Vbn) Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Factors Influencing Public-Sphere Pro-Environmental Behavior among Mongolian College Students: A Test of Value–Belief–Norm Theory

Liu

Zou

2018

Sustainability

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Achieving sustainability: Determinants of conscious green purchasing behavior during the COVID‐19 pandemic

2022

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The COVID‐19 pandemic has spread worldwide, resulting in crises in public health and sustainable development. Aimed at understanding the determinants of conscious green purchasing behavior (GPB), this paper developed a comprehensive framework linking the moderating effect of negative environmental affective reactions (NEAR) to COVID‐19 based on the S–O–R paradigm. Using randomly selected urban residents from China's Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Rim regions, the empirical study was conducted using 559 valid responses. The results show that media and peers are the major social forces activating altruistic and egoistic motivations, while family influence was not significant. Dual motivations significantly mediated the relationships of unconditional and conditional GPB with media exposure and peer influence. Contrary to expectations, NEAR negatively moderated the formation process of conscious GPB. The findings indicate that the influence of peers on conscious GPB through dual motivations is stronger compared to media. Negative affective reactions to COVID‐19 were also found to inhibit the impact of peer influence on altruistic and egoistic motivations, as well as the path of altruistic motivation on unconditional GPB. The results of this study have important theoretical and practical implications for enterprise marketing and environmental campaigns, and narrowing the green attitude‐behavior gap.

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Can we anti‐consume our way to sustainability? Finding answers at the intersection of cultural values

Kuanr

Israel

Pradhan

et al. 2020

J of Consumer Behaviour

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Anti‐consumption behaviours are frequently seen as an effective way for an individual to mitigate harm done to the natural world and foster sustainability. Despite explicit calls to investigate the drivers of anti‐consumption behaviours, the effect of cultural values on anti‐consumption remains under‐researched. Our research examines the influence of two antecedents, cultural values (individualism and collectivism), and self‐efficacy on anti‐consumption behaviours in an emerging country setting. Our results indicate that cultural values influence anti‐consumption behaviours. Consistent with our expectations, we found that collectivistic values positively influenced anti‐consumption behaviours. This relationship remained valid across anti‐consumption behaviours, such as voluntary simplicity and brand avoidance. Furthermore, beyond our initial expectation, this study demonstrated a positive indirect relationship between individualism and anti‐consumption, which is activated through the self‐efficacy pathway. These findings suggest that approaches for managing anti‐consumption behaviour do not work equally well in all cultures, and that managers may need to fine‐tune their international marketing strategies to ensure their effectiveness.

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Sustainability behaviors among college students: an application of the VBN theory

Cited by 140 publications

References 54 publications

Factors Influencing Public-Sphere Pro-Environmental Behavior among Mongolian College Students: A Test of Value–Belief–Norm Theory

Factors Influencing Public-Sphere Pro-Environmental Behavior among Mongolian College Students: A Test of Value–Belief–Norm Theory

Achieving sustainability: Determinants of conscious green purchasing behavior during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Can we anti‐consume our way to sustainability? Finding answers at the intersection of cultural values

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