The Environmentally Concerned Citizen

Abstract

The present research is concerned with exploring individual environmental responsibility from the operational or deepened marketing perspective of private and public strategic decision-making. The theoretical foundation underlying the research design in this investigation is social responsibility (altruism, prosocial behavior, aiding, or helping) theory. More specifically, the relationship between the social responsibility correlates of internal-external control, social responsibility, social class, age, and income and multiple attitudinal and behavioral measures of environmental responsibility is examined. Differences between Sierra Club and/or Audubon Society subjects and general population on attitudinal and behavioral measures of environmental responsibility were found to be significant and in the predicted direction.

Culture, Carbon, and Climate Change: A Class Analysis of Climate Change Belief, Lifestyle Lock-in, and Personal Carbon Footprint

“…Th is dichotomizing of strategies (cultures versus structures and individuals versus institutions) to assuage the planetary impacts of human behavior is supported by others; although structural / institutional level changes are seen as the most eff ective approach to climate change mitigation (IPCC, 2014a;Princen et al, 2002;Szasz, 2011), lifestyle and personal behaviors are also a key area for research and intervention (Dietz et al, 2009;Nagel et al, 2010;Tucker, 1978). Moreover, at this critical historical juncture, it appears that what can be done, should be done.…”

Sustainable Development and Emotions

“…Although some significant findings confirm the hypothesis, the overall pattern of results is inconsistent. It reflects that -over a wide range of different subjects and behavior categories -the generalized locus of control of reinforcement has no strong or consistent relation to sustainable attitudes or behaviors (see Arbuthnot, 1977;Huebner & Lipsey, 1981;Kinnear, Taylor, & Ahmed, 1974;Levenson, 1974;Navarro, SimpsonHousley, & DeMan, 1987;Sherman, Perez, & Sherman, 1981;Tucker, 1978). It is not clear whether general belief in internal control has much to do with experienced control over, or influence on, the state of the natural environment.…”

“…Therefore, it makes sense that especially social responsible subjects, or subjects with highly developed moral norms, should be willing to accept personal burdens and costs benefiting the whole society (Eckensberger, Breit, & Doring, 1999). Despite these theoretical arguments, generalized social responsibility shows only low correlations with sustainable attitudes, and has proven not to predict sustainable behavior (Arbuthnot, 1977;Tucker, 1978). Again, different levels of specificity between predictor and criterion variables might account for this overall finding.…”

Environmental Concern in South Africa: An Attitudinal Study

“…The environmentally concerned citizen is generally a member of the higher socioeconomic groups (Arbuthnot, 1977), is either exposed to or is educated about environmental problems (Cutter, 198 1;Wysor, 1983), is a member of organizations which aim to promote awareness of and care for the natural environment (Tucker, 1978), and holds relatively liberal social/political and religious beliefs (Arbuthnot, 1977). Persons with an internal locus of control show a greater propensity than persons with an external locus of control to manifest social responsibility, of which environmental responsibility is regarded as a subset (Lefcourt, 1976).…”