The Expanded Theory of Planned Behavior in the Context of Environmental Protection Behaviors for Undergraduates: Roles of Moral Norms and University Class Standings

Abstract

The expanded Theory of Planned Behavior (ETPB) was applied to examine undergraduates’ environmental protection behaviors. Moral norms were applied into the model as the predictor of attitude, social norms and perceived behavioral control. The effects of different class standings were also examined. A questionnaire survey was conducted and 380 responses underwent data analysis using structural equation modelling. According to Model ETPB, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms were strongly affected by moral norms, while attitude was moderately affected by moral norms. Environmental protection behaviors was moderately affected by environmental protection intention, while environmental protection intention was moderately affected by perceived behavioral control which was the strongest predictor, followed by attitude and subjective norms. Invoking moral emotions through posters or peers leading by examples, which over time might internalize into moral norms, played an important role in positively affecting perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. This could be followed by simple and convenient programs creating a positive self-perception of the abilities to carry out environmental protection behaviors. When separated by class standings, perceived behavioral control was the strongest predictor for the freshmen class, while subjective norms were non-significant. For the class standing of sophomores and above, attitude was the strongest predictor.

Adolescent Aggressive Riding Behavior: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Prototype Willingness Model

“…Morality tends to discourage people from taking risks and it is an important part of Chinese culture. The moral norms of college students influence their environmental behavior [ 78 ], as well as their habit of texting while driving [ 79 ]. In addition to subject education, schools should place more emphasis on developing students’ sense of responsibility.…”

Influences of Social–Psychological Constructs in Predicting Taiwanese Pro-Environmental Behaviors

“…recommendations from family, friends, co-workers, or contemporaries [8]. There is research showing that an individual's social norms are derived from their environmental beliefs, which in turn leads to a sense of personal obligation to behave pro-environmentally; in these studies [36][37][38], personal norms served as a mediating variable between social norms and PEB.…”

“…19% of the variances of PEB were explained by this model. Tsai and Tan [8] incorporated moral norms into the theory of planned behaviors to investigate the PEB of undergraduates from a university in Eastern Taiwan. Moral norms was found to positively influenced attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control.…”

“…From the various works regarding the PEB of Taiwanese, the theory of planned behaviors was widely used. The surveyed respondents were mostly specified targeted group of people by geographical location [4,10] or specified roles [7][8][9], with a wide range of accounted variances regarding PEB. In addition, subjective norms, the perceived social pressure to engage in a particular behavior, were noted by several researchers to significantly influenced PEB intentions [6,10].…”

“…Social norms described social pressures felt from important others or the general public at large to engage in certain behaviors [28]. People motivated by social norms tend to listen to recommendations from family, friends, co-workers, or contemporaries [8]. There is research showing that an individual's social norms are derived from their environmental beliefs, which in turn leads to a sense of personal obligation to behave pro-environmentally; in these studies [36][37][38], personal norms served as a mediating variable between social norms and PEB.…”