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

Abstract

This study examines how perceptions of the legitimacy of university sustainability efforts-support by the administration (authorization) or from students' peers (endorsement)-as well as the physical context in which students live, matter in shaping students' environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs). Using survey data collected from fourth-year students at a university in the Southeastern US, we employ Seeming Unrelated Regression to analyze the impact of perceived legitimacy and context on recycling and conservation behaviors, controlling for demographic characteristics, pro-environmental attitudes, and environmental identity. Our findings indicate that students' perceptions of what university administrators support affect the likelihood of students to enact recycling and conservation behaviors, and peer support influences conservation behaviors. This research contributes to the literature on legitimacy by examining how legitimacy processes work in natural, rather than experimental, settings.Keywords: environmentally responsible behaviors; legitimacy; university administration IntroductionIn the United States (US), individuals and institutions increasingly emphasize environmentally responsible behavior (ERB), whether in the form of recycling bottles, using reusable grocery bags, or investing in hybrid cars and solar panels. College campuses constitute a part of this movement as well, with recycling efforts, energy saving competitions, and "green" methods of construction (see [1]). American institutions of higher education formally acknowledged their commitment to ERBs by signing the Talloires Declaration in 1990 and the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in 2007.Two goals of this green movement on college campuses are to increase student awareness about sustainability and shape related ERBs. 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. The present study examines how perceptions of university sustainability efforts help to shape students' ERBs. Although previous research demonstrates university effects on ERBs, rarely do studies ask why such effects emerge. Using a legitimacy framework [5,6], we argue that perceived university support for sustainability efforts enhances students' frequency of enacting such behavior owing to an obligation to comply and abide by collective norms. Johnson, Dowd and Ridgeway argue "Something is legitimate if it is in accord with the norms, values, beliefs, practices, and procedures accepted b...

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