Today's consumers are increasingly concerned about corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, most consumers still know little about the real CSR performance of firms. If consumers are aware of the real CSR performance of firms, will they buy more from good firms and less from bad firms? This study aims to answer this question. This study first used the focus group technique to find out what aspects of CSR consumers cared about. It then ran an experiment to explore how a firm's CSR performance might affect consumers' intent to buy its product. Forty university students joined 6 sections of focus group discussion, with 5 to 11 students in each section. A convenience sample of 200 university students took part in the experiment, and they were randomly divided into 4 groups with 50 students in each group. In the experiment, each participant read a description of a fictitious shoe manufacturer and its environmental and philanthropic performance. Both the environmental and philanthropic performance could be either good or bad, and the experiment was thus a 2 (environmental performance) by 2 (philanthropic performance) design. Results showed that when participants were made aware of the firm's environmental or philanthropic performance, they would be more intended to buy from the good firm than from the bad firm. However, participants' environmental and philanthropic concern was not related to such an effect of CSR performance. Implications of these findings for the government and businesses are discussed.

This dissertation is a comparative international study of attitudes towards climate change. Using multilevel models, individual level data from the 2005-2008 wave of the World Values Survey, and country level data from the 2010 Climate Risk Index and the World Bank, this research identifies the factors associated with concern for global warming and support for various environmental policies and behaviors in economically developed, transitioning, and developing countries. The first paper addresses an ongoing debate in environmental sociology about the extent to which concern for environmental problems is a result of the objective deterioration of environmental conditions or subjective values among environmentally-oriented individuals. Findings indicate that a country's recent experience with climate-related environmental disasters has little to no effect on concern for global warming. Some support is found for the subjective values explanation, especially in countries at the most advanced stage of economic development. The second paper frames climate change as an asymmetrical social dilemma and tests whether four distinct citizenship identities are associated with the odds an individual considers global warming a very serious problem. This study finds that identifying as world citizens and autonomous individuals increases the odds an individual judges global warming very serious, while identifying as national citizens or local community members has no relationship with evaluations of global warming. The third paper examines the impact of numerous measures of security/vulnerability on individual willingness to make environment-economy trade-offs. The data reveal that higher household incomes, residing in a country with higher per capita GDP, and higher rates of adult literacy are positively associated with prioritizing environmental protection over economic growth. However, residents of economically developing countries (or countries designated Non-Annex I by the Kyoto Protocol) are also much more likely to express willingness to donate personal income for the protection of the environment compared to residents of developed (Annex I) countries. The findings from these three studies have implications for sociological research on the relationship between economic inequality and environmental attitudes, the conditions under which international cooperation on climate is more or less likely, and the quest for climate justice.

Awareness and concern about the environment have been growing in recent years, and this fact has not been lost on churches. Though arguments have been made that Christianity is a cause of the world’s current ecological problems, many denominations have issued statements encouraging environmental responsibility, and a growing number of churches are teaching an ethic of care for what God has made. This thesis examines several churches who have been acting on environmental issues to understand what concern looks like in their faith communities. It was seen that the doctrine of stewardship is a primary reason for care, and there is a need for teaching on the theological basis of concern. Groups and activity within churches happen when there is a champion to move things forward, and environmental concern is just one part of a connected existence that links people with their faith, each other, and life outside the church.

This study explored the relation between dispositional empathy and environmental concern by examining the mediating role of nature relatedness. Undergraduate students (n = 125) from the University of Victoria completed a series of questionnaires measuring dispositional empathy, three types of environmental concern, nature relatedness, proenvironmental behaviour and social desirability. Bootstrapping procedures were used to evaluate the meditational model. Perspective taking (a cognitive facet of empathy) appears to relate to biospheric environmental concern indirectly through nature relatedness. Empathic concern (an affective facet of empathy) predicted altruistic environmental concern, but this effect was not mediated by nature relatedness. Proenvironmental behaviour was only related to biospheric concern. These results suggest that the relation between empathy and environmental concern is multifaceted and that proenvironmental behaviour is not consistently an outcome. Possible explanations for this pattern of results are explored. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, and suggestions are made to guide future research. / Graduate

This thesis examines the relationship between outdoor recreation and environmental concern as part of the wider issue of environmental sustainability in late-modern societies. It includes studies of environmentalists’ (that is environmentally committed individuals’) preferences and motivations with regard to outdoor recreation, and covers the inquiries of whether and how outdoor recreation can influence levels of environmental concern. The questions addressed are how environmentalists engage in outdoor recreation, with what motives, and whether participation in outdoor recreation can influence levels of environmental concern. Empirically, the thesis is based on a mixed methods approach, including analyses of data from a national survey on outdoor recreation and a qualitative case study of the organization Nature and Youth Sweden (Fältbiologerna). Theoretically, it is based on the concepts of place, habitus and field. Study results show that environmentally committed individuals favor participation in appreciative activities in areas perceived as pristine, preferably away from urban environments. Motivations refer to these preferences, but also to aspects of discursive context, social identity and social position. These aspects are also found to be crucial regarding the influence of outdoor recreation on environmental concern. Thus, study results also show a lack of support for environmental concern as an automatic outcome of outdoor recreation. It is rather a combination of interconnected conditions referred to as: favorable place relations, adequate outdoor experience and appropriate social context. The thesis contributes to new knowledge on the relationships and connections between outdoor recreation and environmental sustainability. While the results are of importance with regard to planning for outdoor recreation and development of nature-based tourism, they are of particular interest for environmental organizations, schools and other institutions working for a more sustainable society. / This thesis examines the relationship between outdoor recreation and environmental concern as part of the wider quest for environmental sustainability in late-modern societies. Generally, outdoor recreation contributes to an increased use of resources and a growing impact on the environment. At the same time, outdoor recreation is also part of a wider narrative of fostering environmental concern, where forms of nature encounter are seen as potential pathways to pro-environmental attitudes and behavior. Thus, the thesis addresses themes of recreational participation and preferences among environmentalists - and the inquiry into the ways outdoor recreation may influence levels of environmental concern.

The organic products market has grown worldwide in recent years. Increasing demand for products that are less harmful to the environment and health is one of the factors driving this phenomenon. Consumers are becoming more conscious than ever before about the environmental effects of the products they consume. Specifically, millennials have become environmentally responsible consumers. Although earlier studies have provided insights into factors influencing attitudes towards organic products in various contexts, there is limited research into organic products in the South African context, specifically research focusing on organic personal care products among millennials. Millennials are influential consumers who are environmentally conscious and digitally savvy. Recently, social media has gained increased attention for its ability to amplify environmental concerns and promote sustainable behaviour among young people. As a result, understanding how young consumers develop their purchasing behaviours towards organic personal care products is necessary. Therefore, this study investigated millennials' attitudes towards environmental issues and health consciousness, and the effects of their attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioural controls on their willingness to pay for organic personal care products. The study followed a descriptive, quantitative research design using an online selfadministered survey. A non-probability virtual snowball sample of 433 Facebook users, aged between 18 and 25 years who live in South Africa, was followed. Out of the 433 questionnaires that were collected, 377 were included for analysis. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results reveal that South African millennials' environmental concern and health consciousness had a significantly positive influence on their attitudes towards organic personal care products. The results also showed that attitude towards organic personal care products had a significant positive effect on subjective norms, and attitude was the strongest significant predictor of willingness to pay for organic personal care products. The results provide marketers with insights into how millennials ' attitude and willingness to buy organic personal care products can be influenced. Specifically, marketers should develop marketing strategies that incorporate environmental concerns, health awareness, and social influence to increase customer willingness to pay for organic personal care products. The findings also help policymakers understand the level of customer concern about the environment and their health, develop effective environmental policies necessary to achieve sustainability, and boost green purchasing through legislation. In addition, policymakers should be more constructive to promote ecologically conscious consumer behaviour. Collaborating with the private sector in various campaigns would help to enhance consumers' attitudes regarding the environmental concern.

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The environmental concern has become a well discussed topic within today’s society and as a result awareness of the impact human behaviour has on the environment is continuously increasing. This concern is something companies take advantage of when marketing, as for instance by promoting their products or services as eco-labelled. Eco-labelled products have further shown to involve a lot of consumer opinions, and are thus common to study in relation to consumer attitudes. Theories also show that eco-labelled goods have been idealised in favour of conventional ones, referred to as a marketing placebo effect. In connection to this, companies have started to point interest at eco-labelled technology, which has become a recent phenomenon attracting attention. Nonetheless, the existing theory regarding this phenomenon has been mainly applied on specific areas, such as the food industry. The purpose of this study was therefore to explain the marketing placebo effect on eco-labelled technology. 162 experiments were conducted using one experiment group and one control group, in order to be able to detect an eventual marketing placebo effect when implementing an eco-label, using attitudes as an influencer. Based on the results, it was revealed that attitudes are crucial to take into consideration when applying an eco-label in a technology context. This as it was concluded that attitudes act as a trigger evoking a marketing placebo effect. The findings from this study contradicts current theories on how different factors cooperate in the process of a marketing placebo effect, and advances has thus been made in how the marketing placebo effect works when applied in a technology context.

Doctor of Philosophy / Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Kim Hiller / This study examined the effects of knowledge of apparel and textile (AT) manufacturing’s impacts on the environment, environmental concern, attitudes toward environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA), and the cultural characteristics of adult, female Kuwaiti nationals on purchasing behaviors of ESA. This study was conducted because Kuwait is a large consumer market for apparel goods and there was a gap in the existing literature on sustainable apparel with regards to Kuwait. To measure the independent variables of knowledge related to the environmental impacts of AT manufacturing, environmental concern, attitudes towards ESA, and the cultural characteristics of Kuwaiti women on the dependent variable of ESA purchase behavior intentions, a mixed methods approach was used. This mixed method approach included a survey instrument featuring five different scales to acquire data through quantitative methods on a population of Kuwaitis acquired through snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were then utilized to acquire further data for a qualitative data analysis. The results were then analyzed through descriptive statistics, regressions, and coding. The data analysis of the quantitative survey responses of the female Kuwaiti nationals showed that their level of knowledge on the environmental impacts of the AT industry was low, their level of environmental concern was neutral, their ESA attitudes were neutral, and their ESA purchase intentions were slightly positive. Regression results found that environmental concern had no relationship with ESA attitudes, knowledge about AT related environmental issues positively influenced ESA attitudes, and both knowledge about AT related environmental issues and ESA attitudes had a positive influence on ESA purchase intentions. Additionally, the cultural dimensions of the surveyed population showed high power distance and collectivism, low long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance, and intermediate levels of masculinity and indulgence. The qualitative interview revealed that Kuwaiti culture is strongly influenced by the Islamic religion, and the culture supports high levels of consumerism and ostentatious consumption. A majority of qualitative participants did not express any attitudes toward ESA, and none of the participants had purchased ESA products previously. This could be because female Kuwaiti nationals are limited in their knowledge related to AT environmental risks and are generally unaware of ESA and its purpose. The study’s data could be used to provide educators with information through which to tailor curricula towards the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of Kuwaiti nationals. Additionally, this information could be essential for manufacturers and retailers of ESA products, so that they can produce and sell ESA affectively in Kuwait.

The aim of this thesis is to identify and examine the factors influencing environmentally-significant consumption (ESC) by higher-income households (HIH) to provide theoretical and social marketing insights. Income is highly related to levels of energy consumption and associated environmental damage, but despite research documenting the links between income and energy use, there is a lack of enquiry into what shapes the ESC patterns of HIH and therefore how behavioural interventions might be best fashioned to reduce energy use. A postmodern approach to consumption that recognises the interplay between the psychological, the social and the cultural (a psycho-socio-cultural approach), indicates that ESC is not an automatic consequence of wealth but rather mediated through the way consumption practices are symbolically connected with the satisfaction of underlying needs, including the need for identity and other psychological orientations. These connections are not universal or static but socially and culturally contextual and influenced by many factors, particularly marketing. Social marketing, as marketing for social good, therefore has a critical role to play in altering these symbolic connections and therefore consumption behaviour. To design and market alternative lower energy consumption through social marketing interventions, an understanding of how environmentally-significant consumption is connected with modes of need satisfaction and psychological orientations is necessary. Additionally, an understanding of constraints to even higher levels of consumption is useful. This study provides initial research momentum, using a HIH sample from South Devon. Primary data from a quantitative questionnaire was supported in design by qualitative interviews. These provide descriptive and correlational results about what shapes the consumption of; leisure flights, large-engine cars and new durable products, as well as the role of environmentally-significant psychological orientations, specifically: values; materialism; environmental concern and identity. The research also provides a comparative analysis between a group of HIH who have participated in Global Action Plan’s EcoTeam programme, and the general sample of HIH.