In recent years, energy efficiency in the built environment has been attracting considerable interest to mitigate energy consumption. A number of scientific studies indicate that rising air pollution, decreasing biodiversity, ocean acidification and other adverse effects on humans and the environment in recent decades are due to greenhouse gas emissions, and a substantial share of the emissions can be attributed to energy usage in residential buildings. Investments in energy-efficient technologies have been made to alleviate such human induced causes contributing to the emissions, but they are still far from widespread, calling for a thorough understanding of individuals' decision-making processes to promote further adoption of energy efficiency investments. Although personality has been widely recognised as an explanatory factor of behaviour, a rigorous discussion of it in the context of energy efficiency investments is missing. As such, to understand the role of personality traits in making high-cost energy efficiency investments in residential buildings, this research applies a multidisciplinary approach to derive theoretical models that are evaluated in subsequent empirical investigations using quantitative methods and data from the UK and Germany. The findings suggest three ways through which personality can influence energy efficiency investments. The first is an indirect impact of personality traits through risk preferences, in which the significance of the personality effects depends on the financial subsidy context. The second is an indirect effect of personality traits through environmental concern. The third way suggests an impact of personality traits through their importance for individuals' capability and willingness to consider peer behaviour.

This study examines the relationship between public opinion about the environment and the introduction of congressional legislation on environmental issues. Using public opinion data gathered by the General Social Survey from 1977 to 2002, this work examines correlations between how the public views the environment in each and the number of bills introduced in the U.S. House and Senate addressing environmental issues. The findings indicate that there is a correlation between overall concern felt in the public and congressional action on certain aspects of environmental protection. The results also highlight the potentially disturbing finding that the race and economic class of a respondent play a role in the level of correlation between respondents' concern for the environment and congressional action on environmental issues.

This thesis examines whether or not differences in people’s water conservation attitudes, political party orientation, severity of drought, and attention to drought news affect their engagement in water conservation behavior during a time of continued water shortage. Previously, it has been found that attitudes are predictive of intentions that relate to behaviors (e.g., Dietz et al. 2005). Democrats have been shown to be more pro-environmental then Republicans (e.g., Dunlap et al. 2000). It has also been found that severity of drought is positively related with environmental concern (e.g., Accury and Christianson 1990), and access to news information is directly related to willingness to take action (e.g., Johnson and Scicchitano 2000). However, during a time of drought, what is the relationship between individual water conservation attitudes and behaviors? Do conventional understandings of political party orientation and water conservation behaviors hold during a time of drought? Do those living in counties that experience more severe drought engage in more water conservation behaviors? Do those who pay more attention to drought news engage in more water conservation behaviors? Using data from Georgia’s 2007 Peach State Poll, I explore the answers to these questions. I examine how water conservation attitudes (Model 1), political party orientation (Model 2), drought severity (Model 3), attention to drought news (Model 4), sociodemographics, controls, and other factors from models 1-4 (Model 5) influenced water conservation behavior during the 2007 Georgia drought. Results indicate that differences in people’s water conservation attitudes, political party orientation, drought severity, and attention to drought news did not significantly affect their water conservation behavior during the 2007 drought. However, race, class, and gender variables in the full model did have a significant effect, which seems to suggest that one’s location in the social stratification system affects their opportunities to engage in water conservation behavior. Therefore, environmental policy issues should not be considered apart from social issues. The fundamental theoretical significance of the following research is that we affect and are in turn affected by the biophysical world in a dialectic fashion. Recognizing the quality, quantity, and interrelatedness of nature-society relationships is essential for future research.

Companies are under increasing pressure from every category of stakeholder, from government and community to supply chain and consumer, to improve the environmental sustainability of their operations, products and services. To be most successful with environmental sustainability improvement initiatives, a company must have the commitment and effort of its employees. The purpose of this research is to study the effect of the company’s approach to the initiative on the level of employee commitment to the company’s environmental sustainability goals. This research was conducted with a two-factor, factorial experiment. The experimental factors were construal level and small wins framing. Each of these factors had two levels, creating a 2x2 design with four treatment level combinations. A third study factor was environmental concern. Four other variables, goal difficulty, perceived organizational efficacy, gender and age, were included in the model as control variables. The dependent variable was goal commitment. Approximately 150 participants were recruited for the experiment and randomly assigned to one of the four fixed, treatment combinations. Hierarchical regression was used to estimate the factors’ main and interaction effects, as well as the significance of the control variables. Neither of the two manipulated variables, construal level and small wins, was found to have a significant main effect on goal commitment. There were, however, significant interactions between environmental concern and construal level, and between environmental concern and small wins framing, on goal commitment. At high levels of environmental concern, the effects of construal level and small wins were as hypothesized, but at low levels of environmental concern, the effects of construal level and small wins were opposite of what was expected. Additionally, both organizational efficacy and gender were found to significantly affect one’s goal commitment.

A cross age study was conducted to investigate 6th, 7th and 8th grade students&rsquo / value orientations, environmental optimism, and environmental concern. In addition, gender and grade level differences in the environmental-related attributes were examined. A total of 938 (491 girls and 447 boys) students attending public schools located in Kelkit, the district of Gumushane, were administered a questionnaire consisting of Demographics, Environmental Attitudes and Apathy Scales, Environmental Concern Scale , Environmental Optimism Scale, Locus of Control Scale and Conservation Behavior Scale. In general, students who participated in the current study found to endorse eco-centric attitudes, and express a high degree of concern as well as optimism level about the current and future state of the environmental issues and problems. They also seemed to be interested in environmental issues and problems and perceived environmental problems as one of the two or three most important problems currently being faced. In order to examine the role of gender and grade level on students&rsquo / environmental attitudes, two separate two-way MANOVAs were conducted. The results revealed a statistically significant gender and grade level differences both on students&rsquo / ecocentric, apathy and anthropocentric attitudes and on students&rsquo / environmental optimism and concern levels.

This thesis examines whether or not differences in people’s water conservation attitudes, political party orientation, severity of drought, and attention to drought news affect their engagement in water conservation behavior during a time of continued water shortage. Previously, it has been found that attitudes are predictive of intentions that relate to behaviors (e.g., Dietz et al. 2005). Democrats have been shown to be more pro-environmental then Republicans (e.g., Dunlap et al. 2000). It has also been found that severity of drought is positively related with environmental concern (e.g., Accury and Christianson 1990), and access to news information is directly related to willingness to take action (e.g., Johnson and Scicchitano 2000). However, during a time of drought, what is the relationship between individual water conservation attitudes and behaviors? Do conventional understandings of political party orientation and water conservation behaviors hold during a time of drought? Do those living in counties that experience more severe drought engage in more water conservation behaviors? Do those who pay more attention to drought news engage in more water conservation behaviors? Using data from Georgia’s 2007 Peach State Poll, I explore the answers to these questions. I examine how water conservation attitudes (Model 1), political party orientation (Model 2), drought severity (Model 3), attention to drought news (Model 4), sociodemographics, controls, and other factors from models 1-4 (Model 5) influenced water conservation behavior during the 2007 Georgia drought. Results indicate that differences in people’s water conservation attitudes, political party orientation, drought severity, and attention to drought news did not significantly affect their water conservation behavior during the 2007 drought. However, race, class, and gender variables in the full model did have a significant effect, which seems to suggest that one’s location in the social stratification system affects their opportunities to engage in water conservation behavior. Therefore, environmental policy issues should not be considered apart from social issues. The fundamental theoretical significance of the following research is that we affect and are in turn affected by the biophysical world in a dialectic fashion. Recognizing the quality, quantity, and interrelatedness of nature-society relationships is essential for future research.

Companies are under increasing pressure from every category of stakeholder, from government and community to supply chain and consumer, to improve the environmental sustainability of their operations, products and services. To be most successful with environmental sustainability improvement initiatives, a company must have the commitment and effort of its employees. The purpose of this research is to study the effect of the company’s approach to the initiative on the level of employee commitment to the company’s environmental sustainability goals. This research was conducted with a two-factor, factorial experiment. The experimental factors were construal level and small wins framing. Each of these factors had two levels, creating a 2x2 design with four treatment level combinations. A third study factor was environmental concern. Four other variables, goal difficulty, perceived organizational efficacy, gender and age, were included in the model as control variables. The dependent variable was goal commitment. Approximately 150 participants were recruited for the experiment and randomly assigned to one of the four fixed, treatment combinations. Hierarchical regression was used to estimate the factors’ main and interaction effects, as well as the significance of the control variables. Neither of the two manipulated variables, construal level and small wins, was found to have a significant main effect on goal commitment. There were, however, significant interactions between environmental concern and construal level, and between environmental concern and small wins framing, on goal commitment. At high levels of environmental concern, the effects of construal level and small wins were as hypothesized, but at low levels of environmental concern, the effects of construal level and small wins were opposite of what was expected. Additionally, both organizational efficacy and gender were found to significantly affect one’s goal commitment.

The increasing popularity of cycling activities and events, and the need to encourage cycling to reduce tourism greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, require a better understanding of the motivations of cycle tourists. Cycle tourism is one kind of green sustainable tourism. While numbers of aspects of cycle tourism have been identified in previous studies, environmental values might be one of the factors to determine cycle tourism choice. Most findings show that personal factors are the main reason of cycling activity while environmental values play merely little role in the cycle tourism. This thesis project is aimed to study the motivations of non-club recreational cycle tourists in Kalmar, Sweden and the role of environmental values as a motivation of cycle tourism behavior. Qualitative exploration method has been adopted and 13 local cycle tourists have been interviewed for the project. By applying the environmental values framework, this thesis links two main factors of environmental values to the cycle tourism behavior, that is closeness to nature and environmental concern. The findings show that environmental values are good predictor of cycle tourism behavior. The role of environmental values as a motivation of cycle tourism is improving though still not the main motivation. More explicit attention to environmental related knowledge education may inform the operationalization and promotion of local cycle tourism development. As modern people may attach importance to hedonic experience for their cycle tourism activities, further researches are needed to understand the relationship of hedonic consumption values and cycle tourism behaviors. Keywords: cycling tourism; motivation; qualitative; environmental values; closeness to nature; environmental concern

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T14:49:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1374760 bytes, checksum: 668ddae8afa6991f24f94e768321a334 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Understanding the relationship between the human being and the environment is a need present in the agenda of companies, governments, academy and consumers. Towards the sustainable development, everyone is looking for the causes and possible solutions to mitigate the environmental problems, since these might affect all of us. So, this study aimed to identify if the awareness of adverse consequences and the consumers' environmental concern contribute to the environmental conscious behaviors. These objectives were reached through the application of in-depth interviews allied with the projective technique with 33 consumers aged between 18 to 66 years old that were residents in João Pessoa city. The interpretation of the speeches through the content analysis with qualitative approach oriented by Bardin (1977) generated thematic categories and variables. These, when confronted in the light of the theoretical references, allowed the analysis of the environmental conscious behaviors and if these are oriented by selfish values (anthropocentric) or are guided by altruistic and biospheric values (ecocentric). The results showed a paradoxical consumers relationship that ranges among consuming less to preserve the environment and the planet (values oriented to our interests ) or consuming more to reach personal satisfaction in a way to maintain the own life quality, the health and the personal well-being ( my interests ). The study reveals a high concern and understanding referred to the negative consequences of the environmental degradation. However, despite of the declared intention of acting on behalf of the environment, the consumers demonstrate passivity and selfish behaviors. In this context, the consumers impute to the companies and the governments the environmental care and do not exercise their power to maintain the society s balance. From these verifications, it is necessary to make the consumers aware and to motivate them to change values and behaviors, towards this new thought related to an ecological rationality. The sustainable development can be reached by addressing the government actions together with the marketing strategies, but also counting with the consumer's active participation in this sense. / Entender as relações entre o homem e o meio ambiente é uma necessidade presente na agenda de empresas, governos, academia e consumidores. Na onda do desenvolvimento sustentável, todos buscam as causas e possíveis soluções para mitigar os problemas ambientais, já que estes acabam afetando a todos. Neste sentido, esta dissertação busca identificar se a conscientização acerca das consequências adversas e a preocupação ambiental dos consumidores contribuem para seus comportamentos ambientalmente conscientes. Estes objetivos foram alcançados por meio de entrevistas em profundidade aliadas à técnica projetiva conduzidas com 33 consumidores de idades entre 18 a 66 anos e moradores da cidade de João Pessoa. A análise qualitativa de conteúdo orientada por Bardin (1977) possibilitou interpretar as falas e gerou categorias temáticas e variáveis. Estas, confrontadas à luz das referências teóricas, permitiram analisar o comportamento ambientalmente consciente dos consumidores e verificar se são consoantes com valores egoístas (antropocêntricos) ou são orientados por valores altruístas e biosféricos (ecocêntricos). Os resultados apontam para uma relação paradoxal dos consumidores que se baseia entre consumir menos para preservar o meio ambiente e o planeta (valores voltados aos nossos interesses ) ou consumir mais para atingir satisfação pessoal e manter a própria qualidade de vida, a saúde e o bem-estar pessoal ( meus interesses ). O estudo revela alta preocupação e conscientização acerca das consequências negativas da degradação ambiental. Porém, apesar de os entrevistados declararem a intenção de agir em prol do meio ambiente, demonstram passividade e egoísmo nos comportamentos. Neste contexto, os consumidores imputam às empresas e aos governos os cuidados com o ambiente e não exercem seu poder para manter a sociedade em equilíbrio. A partir destas constatações, infere-se a necessidade de conscientizar os consumidores e incentivar a mudança de valores e comportamentos, face ao novo pensamento voltado à racionalidade ecológica. O desenvolvimento sustentável poderá ser alcançado a partir do direcionamento das ações governamentais aliadas às estratégias de marketing, mas também com a participação do consumidor mais atuante neste sentido.

ABSTRACT   Date:                                  2020-06-06   Level:                                 Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr   Institution:   School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University   Authors:         Elina Nurmi                         Julia Darnéus Ekeroth   Natasha Milner             (1993-01-08)                              (1996-07-24)                                  (1998-05-05)   Title:                                  Investigating the ‘Greenness’ of Young Consumers   Tutor:                                David Freund   Keywords:  Environmental concern, green marketing, green consumer, green scepticism, green purchase decision. Research Question: How can environmental concern, exposure to green marketing and green scepticism influence young consumers’ green purchase decisions?   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how young consumers’ green purchase decisions can be influenced by their environmental concern, exposure to green marketing and lastly, green scepticism. It will be analysed if consumers are now overexposed to green marketing, whether there is an action/awareness gap, and lastly, the number of green consumers in the sample will be established.   Method: Primary data was collected through a quantitative research method, via a self-completion online questionnaire. The chosen sample was Swedes, aged 18-30 and consisted of 140 respondents. IBM SPSS Statistics was used for the statistical tests undertaken such as Cronbach’s Alpha, Chi-square, Pearson’s correlation and Regression analysis.   Conclusion: Environmental concern and green scepticism were found to have a significant influence on the young Swedish consumers’ green purchase decision. A great deal of the sample possessed environmental concern, and it was found to influence their green purchase decision positively. The participants were not sceptical of green marketing, and green scepticism was found to significantly and negatively influence their green purchases. Finally, the young Swedes were minimally underexposed to green marketing with a slight negative, but insignificant, influence on green purchase decisions.