Människans konsumtionsbeteenden bidrar till växande negativ miljöpåverkan, och för att bryta utvecklingen krävs arbete på flera nivåer, däribland individnivån. Eventuellt kan massmedia bidra till sådant arbete. Denna studies syfte var att med fokus på konsumtionsbeteenden undersöka miljöbudskap i en nyhetstidnings webbpublicerade artiklar. Jag analyserade artiklarna med kvalitativ, teoretisk, tematisk analys, samt kvantitativt genom att kontrollera i hur många artiklar olika budskap identifierats. Analysens utgångspunkt var en lätt modifierad version av Sterns VBN-teori (Value Belief Norm theory), som fokuserar på attityder relevanta för miljövänligt beteende. Jag analyserade budskap i 57 artiklar som jag bedömt betonade vikten av konsumtionsrelaterade beteendeförändringar med hänvisning till miljön, och identifierade sju övergripande teman. De innefattade 14 underteman utifrån VBN-teorin och sex kategorier av beteendeuppmaningar. Jag bedömde att artiklarna som helhet i högre utsträckning innehöll budskap formulerade i linje med miljömässigt fördelaktiga attitydfaktorer än det motsatta, samt att artiklarna ofta uppmanade till konsumtionsrelaterade beteenden med förhållandevis god miljönytta vid utförande.

Reports from the IPCC have been consistent in their findings: climate change is happening and human activity is the cause. The temperature of the earth’s climate has been steadily rising since the industrial revolution, with profoundly negative consequences for the natural environment. Britain is amongst the top 10 global contributors towards climate change, producing more CO2 per capita than China, and yet little is known about the relationship the British public have with the natural environment. Drawing upon DEFRA’s 2009 Survey of Public Attitudes and Behaviours Towards the Environment, a nationally representative sample of the UK, this study aims to (1) explore environmental attitudes in the DEFRA sample; (2) identify the types of environmental concern that exist in the UK and; (3) examine how environmental concern is associated with pro-environmental behaviours. The overall goal is to develop a better understanding this attitude-behaviour relationship. The thesis has 3 main findings. First, environmental concern is formed of three environmental attitudes: (a) a cognitive appraisal of plant and animal welfare (ecocentric attitude); (b) welfare of the human race (human-centric attitude); and (c) a prioritisation of the self, alongside dismissal of environmental problems (denial).Second, members of the British public can be assigned to one of four groups based on their environmental concern: Pro-environment, Neutral, Disengaged and Paradoxical (the latter 2 groups are apathetic towards environmental issues though in different ways).Third, when examining behaviour variation across these environmental concern groups, it was found, unsurprisingly, that membership of the pro- environmental group is strongly predictive of pro-environmental behaviour. What was surprising was that pro-environmental concern predicts a variety of behaviours, both easy and challenging (i.e. easy behaviour such as recycling household waste as well more challenging behaviour such as an increase use of public transportation over driving), whereas previous studies have typically found such behaviours to be unaffected by attitudes. Membership of the Neutral group also predicts pro-environmental behaviours, although this relationship is weaker and exists for fewer measures of behaviour. Disengaged and Paradoxical forms of concern are not significant predictors of behaviour. Upon examining the effect of socio-economic status (SES) on group membership and this attitude-behaviour relationship, it was found that SES does not moderate the attitude-behaviour relationship, but it does influence group membership. Respondents with higher SES were more likely to belong to neutral or pro-environment groups. After reviewing these findings, it is concluded that environmental attitudes do clearly predict behaviour, but a large portion of the UK population do not possess environmental attitudes strong enough to do so (the Disengaged and Paradoxical groups amount to 36% of the population). Future studies should focus on these apathetic groups in an attempt to understand them, determine effective methods of engagement and identify factors that increase the probability of members transitioning out of these groups.

Det är numera konstaterat att klimatförändringar kommer förändra förutsättningarna förmänniskor på jorden. Syftet med uppsatsen är därmed att undersöka vad som motiverarpersoner att minska sina klimatutsläpp och vilka hinder de kan stöta på. Med hjälp av fyra intervjuer och nio frågeformulär har uppsatsens två forskningsfrågor kunnat besvaras då det har ställts frågor till personer som har valt att sänka sina utsläpp genom att förändra sina vanor gällande flygning, bilägande och konsumtion. Studien visade att miljöengagemang är kopplat till miljökunskaper samt att det kan utveckla förståelse för de negativa konsekvenser en högkonsumerande livsstil kan leda till. För respondenterna i studien har det lett till en känsla för både ansvar och direkt eller indirekt moralisk plikt att sänka sina växthusgasutsläpp då det har utvecklat en hög miljöhänsyn. Detta tillsammans med positiva förebilder och en positiv självbild har fungerat som motivation till en förändrad livsstil. Bristande kunskaper, kontrolluppfattning, identitet, vanor, civilstånd samt sociala och subjektiva normer har verkat som hinder och lett till att respondenternas omställning har tagit tid. Respondenterna i studien har hunnit olika långt till följd av de olika hinder de stött på under resans gång men resultatet visar att de innehar en stark intern attitydstruktur då de trots hinder inte har gett upp och istället börjat omvärdera sin syn på livskvalitet genom att ändra inställning till vad som är lycka och lyx. Det går att koppla teorierna VBN och TPB till varandra då värden, uppfattning och personliga normer formar den miljöhänsyn som inverkar på attityd, subjektiva normer och uppfattad kontroll. / It is now established that climate change will change the conditions for people on Earth. The purpose of the thesis is thus to investigate what factors motivate people to reduce their climate emissions and what obstacles they may encounter. With the help of four interviews and nine questionnaires, the essay's two research questions have been answered by asking questions to people who have chosen to reduce their emissions by changing their habits regarding flying, car ownership and consumption. The study showed that environmental commitment is linked to environmental knowledge and that it can develop an understanding of the negativec onsequences a high-consumption lifestyle can lead to. For the respondents in the study, it has led to a sense of responsibility and direct or indirect moral duty to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as it has developed a high environmental consideration. This together with positive role models and a positive self-image has served as motivation for a changed lifestyle. Lack of knowledge, control perception, identity, habits, marital status and social and subjective norms have acted as obstacles and led to the respondents' adjustments taking time. The respondents in the study have made different achievements due to the various obstacles they encountered. The results show that they have a strong internal attitude structure as despite obstacles they have not stopped trying to change and instead started to re-evaluate their view of quality of life by changing attitudes toward what is happiness and luxury. It is possible to link the theories VBN and TPB to each other as values, perceptions and personal norms shape the environmental considerations that affect attitude, subjective norms and perceived control.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to deepen the knowledge of the field of sustainability,more specifically, the current understanding of how values, beliefs, and norms influencepro-environmental behavior towards the aviation industry, within Generation Z. Background: Sustainability is now a topic of focus from governments and companies. Theaviation industry is one of the most polluting industries within the transportation sector, however,with promises to change this phenomena. Furthermore, Generation Z is now the most digitallyknowledgeable, environmentally friendly generation, which could support this change. Methodology: The Value Belief Norm model was applied in order to study the influence ofvalues, beliefs and norms on pro-environmental behavior and the impact of eco-guilt. Aself-completion questionnaire was responded by 174 French members of Generation Z, for aquantitative and deductive approach, using a PLS-SEM analysis. Findings: The research held in this thesis found that biospheric values were the only values tohave a strong positive impact on awareness of consequences, that in turn, had a strong influenceon ascription of relationship. Following this causal chain, ascription of responsibility stronglyinfluenced personal norms and the same for the latter with pro-environmental behavior. Eco-guiltwas found to have no moderator effect between personal norms and pro-environmental behavior. Value: This thesis demonstrates how physiological characteristics can influencepro-environmental behavior, creating scientific and practical knowledge on a field of increasedimportance (sustainability), within a generation which has not yet been studied in detail(Generation Z) and in a context of substantial environmental damage (aviation industry).

Determinants influencing consumer eco-innovation adoption and green curtailment behaviors in a travel context are at the center of this thesis. Previous research on green consumer behavior has uncovered that internalized personal attitudinal factors such as values, beliefs, and norms are influential in determining mainly non-consumption and post-purchase behaviors. This thesis extends the understanding of a moral basis of green consumer behavior by exploring the influences of attitudinal factors on both car curtailment behaviors, and on consumer adoption of a high involvement eco-innovation – the alternative fuel vehicle. The integrated influences of innovation specific characteristics, car habits, knowledge and social norms, are also examined. Furthermore, differences between AFV adopters and non-adopters are explored, and the notion of consumers performing purchase and curtailment behaviors for different reasons is utilized in the development of nuanced profiles of three distinct consumer groups. Four studies, which build on two quantitative data collections on adopters and non-adopters of AFVs in Swe­den, are included in this thesis. In the first study, similarities and differences among adopters and non-adopters of AFVs, and the effects of attitudinal factors (values, beliefs, and norms), knowledge, and sociodemo­graphics on the adoption decision are analyzed. The results show that knowledge and personal norms are strong predictors of AFV adoption and that the VBN theory is applicable in this context. The main implication from the study is that high-involvement green purchase deci­sions, such as eco-innovation adoption, can be viewed as morally based. In the second study, a set of determinants influencing both curtailment of car use and willing­ness to adopt a less environmentally harmful vehicle are analyzed. Biospheric values, per­sonal proenvironmental norms, and car habit strength are found to influence both types of behaviors in different ways. The main implication from this study is that green purchase deci­sions and curtailment behaviors within a specific context are determined by partly different factors but personal norm is a strong predictor of both types of behaviors. The third study extends the findings from the previous one in segmenting consumers on cur­tailment behaviors and proenvironmental purchases. Three distinct types of consumers emerge from the data. The Non-greens are found to exhibit the lowest levels of green attitudes and behaviors, and the strongest car habits. The Curtailers are distinguished by performing primar­ily reductionist behaviors, and by being the most willing to reduce negative environ­mental impact of car use. The Ecovators are found to be the most inclined to purchase eco-innovations and also display the greenest values. The study shows that green consumers are a heterogeneous group that can be separated on the basis of green curtailment behaviors and proenvironmental purchase decisions, and that there seems to be no inherent contradiction in being an early adopter of new green technology (such as the AFV) and also having high levels of proenviron­mental values, beliefs, and norms. In the final study, innovation specific characteristics and consumer innovativeness factors are integrated with normative and attitudinal determinants influencing AFV adoption. The results show that personal and social norms, consumer novelty seeking, and four perceived innovation characteristics influence the adoption decision. Differences between AFV adopters’ and non-adopters’ ratings of AFV specific attributes are also analyzed. The contribution of this study is the integration of VBN theory and the DOI framework and the empirical conclusion that eco-innovations need to deliver on both traditional and proenvironmental attributes in order to be perceived as attractive by consumers. In sum, this thesis demonstrates the importance of proenvironmental personal norms for consumer adoption of a high involvement eco-innovation such as the AFV.

No description available.

Last chance tourism (LCT) is defined as an endangered place due to climate change which creates motivations for tourists to travel to these places before they vanish. These trips also involve interaction with and observation of rare species that is about to disappear due to climate change. By integrating the Value-Belief-Norm and cognitive dissonance theory models, the main purpose of this research was to investigate psychological antecedents of engaging in LCT in higher educational institutions in Sweden. A survey was administered to 234 academics on seven universities in Sweden consisting of items measuring beliefs, pro-environmental personal norms, cognitive dissonance, and intentions to engage in Last Chance Tourism. The data was later analyzed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation (PLS-SEM) approach. The results revealed a significant impact of cognitive dissonance on intentions to engage in LCT. These findings are important since they support the advantage of using cognitive dissonance theory within the context of LCT. The implications will hopefully spark an interest among academics to develop a sustainable tourism rescue plan and transfer this knowledge to a younger generation. For practitioners, this could be food for fought for organizations that are operating within the field of LCT.

With billions of sports fans all over the globe, athletes have a considerable platform to advocate for the environment and catalyse behaviour change. The purpose of this paper was to explore the role of leadership in athlete environmental activism. Furthermore, this study aimed to add to the existing literature on pro-environmental behaviour change by investigating the interventions performed by nature-based athletes when encouraging their fans to adopt pro-environmental behaviours. In this paper, a qualitative research design was employed and semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten individuals who were identified as fans of nature-based athletes. The collected data was analysed using deductive thematic analysis, based on the leadership theory of Charismatic Leadership (CL) and the pro-environmental behaviour change theory of Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory. The results indicated that all but one of the Charismatic Leadership Behaviours described in theory were performed by nature-based athletes, the exception being “setting goals with moral overtones.” Moreover, the study deduced that all VBN Interventions detailed in the academic literature were made by nature-based athletes when encouraging pro-environmental behaviour. The analysis process also revealed two additional findings: nature-based athletes mainly communicate their activism through social media and nature-based athletes’ fans want their favoured athletes to incorporate pushing for systemic change in their activism, in addition to encouraging individual behaviour change. Finally, a model was proposed that synthesises the theories of CL Behaviours and VBN Interventions, based on the findings of this study. This study contributes to the literature on pro-environmental behaviour change under the VBN framework and Charismatic Leadership. Additionally, this paper explores the role of leadership in athlete activism and athlete environmental activism, two topics which have not been extensively researched.

No description available.