Sustainability Beliefs: Proposition and Statistical Validation of a Data Collection Instrument

The concept of sustainability beliefs has not been sufficiently researched even in the academic literature and, thus, validated scales to measure this construct have not been observed. In this perspective, the aim of this article is to develop and validate a scale of sustainability beliefs, considering students of the business area. In order to do so, the following research steps were defined: (i) the definition of the object; (ii) the generation of measurement items; (iii) the development and refinement of the scale through exploratory factor analysis; and (iv) the completion of the scale through confirmatory factor analysis. Interviews were conducted for generation of measurement items, 211 valid questionnaires were applied for exploratory factor analysis, and 140 valid questionnaires for confirmatory factor analysis. The final scale had 17 indicators divided into five dimensions, namely: Human Beings and the Planet; Equilibrium of the Planet; Resources Degradation; Environmental Strategies; and Resources Minimization Strategies. This scale has statistical reliability and validity.

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