Roles of Environmental System Knowledge in Promoting University Students’ Environmental Attitudes and Pro-Environmental Behaviors

This study aims to investigate the role of environmental system knowledge in promoting pro-environmental behaviors. Relationships between environmental knowledge and environmental attitudes as well as environmental knowledge and pro-environmental behaviors were analyzed. Environmental system knowledge includes knowledge of political ecology, sustainable development, environment and ecology, and environmental situations. This study included 128 students enrolling in the elective course entitled “Environment and Development” provided by the King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok city of Thailand and 150 students who were not participating in this course. The results revealed that environmental attitudes of students participating in the course was significantly higher than that of students not attending the course. Only knowledge of the environment and ecology highly correlated with environmental attitudes; on the other hand, diverse environmental knowledge significantly correlated with pro-environmental behaviors. The result also demonstrated that indirect impact environmental behaviors reported by both groups were statistically different, but there was no significant difference in direct impact environmental behaviors. This study suggested that environmental knowledge provided through a formal education could promote environmental attitudes, but it may not contribute to students’ engagement in direct impact environmental behaviors.

[1]  C. Vlek,et al.  Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour : An integrative review and research agenda , 2009 .

[2]  A. Simintiras,et al.  The impact of green product lines on the environment , 1995 .

[3]  Debra A. Laverie,et al.  Differential Effects of Experience, Subjective Knowledge, and Objective Knowledge on Sources of Information used in Consumer Wine Purchasing , 2005 .

[4]  Rodrigo Lozano,et al.  Incorporation and institutionalization of SD into universities: breaking through barriers to change , 2006 .

[5]  Sonja M. Geiger,et al.  Environment-Specific vs. General Knowledge and Their Role in Pro-environmental Behavior , 2019, Front. Psychol..

[6]  Peter A. Witt,et al.  The impact of direct and indirect experiences on the development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior , 2010 .

[7]  Chenyang Xiao,et al.  Gender differences in environmental behaviors in China , 2010 .

[8]  Emilio Moyano Díaz,et al.  Environmental attitudes and behaviors of college students: a case study conducted at a chilean university Actitudes y comportamientos ambientales de estudiantes universitarios: estudio de caso de una universidad chilena , 2014 .

[9]  Gladman Thondhlana,et al.  Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: Energy use and recycling at Rhodes University, South Africa , 2016 .

[10]  C. Boesch,et al.  Environmental Education in Côte d'Ivoire/West Africa: Extra-Curricular Primary School Teaching Shows Positive Impact on Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes , 2014 .

[11]  A. McCright,et al.  A Test of the Biographical Availability Argument for Gender Differences in Environmental Behaviors , 2014 .

[12]  Sirpa Kärkkäinen,et al.  Examining the Relationships between Factors Influencing Environmental Behaviour among University Students , 2018, Sustainability.

[13]  D. Oğuz,et al.  Environmental awareness of University Students in Ankara, Turkey , 2010 .

[14]  Michael Jay Polonsky,et al.  The impact of general and carbon-related environmental knowledge on attitudes and behaviour of US consumers , 2012 .

[15]  N. Zhang,et al.  Media Use and Environmental Engagement: Examining Differential Gains from News Media and Social Media , 2018 .

[16]  C. Ford,et al.  The Environmental Benefits of Organic Wine: Exploring Consumer Willingness-to-Pay Premiums? , 2015 .

[17]  T. Heberlein,et al.  Navigating Environmental Attitudes , 2012, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[18]  Ajay S. Singh,et al.  Is sustainability knowledge half the battle? An examination of sustainability knowledge, attitudes, norms, and efficacy to understand sustainable behaviours. , 2016 .

[19]  Siegmar Otto,et al.  Human-Environment System Knowledge: A Correlate of Pro-Environmental Behavior , 2015 .

[20]  Shaul Oreg,et al.  Predicting Proenvironmental Behavior Cross-Nationally , 2006 .

[21]  M. Laroche,et al.  Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products , 2001 .

[22]  N. Orion,et al.  Environmental literacy components and their promotion by institutions of higher education: an Israeli case study , 2015 .

[23]  Florian G. Kaiser,et al.  Responsibility as a predictor of ecological behaviour , 1999 .

[24]  Sonja M. Geiger,et al.  The Role of Environmental Knowledge and Attitude : Predictors for Ecological Behavior Across Cultures ? An Analysis of Argentinean and German Students 1 , 2018 .

[25]  Damianus - Abun,et al.  Measuring Environmental Attitude and Environmental Behavior of Senior High School Students of Divine Word Colleges in Region I, Philippines , 2017, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[26]  W. Poortinga,et al.  Values, Environmental Concern, and Environmental Behavior , 2004 .

[27]  Kelly S. Fielding,et al.  Determinants of young Australians’ environmental actions: the role of responsibility attributions, locus of control, knowledge and attitudes , 2012 .

[28]  Bradley Flamm,et al.  The impacts of environmental knowledge and attitudes on vehicle ownership and use , 2009 .

[29]  S. Bamberg,et al.  Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: A new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behaviour , 2007 .

[30]  Gunnar Grendstad,et al.  Correlates of Environmental Behaviors , 2001 .

[31]  A. Reid,et al.  Student teachers' learning about subject matter and pedagogy in education for sustainable development , 2007 .

[32]  A. Paço,et al.  Environmental knowledge and attitudes and behaviours towards energy consumption. , 2017, Journal of environmental management.

[33]  Rudolf R. Sinkovics,et al.  Can socio-demographics still play a role in profiling green consumers? A review of the evidence and an empirical investigation , 2003 .

[34]  E. Ostrom,et al.  The Struggle to Govern the Commons , 2003, Science.

[35]  Ágnes Zsóka,et al.  Greening due to environmental education? Environmental knowledge, attitudes, consumer behavior and everyday pro-environmental activities of Hungarian high school and university students , 2013 .

[36]  Carl Folke,et al.  Navigating social-ecological systems , 2006 .

[37]  F. Bogner,et al.  Educational impact on the relationship of environmental knowledge and attitudes , 2018 .

[38]  J. M. Hines,et al.  Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible environmental behavior: A meta-analysis. , 1987 .

[39]  Thomas A. Arcury,et al.  Environmental Attitude and Environmental Knowledge , 1990 .

[40]  L. Steg,et al.  An Integrated Framework for Encouraging Pro-environmental Behaviour: The role of values, situational factors and goals , 2014 .

[41]  Jon Hutton,et al.  People, Parks and Poverty: Political Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation , 2007 .

[42]  John Thøgersen,et al.  Media attention and the market for 'green' consumer products , 2006 .

[43]  Abdul Samad Hadi,et al.  Relationship Between Awareness, Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Environmental Education Among Secondary School Students in Malaysia , 2013 .

[44]  F. Bartiaux.  Does environmental information overcome practice compartmentalisation and change consumers' behaviours? , 2008 .

[45]  Rozzet Jurdi-Hage,et al.  Cognitive and behavioural environmental concern among university students in a Canadian city: Implications for institutional interventions , 2019, Australian Journal of Environmental Education.

[46]  Gene L. Theodori,et al.  Position on Environmental Issues and Engagement in Proenvironmental Behaviors , 2002 .

[47]  T. M. Waliczek,et al.  Relationship Between Environmental Knowledge and Environmental Attitude of High School Students , 1999 .

[48]  T. Ghosh,et al.  Global Environmental Problems , 2009 .

[49]  The Influence of Environmental Cognition on Pro-environmental Behavior: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Distance , 2018 .

[50]  V. Jauhari,et al.  Exploring consumer attitude and behaviour towards green practices in the lodging industry in India , 2007 .

[51]  A. Kollmuss,et al.  Mind the Gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? , 2002 .

[52]  Mohamed M. Mostafa,et al.  A hierarchical analysis of the green consciousness of the Egyptian consumer , 2007 .

[53]  C. Klöckner.  A comprehensive model of the psychology of environmental behaviour—A meta-analysis , 2013 .

[54]  J. Ryan,et al.  Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory , 2001 .

[55]  Mark Wilson,et al.  Environmental knowledge and conservation behavior : exploring prevalence and structure in a representative sample , 2004 .

[56]  C. Siwar,et al.  Integrating General Environmental Knowledge and Eco-Label Knowledge in Understanding Ecologically Conscious Consumer Behavior☆ , 2016 .

[57]  G. Fryxell,et al.  The Influence of Environmental Knowledge and Values on Managerial Behaviours on Behalf of the Environment: An Empirical Examination of Managers in China , 2003 .

[58]  R. Dunlap,et al.  Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale , 2000 .

[59]  Matthew J. Kotchen,et al.  Random effects analysis , 2003 .

[60]  Mark C. Mifsud.  An Investigation on the Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavior of Maltese Youth. , 2011 .

[61]  B. Thapa,et al.  Influence of Environmental Knowledge on Affect, Nature Affiliation and Pro-Environmental Behaviors among Tourists , 2018, Sustainability.

[62]  J. Michel,et al.  Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors in Higher Education: Investigating the Role of Formal and Informal Factors , 2018 .

[63]  Troy D. Abel,et al.  A Value-Belief-Norm Theory of Support for Social Movements: The Case of Environmentalism , 1999 .

[64]  P. Ellen.  Do we know what we need to know? Objective and subjective knowledge effects on pro-ecological behaviors , 1994 .

[65]  I. Vermeir,et al.  Sustainable Food Consumption: Exploring the Consumer “Attitude – Behavioral Intention” Gap , 2006 .

[66]  Nelson A. Barber,et al.  Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes: Influencing the Purchase Decisions of Wine Consumers , 2009 .

[67]  Sverker C. Jagers,et al.  Why do people accept environmental policies? The prospects of higher education and changes in norms, beliefs and policy preferences , 2018 .

[68]  F. Kaiser,et al.  Ecological behavior's dependency on different forms of knowledge , 2003 .

[69]  Rosanne W. Fortner,et al.  The Environmental Action Internal Control Index , 1994 .

[70]  Roy Ballantyne,et al.  Promoting environmentally sustainable attitudes and behaviour through free‐choice learning experiences: what is the state of the game? , 2005 .

[71]  P. Stern.  New Environmental Theories: Toward a Coherent Theory of Environmentally Significant Behavior , 2000 .

[72]  Kirsten Gram-Hanssen,et al.  Standby Consumption in Households Analyzed With a Practice Theory Approach , 2009 .

[73]  Senar Temel,et al.  Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours towards the Environmental Issues: Case of Northern Cyprus , 2017 .

[74]  M. Vicente-Molina,et al.  Environmental knowledge and other variables affecting pro-environmental behaviour: comparison of university students from emerging and advanced countries , 2013 .

[75]  P. Stern,et al.  Social Structural and Social Psychological Bases of Environmental Concern , 1998 .