Engaging the public in climate change-related pro-environmental behaviors to protect coral reefs: The role of public trust in the management agency

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role that stakeholder trust in a management agency, as a source of information about climate change, plays in relationships among antecedents to climate change-related pro-environmental behavior. Data collected from a survey of Australian residents living adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park revealed that lower intensities of institutional trust were associated with a less biocentric worldview, a lower reported awareness of consequences of the impacts of climate change, and a lower sense of obligation to adopt pro-environmental behaviors. Findings suggest that managers should attempt to foster the trust their stakeholders have in their agency because when trust increases, stakeholders develop stronger relationships among the antecedents of pro-environmental behavior.

[1]  H. Klingemann,et al.  The Oxford handbook of political behavior , 2007 .

[2]  J. Sell,et al.  Understanding and Improving Attitudinal Research in Wildlife Sciences , 2006 .

[3]  Gerard T. Kyle,et al.  Understanding the internal processes of behavioral engagement in a national park: A latent variable path analysis of the value-belief-norm theory , 2014 .

[4]  Thomas Dietz,et al.  Support for Climate Change Policy: Social Psychological and Social Structural Influences* , 2007 .

[5]  G. Kyle,et al.  Study Abroad Experiences and Global Citizenship , 2012 .

[6]  Richard Rose,et al.  What Are the Political Consequences of Trust? , 2005 .

[7]  R. Eckersley,et al.  Environmentalism And Political Theory: Toward An Ecocentric Approach , 1992 .

[8]  D. Dillman.  Mail and internet surveys: The tailored design method, 2nd ed. , 2007 .

[9]  G. Kyle,et al.  Place Bonding and Trust: The Case of Feral Hog Management Surrounding Big Thicket National Preserve , 2010 .

[10]  G. Kyle,et al.  Pro-environmental Behavior in Marine Protected Areas: The Cases of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary , 2013 .

[11]  E. Weber,et al.  Public Understanding of Climate Change in the United States Scientific Understanding of Climate Change These Assess- Ments Support the following Conclusions with High Or , 2011 .

[12]  D. Bellwood,et al.  Confronting the coral reef crisis , 2004, Nature.

[13]  Mustapha Harzallah Ibtissem.  Application of Value Beliefs Norms Theory to the Energy Conservation Behaviour , 2010 .

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

[15]  L. Morton,et al.  Farmer beliefs and concerns about climate change and attitudes toward adaptation and mitigation: Evidence from Iowa , 2013, Climatic Change.

[16]  Mark E. Warren,et al.  Democracy and Trust , 1999 .

[17]  Bernard Barber,et al.  The Logic and Limits of Trust , 1983 .

[18]  Sverker C. Jagers,et al.  Should We Trust in Values? Explaining Public Support for Pro-Environmental Taxes , 2013 .

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

[20]  Steven L. Yaffee,et al.  The Wisdom of the Spotted Owl: Policy Lessons For A New Century , 1994 .

[21]  Bruce Shindler,et al.  Fuel Reduction Strategies in Forest Communities: A Longitudinal Analysis , 2003 .

[22]  Chris von Borgstede,et al.  Willingness to accept climate change strategies: The effect of values and norms , 2004 .

[23]  Russell Hardin.  Democracy and Trust: Do we want trust in government? , 1999 .

[24]  A. Curtis,et al.  Risk Perceptions, Aquaculture, and Issues of Trust: Lessons From Australia , 2006 .

[25]  Stephen G. Sutton,et al.  Recreational fishers' attitudes towards the 2004 rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park , 2009, Environmental Conservation.

[26]  Jerry J. Vaske,et al.  A Value-Attitude-Behavior Model Predicting Wildland Preservation Voting Intentions , 1999 .

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

[28]  Stephen G. Sutton,et al.  Responses and adaptation strategies of commercial and charter fishers to zoning changes in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park , 2012 .

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

[30]  W. Abrahamse,et al.  Factors influencing the acceptability of energy policies: A test of VBN theory , 2005 .

[31]  Patricia L. Winter,et al.  Anticipated responses to a fee program: the key is trust. , 1999 .

[32]  Jessica E. Leahy,et al.  Building Trust in Natural Resource Management Within Local Communities: A Case Study of the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie , 2007, Environmental management.

[33]  J. Citrin,et al.  Trust in government. , 1999 .

[34]  Timothy C. Earle,et al.  Social Trust , 1995 .

[35]  Thomas Dietz,et al.  Values, Beliefs, and Proenvironmental Action: Attitude Formation Toward Emergent Attitude Objects1 , 1995 .

[36]  A. Curtis,et al.  Do You See What I See? Rural Landholders' Belief in Climate Change , 2013 .

[37]  Stephen G. Sutton,et al.  Constraints on community engagement with Great Barrier Reef climate change reduction and mitigation , 2011 .

[38]  M. Stern.  The Power of Trust: Toward a Theory of Local Opposition to Neighboring Protected Areas , 2008 .