On the predictors of pro-environmental behaviors: integrating personal values and the 2-MEV among secondary school students in Tanzania
Loading...
Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
The role of personal values in understanding pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors has received considerable
attention from psychological researchers. However, little is known about the mutual interaction of personal values
and the Theory of Ecological Attitudes (2-MEV) in explaining pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). To explore the
mediating factors with which pro-environmental behaviors are explained via environmental attitudes and personal
values, this article reports the study findings from secondary school students. Specifically, the article indicates
the extent to which a unified model of personal values and the Theory of Ecological Attitudes (2-MEV)
explain self-reported PEBs. The cross-cultural validity of the 2-MEV for measuring environmental attitudes (EA)
among the selected respondents is as well investigated. A cross-sectional survey of 408 secondary school students
was used for data collection. As expected, principal component analysis with a varimax rotation confirmed the
two-factor structure of the 2-MEV measuring EA with two uncorrelated factors of Preservation and Utilization.
Interestingly, multiple regression analyses indicated that a combined model of personal values and the 2-MEV
provides a more explained variance of self-reported PEBs compared to when any of the two predicators is used
independently. Overall, altruistic value provides the largest predictive power over egoistic and biospheric values
in mediating EA. In turn, the general model that includes personal values and the 2-MEV indicates that Preservation
makes the largest and unique contribution in explaining recycling, biodiversity protection, environmental
activism, and general PEBs. Conversely, the Utilization factor provides the largest negative explained variance for
management of environmental pollution behavior. These findings remain unaltered even when the age of respondents
and social desirability responding are statistically controlled. The implications regarding these study
findings are discussed.
Description
Full text article. Also available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09064
Keywords
Environmental attitudes, Pro-environmental behaviors, Secondary school students, Tanzania, Personal values, Major Environmental Values, Psychological researchers, Two-major environmental values (2-MEV)
Citation
Nkaizirwa, J. P., Nsanganwimana, F., & Aurah, C. M. (2022). On the predictors of pro-environmental behaviors: integrating personal values and the 2-MEV among secondary school students in Tanzania. Heliyon, 8(3), e09064.