An integrative model of public sphere environmental behaviors: The association between motivational and socio-political factors

Abstract

Citizens’ active engagement in public sphere environmental behaviors (e.g., environmental policy support and environmental activism) can drive sustainable policy development and implementation. This study aims to assess how motivational and socio-political factors predict the public sphere environmental behaviors, and to evaluate how motivational factors (e.g., norms, attitude, and environmental concerns) and socio-political factors (e.g., social and institutional trust) are associated. The target population is well-educated people living in Bangkok city of Thailand as their active participation in the behaviors can powerfully encourage other entities or organizations to act environmentally. Questionnaire surveys were conducted with 540 well-educated residents living in Bangkok city. First, model measurement was assessed via confirmatory factor analysis; subsequently, a path analysis was performed to test causal associations among the variables predicting public-sphere environmental behaviors. The results revealed that social and institutional trust were significantly associated with a motivational factor (the attitude toward public sphere environmental behaviors) and the attitude could subsequently predict the behaviors. There were also significant associations between motivational factors, and these associations had a significant power to explain public sphere environmental behaviors. Both social norms and personal norms were significantly associated with the attitude. Social norms could also significantly predict the behaviors, but personal norms could not. Personal norms had only an indirect influence on the behaviors via the attitude. Moreover, local environmental concerns were a weak predictor as they had only a significant indirect influence on the behaviors via the attitude. Global environmental concerns could directly and indirectly predict the behaviors. Thus, educating the public with global environmental issues and promoting the attitude and social norms could be powerful in promoting public sphere environmental behaviors. To promote a positive attitude towards the behaviors, both institutional and social trust could play an important role.