No abstract

Are individuals able to self-assess the environmental impact of their behavior? To answer this question, we first analyze the different behavioral determinants of the ecological footprint (EF), an often used measure of an individual’s environmental impact. Second, we compare the individuals’ EF with self-assessments of their own environmental impact (self-assessed environmental sustainability [SAES]). We use survey data from Belgium and find that people are largely unaware of the environmental impact they have, as the correlation between the EF and the SAES is small. Finally, we find that SAES reflects, to a large extent, individuals’ attitudes toward the environment, whereas the EF is mainly explained by sociodemographic characteristics.

Since the beginning of 2020, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to change our lifestyles (e.g., restrictions on transport or travelling and forced telework). This has also changed the environmental impact of our lifestyles. To quantify that impact, we used surveys to calculate the Ecological Footprint (EF) and environmental concern of Belgian respondents in 2021 and compared this to the EF-situation in 2017, before COVID-19. We observed that the EF became significantly lower during the COVID-19 crisis. Of course, this change in behaviour is the result of compulsory measures. Therefore, we asked about people’s willingness to reduce the EF permanently, particularly after COVID-19 and on a voluntary basis. We observed that, in 2021, respondents had a strong desire to return to a pre-COVID-19 lifestyle and that they are even less concerned about the environment than they were in the period before COVID-19. Moreover, these results hold after taking into account the effect of different explanatory variables in a multivariate analysis. As a general conclusion, there is little or no evidence that COVID-19 will fundamentally change the environmental impact of our behaviour or our environmental concern if there is no associated public intervention. There is a need for policies that make use of the potential created by COVID-19 (e.g., stimulate working from home and increased cycling).

Human activities are a key driver of many environmental problems the world is facing today, including climate change, the disruption of biogeochemical cycles, and biodiversity loss. Behavioural changes at the individual and household level are needed to reduce humanity’s environmental impact, but people also need the capacity to behave in a sustainable way. If their well-being is negatively impacted or if behaving sustainably is too time consuming or too expensive, people might be less inclined to change their behaviour. In this article, we look at the determinants of different types of pro-environmental behaviour and how these are associated with their experienced levels of well-being. More specifically, we focus on the determinants of behaviours that influence both the ecological footprint (EF) and satisfaction with life. In our analysis we include socio-demographic characteristics and a number of psychological antecedents of pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). The data we use was collected in Flanders (Belgium) and allows us to calculate the EF of each respondent individually. Our main conclusions are threefold. First, even if individuals are provided with opportunities to behave in a more sustainable way, they do not always do so (e.g., richer people on average have a higher EF). Efforts could be put in place at the collective side (e.g., public infrastructure) to stimulate people to reduce their environmental impact. Second, as we distinguish seven EF components, we are able to show differential effects of each of the determinants. Third, the association between PEB and satisfaction with life is not strong: only the type of housing is significantly associated with satisfaction with life. Related to that, the psychological antecedents of PEB are only associated with the EF, not with satisfaction with life.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of the quality of the first job in Flanders (Belgium). The authors differentiate between circumstances on the one hand – individual characteristics beyond the control of the individuals such as gender or the unemployment rate at labour market entry – and efforts on the other hand – characteristics that are at least partly under the individuals’ control such as their educational attainment or labour motivation. The authors specifically take into account the fact that the former might influence the latter. A better understanding of the effects of these determinants can help to formulate (labour market) policy proposals (to ameliorate the school-to-work transition) that are responsibility-sensitive. The authors use the distance function to construct a one-dimensional measure of job quality – based on a list of job characteristics – and explain the variation in job quality in terms of circumstances and efforts. The empirical analysis is based on the 1978 birth cohort of the Flemish SONAR data. The results show that the quality of the first job is to a large extent depending on personal efforts and that circumstances have a considerable influence on the efforts. For this reason circumstances influence job quality twice. This is especially the case for gender and for the educational attainment of the individual’s mother. The labour market situation at labour market entry also plays a considerable role. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use the distance function to construct a one-dimensional measure of job quality – based on a list of job characteristics – and explain the variation in job quality in terms of circumstances and efforts. The empirical analysis is based on the 1978 birth cohort of the Flemish SONAR data. Findings – The results show that circumstances have a considerable influence on the efforts and for this reason circumstances influence job quality twice. This is especially the case for gender and for the educational attainment of the individual’s mother. The labour market situation at labour market entry also plays a considerable role. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, it analyses the quality of the first job individuals get after leaving school and uses an equality of opportunity framework. This approach differs from an approach based on search duration or job satisfaction. Second, job quality is evaluated in a multidimensional way using the distance function. Third, the relation between job quality and circumstances – issues for which the individual is not responsible – and efforts – issues for which the individual is at least partly responsible – is investigated. The authors specifically take into account the fact that circumstances might influence efforts and investigate the consequences for labour market policy.