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ContextPest species are a widespread environmental and biodiversity threat and understanding people’s attitudes towards managing pests is critical for nature conservation. Attitudes towards pest species and their management are often contextually dependent on the species and location, and no domain-free measure is currently available. This prevents straightforward comparisons of studies and generalisation of attitudes towards pest species globally. AimUndertake initial psychometric tests of a unidimensional pest-management attitude (PMA) scale in three community samples from the two largest cities of New Zealand. The PMA scale comprises statements intentionally absent of specific reference to pest species or pest-management methods, and avoids terminology that has the potential to become outdated, as a result of evolving management methods and technology or the emergence of new pests. This broad focus aims to enable the ongoing use of the scale, within differing geographical contexts. MethodTwo studies tested the psychometric properties of the PMA scale. Tests comprise assessing the scales dimensionality through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and measurement equivalence across samples. Internal consistency was tested through Cronbach’s α, and demographic and context-specific measures were used to validate the scale using correlation measures. ResultsExploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the nine-item, one-factor model of the PMA scale in Study 1 (n=1190). Measurement and structural invariance of the one-factor model was confirmed across two distinct samples in Study 2 (n=739 and 705). Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alphas=0.73 to 0.81) and criterion-related validity of the PMA scale was supported in both studies, with greater PMA scores being associated with membership of a conservation or environmental organisation, active participation in conservation over the past 12 months, active actions for pest control, and not owning a pet. ConclusionsResults demonstrated high construct and criterion validity of the PMA scale, which might have powerful global utility as a context-independent measure of attitudes to pest species and their management. ImplicationsThrough generalising the social components of pest management, regardless of target species or method, there is potential to unify global studies in pest management.

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Predator Free 2050 (PF2050) was launched in 2016 with the aim of ridding New Zealand of the most damaging introduced predators—possums, rats, and mustelids (stoats, ferrets, weasels)—by 2050. However, it’s overarching goal is more inclusive than predator eradication alone. Indeed, it has been acknowledged that, to achieve PF2050, it will be vital to have national collaboration across multiple agencies, organisations, iwi, communities, and individuals (Department of Conservation, 2020a, 2020b). To be able to work well with individuals and communities, however, it is important to understand the human dimensions of biodiversity conservation and related methods (i.e., pest control and predator eradication). The aim of the following report is to provide a ‘snapshot’ of research on or related to the human dimensions of PF2050 to aid subsequent research scoping and allow for more targeted research prioritisation. It does this by presenting an overview of the social science research to date, including some mātauranga Māori works, on topics that could be of relevance to the programme.

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