Acquisition of Environmental Awareness: The Interplay with Institutional Development

Abstract

Acquisition of environmental awareness is undoubtedly a necessary step towards environmental progress. However, due to the complex and interdisciplinary character of the argument, only a little literature has emerged regarding this issue. The paper contributes to fill in this lacuna and investigates the main factors responsible for the acquisition of environmental awareness from the institutional perspective. The acquisition of environmental awareness is seen as an interactive process involving institutional transformation and cognitive responses. The analysis shows that enforcement of formal rules and purposeful construction of informal rules contribute to create a favourable framework for such an acquisition. In enhancing environmental concern, a policy maker should allocate additional resources to formal rules enforcement, while informal rules should be accounted for by considering cultural backgrounds and human capital. Formation of environmental awareness through the spread of environmental education is argued to be a functional tool. The analysis leaves much space for further multidisciplinary research on environmental awareness and could serve as a starting point for the development of an empirical analysis of its determinants.

Can an environmental awareness be raised in Society? Views of a Group of University Students

“…Çevre ile ilgili yaşanan sorunlarının evrenselliği, aynı zamanda bu sorunların çözümünde çok yönlü işbirliği ve eşgüdümü de gerekli kılmaktadır (Kaypak, 2013;Smirnova, 2018). Bu kapsamda, Birleşmiş Milletler Eğitim, Bilim ve Kültür Örgütü (UNESCO), Birleşmiş Milletler Çevre Programı (UNEP), Çevre Bakanlıkları, Üniversiteler, Belediyeler ve bazı Sivil Toplum kuruluşlarında çevreye yönelik çalışmalar yürütülmektedir (Şimşekli, 2004;Smirnova, 2018). Çevre ve çevredeki kirlenme sürecine yönelik son yıllarda uluslararası alanda yapılan faaliyetlerde, çevreyi koruma konusundaki ortak bilincin oluşmaya başlamasının önemli bir gelişme olduğu belirtilmektedir (Karabıçak ve Armağan, 2004).…”

How consumers in different cultural backgrounds prefer advertising in green ads through Hofstede's cultural lens? A cross‐cultural study

“…(2018) compared the consumers in the United States and Germany in identifying vague claims and false claims in green ads, the results revealed that all consumers in Germany could detect false claims whereas only higher environmental involvement United States consumers could do the same. Other research has shown a relationship between the economic development of a country and the appeal of green ads; high‐income and upper‐middle‐income countries demonstrated a high percentage of opting for environmental, middle‐high and middle‐low income countries have converged and become higher over the period, whereas low‐income countries presented a lower percentage (Smirnova, 2018). In general advertising, emerging market consumers focus more on the functional aspects and are less receptive to product/brand intangibles presented in the ads (Zarantonello et al., 2013).…”