Heterogeneity in the preferences and pro-environmental behavior of college students: the effects of years on campus, demographics, and external factors

Abstract

Models from several social science fields have identified factors that lead to proenvironmental behavior. This research builds on those models by analyzing a survey completed by over 500 undergraduates at a US liberal arts university to examine the characteristics of students that are associated with more environmentally friendly behavior and quantify the desirability of different environmental initiatives. There is evidence that the probability of pro-environmental behavior substantially increases with each additional year that a student spends on campus. The magnitude of the effect is between 4 to 10 percentage points per year, depending on the specific behavior and empirical model. This contribution suggests that higher education impacts pro-environmental behavior and supports the notion that higher education institutions can play an important role in making societies more sustainable. Further, evidence is presented to suggest that this increase in pro-environmental behavior over one's college career is due to factors outside of the formal curriculum. This study also finds that females and ethnic/racial minorities engage in significantly higher levels of green behavior including recycling and double-sided printing. On average, students prefer sustainability initiatives related to energy conservation and recycling to other environmental programs but there is a great deal of heterogeneity in these preferences.

Designing Learning for Sustainable Development: Digital Practices as Boundary Crossers and Predictors of Sustainable Lifestyles

“…Academic factors also predicted behavioral intention (explaining 7.8% of explained variance) and sustainable lifestyle (explaining 5.7% of explained variance). This is consistent with findings by Meyer [2] that pro-environmental behavior increases with additional time spent in higher education environments.…”

“…Informal learning that occurs in formal higher learning environments may be an essential source of sustainable behavior [2]. In our model, perceived teaching methods for learning SD were examined as a possible predictor.…”

“…Meyer [2] reported a weak effect of higher education on SD behavior. Kollmuss and Agyeman [24] indicated a divide between knowledge, awareness, and behavior, and Salonen and Åhlberg [25] discussed a gap between attitudes of the importance of SD and its actual implementation.…”

Evaluating determinants of rural Villagers’ engagement in conservation and waste management behaviors based on integrated conceptual framework of Pro-environmental behavior

“…Gender and education level were often found as significant predictors of PEBs. Meyer (2016), for instance, demonstrated that individuals obtaining a higher education degree reported a higher level of engagement in PEBs. Sanchez et al (2016) demonstrated that females reported a significantly higher level of involvement in green purchasing behavior than did males.…”

Factors Influencing Public-Sphere Pro-Environmental Behavior among Mongolian College Students: A Test of Value–Belief–Norm Theory

“…In social science, the endeavors of sociologists and psychologists may be divided into two basic lines of research [4]. One of these research lines has focused on identifying the sociodemographic factors related to pro-environmental behavior, such as gender [5], age [6], place of residence [7], ethnicity [8], income [9] and education [10]. Another line has focused on the influences of social-psychological determinants, such as the influence of values, norms, attitudes, sense of control, personality and place attachment on pro-environmental behavior and has been tested over the last 40 years [11].…”