TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors in a Chilean community
AU - Bronfman, Nicolás C.
AU - Cisternas, Pamela C.
AU - López-Vázquez, Esperanza
AU - De la Maza, Cristóbal
AU - Oyanedel, Juan Carlos
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 by the authors.
Copyright:
Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Environmental protection and restoration are some of the major challenges faced by our society. To address this problem, it is fundamental to understand pro-environmental behaviors in the population, as well as the factors that determine them. There are, however, very few studies conducted in Latin America that are focused in understanding the environmental behavior of its citizens. The main goal of this research was to study the environmental behaviors of a Chilean community and identify the factors that determine them. To that end, a diverse set of environmental behaviors (power and water conservation, environmentally-aware consumer behavior, biodiversity protection, rational automobile use and ecological waste management) and sociodemographic and attitudinal factors-based on the VBN model-were evaluated. Survey data was obtained from a statistically representative sample (N = 1537) in Santiago, Chile. Our results suggest that several participants displayed tendencies that favor more responsible environmental behaviors, with high environmental concern, and demonstrating their ample awareness of the consequences of failing to protect the environment. Nevertheless, the highest average scores of environmental behavior were related to low cost behaviors and those that imposed the fewest behavioral restrictions. In global terms, we concluded that the youngest subjects in the lowest socioeconomic group obtained the lowest scores across the pro-environmental behavior spectrum.
AB - Environmental protection and restoration are some of the major challenges faced by our society. To address this problem, it is fundamental to understand pro-environmental behaviors in the population, as well as the factors that determine them. There are, however, very few studies conducted in Latin America that are focused in understanding the environmental behavior of its citizens. The main goal of this research was to study the environmental behaviors of a Chilean community and identify the factors that determine them. To that end, a diverse set of environmental behaviors (power and water conservation, environmentally-aware consumer behavior, biodiversity protection, rational automobile use and ecological waste management) and sociodemographic and attitudinal factors-based on the VBN model-were evaluated. Survey data was obtained from a statistically representative sample (N = 1537) in Santiago, Chile. Our results suggest that several participants displayed tendencies that favor more responsible environmental behaviors, with high environmental concern, and demonstrating their ample awareness of the consequences of failing to protect the environment. Nevertheless, the highest average scores of environmental behavior were related to low cost behaviors and those that imposed the fewest behavioral restrictions. In global terms, we concluded that the youngest subjects in the lowest socioeconomic group obtained the lowest scores across the pro-environmental behavior spectrum.
KW - Environmental behavior
KW - Environmental management
KW - Pro-environmental behavior
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949294286&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/su71014133
DO - 10.3390/su71014133
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84949294286
VL - 7
SP - 14133
EP - 14152
JO - Sustainability
JF - Sustainability
SN - 2071-1050
IS - 10
ER -