Self-perceived action competence for sustainability: the theoretical grounding and empirical validation of a novel research instrument

Figures & data

Figure 1. Theoretical model of the self-perceived action competence for sustainability (SPACS) concept with its sub-constructs knowledge of action possibilities (KAP), confidence in one’s own influence (COI) and willingness to act (WTA).

Table 1. The items and sub-scales of the self-perceived action competence for sustainability questionnaire, SPACS-Q.

Sub scale/Item
Knowledge of action possibilities
1	I can see different points of view on issues when people think differently.
2	I know how one should take action at school in order to contribute to sustainable development.
3	I know how one should take action at home in order to contribute to sustainable development.
4	I know how one should take action together with others in order to contribute to sustainable societal development.
Confidence in onés own influence
5	I believe I can influence global sustainable development through my actions.
6	I believe I can influence sustainable development in my community.
7	I believe I have good opportunities to participate in influencing our shared future.
8	I believe what each person does matters for sustainable development.
Willingness to act
9	I want to take action for sustainable development in my community.
10	I want to take action for global sustainable development.
11	I want to engage in changing society towards sustainable development.
12	I want schoolwork to be about how we can shape a sustainable future together.

Table 2. Number of participants and girl:boy ratio.

Grade	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Number of students	85	98	106	95	96	78	56	614
Sexratio	0.95	0.71	1.02	1.16	0.86	0.39	0.61	0.81

Table 4. Descriptive statistics for the SPACS-Q items.

Dimensions and items in the SPACS-Q		Likert scale answers					Estimates
		1	2	3	4	5	M	SD	Factor weight
KAP : Knowledge of Action Possibilities							3.80	0.84
1	I can see different points of view on issues when people think differently.	4.7%	3.7%	24.1%	30.3%	37.1%	3.91	1.09	0.685
2	I know how one should take action at school in order to contribute to sustainable development.	6.2%	8.1%	29.6%	32.7%	23.3%	3.59	1.12	0.783
3	I know how one should take action at home in order to contribute to sustainable development.	3.9%	3.4%	20.7%	37.6%	34.4%	3.95	1.02	0.826
4	I know how one should take action together with others in order to contribute to sustainable societal development.	4.1%	6.0%	28.8%	34.2%	26.9%	3.74	1.05	0.827
COI : Confidence in Own Influence							3.65	1.01
”I believe …”
5	… I can influence global sustainable development through my actions.	10.6%	8.3%	27.5%	26.2%	27.4%	3.51	1.27	0.867
6	… I can influence sustainable development in my community.	8.0%	8.3%	29.5%	27.0%	27.2%	3.57	1.20	0.891
7	… I have good opportunities to participate in influencing our shared future.	8.8%	9.9%	31.1%	24.4%	25.7%	3.48	1.22	0.797
8	… what each person does matters for sustainable development.	4.9%	3.6%	22.0%	22.0%	47.6%	4.04	1.13	0.754
WTA : Willingsness To Act							3.54	1.02
”I want …”
9	… to take action for sustainable development in my community.	7.3%	8.5%	30.3%	25.2%	28.7%	3.59	1.20	0.883
10	… to take action for global sustainable development.	6.4%	6.0%	27.2%	28.7%	31.8%	3.73	1.16	0.917
11	… to engage in changing society towards sustainable development.	8.3%	11.4%	33.4%	23.5%	23.5%	3.42	1.20	0.802
12	… schoolwork to be about how we can shape a sustainable future together.	10.4%	10.1%	31.6%	22.3%	25.6%	3.43	1.26	0.770

Figure 2. The factor structure of the self-perceived action competence for sustainability (SPACS). KAP = knowledge of action possibilities, COI = confidence in one’s own influence and WTA = willingness to act.

Table 3. Cronbach's α for the SPACS-Q and the SCQ-S and its sub-scales.

Scale	SPACS-Q				SCQ-S
	SPACS	KAP	COI	WTA	SC	K	A	B
Items	12	4	4	4	27	9	9	9
Cronbach’s α	.90	.80	.86	.87	.87	.82	.82	.78

Table 5. Pearson's correlations (r) between the SPACS-Q and the SCQ-S

	KAP	COI	WTA	SPACS-Q	K	A	B	SCQ-S
KAP	1	.485*	.495*	.763*	.391*	.399*	.510*	.539*
COI		1	.656*	.867*	.380*	.435*	.501*	.521*
WTA			1	.872*	.450*	.486*	.585*	.611*
SPACS-Q				1	.489*	.529*	.636*	.666*
K					1	.610*	.444*	.833*
A						1	.398*	.807*
B							1	.796*
SCQ-S								1

Note: *Pearson’s correlation (r) is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). The correlations between the two instruments and its subscales are marked in grey.