Place-Based Pathways to Proenvironmental Behavior: Empirical Evidence for a Conservation–Recreation Model

ABSTRACT

This study expands existing models of proenvironmental behavior (PEB) to examine the potentially important and interacting influences of nature-based recreation and sense of place on participation in conservation-oriented activities. We tested hypothesized relationships using a structural equation modeling approach that accounted for common behavioral antecedents within a sample of 1,124 nature-based recreationists and property owners in rural counties of New York, USA. We found that place attachment played an important role in strengthening connections between nature-based recreation and PEB. Birdwatching and hunting participation contributed independently and significantly to PEB, both directly and indirectly through effects on place meanings and place attachment. While birdwatching appeared to influence place attachment by impacting environmental place meanings, hunting exerted similar effects by affecting sociocultural place meanings. Ultimately, our synthesis results in the articulation of a comprehensive conservation–recreation model that could help researchers and practitioners identify and explore novel pathways to PEB.

KEYWORDS:

• Birdwatching
• conservation behavior
• hunting
• place attachment
• place meanings

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of a study advisory team composed of representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch project #147-7477. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) or the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).