Environmental perceptions and pro-environmental behavior – comparing different measuring approaches

Abstract

Measuring environmental perceptions and pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) is an enduring interest in several research fields, including environmental education, marketing, policy sociology and innovation studies. A variety of tools have been developed to measure both environmental perception and PEB, challenging researchers to choose from the tools on offer. This study compares several measures, and finds that two widely used ones – the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale and the Two Major Environmental Values (2-MEV) scale – overlap, but have some significant differences. Combining the scales into a unified framework is possible, by retaining the ‘Preservation’ and ‘Utilization’ factors from 2-MEV and including an additional factor, ‘Eco-crisis’ sensitivity, which is uniquely covered by NEP. Results of analysis of PEB also suggest that the validity of Rasch model-based tools, which consider estimates of behavioral difficulties, is superior to those of widely used composite variables. Insights on other measurement issues are also discussed in order to inform researchers and future developers of measurement instruments.

Keywords:

• Environmental attitudes
• pro-environmental behavior
• self-reported measurement
• sustainability
• 2-MEV
• NEP

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to all of the university and secondary school teachers who helped me by sharing my survey with their students, and equally to the students who contributed to this study. Special thanks to Prof. O. Hajdu for the helpful and valuable discussion on some statistical topics, to G. Harrison and C. Knox for their linguistic corrections. I am immensely grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their careful reading and comments that greatly improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Ferenc Mónus is an associate professor at the University of Nyíregyháza. He lectures in behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology and sustainability education at the Institute of Environmental Sciences. Dr. Mónus conducts research in Behavioral Ecology and Educational Research, including Education for Sustainability, methods and efficacy of Environmental Education, and students’ attitudes towards environmental issues.