The relative importance of pro-environmental self-efficacy on pro-environmental intention and behaviour and the moderating role of materialism
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2022-06-02
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en
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Global environmental change has become one of humanity’s most worrying, crucial, and significant challenges. There is a growing need for PEB that can help reduce these worrying circumstances, which are highly influenced by psychological factors such as self-efficacy. However, previously self-efficacy has only been investigated as a unidimensional construct. In contrast, this thesis has combined the different aspects of self-efficacy into a multidimensional construct that explores the relationship between pro-environmental self-efficacy and PEI and PEB. The relationship between pro-environmental self-efficacy, PEI and PEB was explained more thoroughly by including materialism. Lastly, this thesis also added a different concept in which a beginning was made by investigating whether people that already perform PEB would be willing to put extra effort into behaving environmentally friendly. Quantitative research was analysed with 307 respondents using two multiple regression analyses with a moderation effect to explain the relationship between the dependent, independent, and moderator variables. The results showed that the different types of self-efficacy have a direct positive impact on PEI and PEB. The moderating role of materialism in this thesis, was explicitly measured for the independent variable individual outcome expectancy. Materialism had a significant, negative, small effect on this relationship. This indicates that the more materialistic a person is, the lower the impact of individual outcome expectancy will be on PEI and PEB. When adding all the models to the analysis, the independent variable pro-environmental individual outcome efficacy is the most important predictor for PEI and PEB. Moreover, the educational level of the respondents positively influences pro-environmental intentions and PEB. Additionally, environmental attitudes remained significant throughout the analysis. Lastly, most of the respondents that already performed PEB still intended to do more. With this knowledge, managers must focus mainly on the specific outcomes of PEB and on why it contributes to generating a more sustainable world to live on. Managers should try to educate their employees and customers on the consequences of their actions, increasing their attitudes, which leads to more PEI and PEB. Furthermore, managers might need to educate their employees and customers on the adverse effects of materialism.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen