Understanding Attitudes and Pro-Environmental Behaviors in a Chilean Community

Sustainability

Nicolás C. Bronfman⁴  Pamela C. Cisternas⁴  Esperanza López-Vázquez³  Cristl de la Maza²  Juan Carlos Oyanedel¹ 

[1] Public Policy and Management Department, Administration and Economics Faculty, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago 8370146, Chile; E-Mail:;Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; E-Mail:;Interdisciplinary Psychology Research Center, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Pico de Orizaba No. 1 Col. Volcanes, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62350, México; E-Mail:;Engineering Sciences Department, Universidad Andres Bello, Avenida República 237, Santiago 8370146, Chile; E-Mail:

关键词: environmental behavior;    pro-environmental behavior;    environmental management;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su71014133

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.