Actions speak louder than words : Attitudes, behaviour, and partisan identity in a polarised environmental domain
(2022) In Energy Research & Social Science 90.- Abstract
- The relationship between environmental attitudes and behaviour is known to be weak, especially when these variables are measured as self-report items in surveys. In addition many environmental questions are highly polarised, making it even more problematic to use survey data to inform policy making. To better explore the attitude–behaviour gap in the context of environmental policies, along with its interaction with partisan identity, we ran an online experiment with 805 U.S. residents. Four key variables – environmental attitudes, self-reported environmental behaviour, observed environmental behaviour (in the form of carbon-offset credit purchase), and partisan identity – were measured, and their interactions in promoting... (More)
- The relationship between environmental attitudes and behaviour is known to be weak, especially when these variables are measured as self-report items in surveys. In addition many environmental questions are highly polarised, making it even more problematic to use survey data to inform policy making. To better explore the attitude–behaviour gap in the context of environmental policies, along with its interaction with partisan identity, we ran an online experiment with 805 U.S. residents. Four key variables – environmental attitudes, self-reported environmental behaviour, observed environmental behaviour (in the form of carbon-offset credit purchase), and partisan identity – were measured, and their interactions in promoting pro-environmental behaviour were analysed. We found that (1) self-reported and real behaviour are almost uncorrelated and (2) partisan identity mainly predicted self-reported not actual environmental behaviour. These results suggest that policy-making needs to rely more on behavioural insight to test policies’ actual effects and to promote real improvement of the local and global environment. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/595addb8-3b7e-47de-bd47-3ad86bd04cf5
- author
- Bravo, Giangiacomo and Farjam, Mike LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Environmental behaviour, Experimental ecology, Attitude–behaviour gap, Self-reported vs. behavioural data, Partisan identity, Political polarisation
- in
- Energy Research & Social Science
- volume
- 90
- article number
- 102547
- pages
- 11 pages
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85127204354
- ISSN
- 2214-6296
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.erss.2022.102547
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 595addb8-3b7e-47de-bd47-3ad86bd04cf5
- date added to LUP
- 2022-03-29 12:58:43
- date last changed
- 2022-04-22 00:32:49
@article{595addb8-3b7e-47de-bd47-3ad86bd04cf5,
abstract = {{The relationship between environmental attitudes and behaviour is known to be weak, especially when these variables are measured as self-report items in surveys. In addition many environmental questions are highly polarised, making it even more problematic to use survey data to inform policy making. To better explore the attitude–behaviour gap in the context of environmental policies, along with its interaction with partisan identity, we ran an online experiment with 805 U.S. residents. Four key variables – environmental attitudes, self-reported environmental behaviour, observed environmental behaviour (in the form of carbon-offset credit purchase), and partisan identity – were measured, and their interactions in promoting pro-environmental behaviour were analysed. We found that (1) self-reported and real behaviour are almost uncorrelated and (2) partisan identity mainly predicted self-reported not actual environmental behaviour. These results suggest that policy-making needs to rely more on behavioural insight to test policies’ actual effects and to promote real improvement of the local and global environment.}},
author = {{Bravo, Giangiacomo and Farjam, Mike}},
issn = {{2214-6296}},
keywords = {{Environmental behaviour; Experimental ecology; Attitude–behaviour gap; Self-reported vs. behavioural data; Partisan identity; Political polarisation}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Energy Research & Social Science}},
title = {{Actions speak louder than words : Attitudes, behaviour, and partisan identity in a polarised environmental domain}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102547}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.erss.2022.102547}},
volume = {{90}},
year = {{2022}},
}