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Personal Norms for Dealing with Climate Change : Results from a Survey Using Moral Foundations Theory

Jansson, Johan LU and Dorrepaal, Ellen (2015) In Sustainable Development 23(6). p.381-395
Abstract
Climate change has become one of the main issues in environmental and sustainability discussions during the last decade. Acting to reduce climate change can be viewed as a prosocial behavior, and previous research has found that personal norms are important in explaining these types of behaviors, together with other attitudinal factors. In this study we use Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to explore the antecedents of personal climate change norms together with three attitudinal factors: problem awareness, social norms and adherence to the New Ecological Paradigm. Analyzing data from a nationwide survey (N = 1086) conducted in Sweden, we find that the moral foundations concerning harm and fairness are positively associated with... (More)
Climate change has become one of the main issues in environmental and sustainability discussions during the last decade. Acting to reduce climate change can be viewed as a prosocial behavior, and previous research has found that personal norms are important in explaining these types of behaviors, together with other attitudinal factors. In this study we use Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to explore the antecedents of personal climate change norms together with three attitudinal factors: problem awareness, social norms and adherence to the New Ecological Paradigm. Analyzing data from a nationwide survey (N = 1086) conducted in Sweden, we find that the moral foundations concerning harm and fairness are positively associated with personal climate change norms, whereas authority has a negative relation. However, the moral foundations from MFT contribute less in explaining personal climate change norms compared with the attitudinal factors included in the study. Theoretical and empirical implications are discussed. (Less)
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author
and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
personal norms, Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), attitudes, questionnaire survey
in
Sustainable Development
volume
23
issue
6
pages
15 pages
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:84938281276
ISSN
0968-0802
DOI
10.1002/sd.1598
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
9471b650-f537-4250-be3b-4b9ed62bd50c
alternative location
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84938281276&doi=10.1002%2fsd.1598&partnerID=40&md5=3cc99c882ed756eb36f95d61fc6898a9
date added to LUP
2017-01-12 15:13:13
date last changed
2022-02-14 08:13:58
@article{9471b650-f537-4250-be3b-4b9ed62bd50c,
  abstract     = {{Climate change has become one of the main issues in environmental and sustainability discussions during the last decade. Acting to reduce climate change can be viewed as a prosocial behavior, and previous research has found that personal norms are important in explaining these types of behaviors, together with other attitudinal factors. In this study we use Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to explore the antecedents of personal climate change norms together with three attitudinal factors: problem awareness, social norms and adherence to the New Ecological Paradigm. Analyzing data from a nationwide survey (<i>N</i> = 1086) conducted in Sweden, we find that the moral foundations concerning harm and fairness are positively associated with personal climate change norms, whereas authority has a negative relation. However, the moral foundations from MFT contribute less in explaining personal climate change norms compared with the attitudinal factors included in the study. Theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Jansson, Johan and Dorrepaal, Ellen}},
  issn         = {{0968-0802}},
  keywords     = {{personal norms; Moral Foundations Theory (MFT); attitudes; questionnaire survey}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{381--395}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Sustainable Development}},
  title        = {{Personal Norms for Dealing with Climate Change : Results from a Survey Using Moral Foundations Theory}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/19769608/Jansson_et_al_2015_Sustainable_Development.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/sd.1598}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}