Within-Culture Differences in Self-Construal,Environmental Concern,and Proenvironmental Behavior

Abstract

Abstract

A substantial amount of research has employed Stern and Dietz's (1994) value-belief-norm theory in examining environmental concern. As useful as this model has been, it fails to take into account important personal and social factors, such as self-perception and culture, relevant to understanding environmental concern. The objective of the present research was to test a more comprehensive model of concern introduced by Arnocky, Stroink, and DeCicco (2007) that centers on self-construal, which is inclusive of values, the self, and culture. Specifically, these authors found that self-construal orientation predicted type of environmental concern expressed and further determined that biospheric concern explained why those with a metapersonal self-construal were more likely to engage in proenvironmental behavior (PEB). In an attempt to replicate these findings, 115 undergraduate psychology students from a midsized university in northern Ontario completed an online questionnaire assessing self-construal, environmental concern, connectedness to nature, and PEB. Both the independent and interdependent self-construals were found to uniquely predict egoistic and altruistic environmental concern, respectively. Further, the metapersonal self-construal was found to be the best predictor of biospheric concern in comparison to the other construal orientations, despite falling short of achieving statistical significance. In a dual mediation model, both biospheric concern and connectedness to nature were demonstrated to explain the relationship between the metapersonal self and PEB; however, connectedness to nature emerged as the stronger mediating variable. Key Words: Self-construal—Environmental concern—Connectedness to nature—Proenvironmental behavior.