Theory of planned behaviour, identity and intentions to engage in environmental activism

This study incorporated identity constructs into the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to investigate intentions to engage in environmental activism. First year students and participants of a students of sustainability conference (n=169) were administered a questionnaire survey that measured standard TPB constructs as well as environmental group membership and self-identity as an environmental activist. Consistent with predictions, environmental group membership and self-identity were positive predictors of intentions. Thus, greater involvement in environmental groups and a stronger sense of the self as an environmental activist were associated with stronger intentions to engage in environmental activism. There was also evidence that self-identity was a stronger predictor of intentions for participants with low rather than high environmental group membership. In accordance with the standard TPB model, participants with more positive attitudes toward and a greater sense of normative support for environmental activism also had greater intentions to engage in the behaviour. The implications for groups seeking to harness support for activities to protect the environment are discussed.     

人类环境影响驱动因素非线性动力学关系分析

根据非线性科学理论，建立人类环境影响与人口增长系数、富裕增长系数、其它综合因素增长系数、技术指标四者之间的二次、三次非线性动力学模式，并运用稳定性分析理论对其求解、分析。结果表明：①在技术对人类环境影响的线性作用下，当技术先进时，技术进步所起的缓解作用十分显著；但在技术落后情况下。能够降低环境影响的因素首先是人口增长，其次是富裕增长和其他综合因素增长。②在技术对人类环境影响的非线性作用下，同样的技术进步使人类的环境影响降低了接近一倍，即技术进步能够更有效地降低环境影响。③在技术对人类环境影响的线性和非线性作用下，人口增长或富裕增长、其它综合因素增长均能放大技术进步在缓解环境影响中的作用，只是非线性作用下的放大效应更显著。     

Municipal solid waste production and composition in Finland—Changes in the period 1960–2002 and prospects until 2020

Waste reduction was recognised as the main goal of waste management policy in the EU in the 1990s. Although knowledge of past waste generation is essential for effective waste reduction policy there are no comprehensive statistics on the past development of municipal solid waste (MSW) production. MSW management is currently under turmoil in many EU countries as the requirements of the EC landfill directive (1999/31/EC) are set into force. In this study, the production and composition of MSW in Finland between 1960 and 2002 is presented using historical data. The impact of population, affluence and technology on MSW production are analysed using the IPAT equation and three scenarios are constructed until year 2020. The results are compared with national future targets on MSW production. Production of MSW increased in Finland until 1990, declined to year 1997, increased to 2000 and then declined again. The share of organic and plastic waste increased over the study period while the share of paper and cardboard declined. The results suggest that so far national targets on MSW reduction have been set fairly low. Moreover, our scenarios depict a wide range of future MSW production, even though the time horizon is not longer than 15 years into the future. In order to narrow this range, continuous improvement of the statistics of MSW is essential.     

Voice as Entry to Agriculturalists’ Conservationist Identity: A Cultural Inventory of the Yellowstone River

We explored the communicative construction of a conservationist identity among primary producers by excavating voices of agriculturalists operating along the Yellowstone River (Montana, USA). We used a cultural inventory approach to discover and then listen to informants’ voices as they constructed their conservation identity. Those who self-identified as conservationists talked about their ecological and social responsibilities, and described challenges they faced in protecting individual resources and system processes of the watershed. For these agriculturalists, conservation and production are inextricably linked, and enable them to provide a sustainable resource base for future generations. Insight from these voices enhances understanding of what sustainability could mean to those who self-identify as both conservationists and primary producers.     

The effect of intergroup comparison on willingness to perform sustainable behavior

The present research examines the effects of intergroup comparison on willingness to perform sustainable behavior. In Experiment 1, university students compared current students with past or future students, and then completed measures of willingness to perform sustainable behavior. Participants who compared to past students reported more willingness to perform sustainable behavior than those who compared to future students. In Experiment 2, university students again compared current students with past or future students and completed measures of sustainable beliefs and willingness to perform sustainable behavior. Participants who compared to past students reported more willingness to perform sustainable behavior than those who compared to future students. This effect was mediated by strengthened sustainable beliefs. The results show that intergroup comparison can be strategically employed to promote motivation to perform sustainable behavior.     

中国1990~2004年生态足迹动态变化效应的分解分析

通过构建生态足迹分解模型,论文将中国1990~2004年生态足迹的动态变化分解为经济规模、产业结构和足迹强度这3种因素的变化效应,并对各分解效应进行了测度与分析。结果表明:生态足迹年度间变化均值为1.065 5×10⁸hm²。其中,由经济规模、产业结构和足迹强度所引起的足迹变化分别为2.108 2×10⁸hm²,-0.439 8×10⁸hm²和-0.602 9×10⁸hm²。总的看,经济规模的变化助长了总足迹的增长,而足迹强度和产业结构的变化对总足迹的扩张起到了一定的遏制作用。生态足迹变化是由各因素共同作用的结果,而在不同时期各因素对足迹变化所发挥的效应不同。该研究结果对于理解我国生态足迹变化与经济发展之间的关系,以及产业发展政策调整及可持续发展研究具有一定参考价值。     

The multiple ways of behaving creatively in the workplace: A typology and model

Evidence in the literature suggests that employees can engage in other types of creative behavior at work beyond producing something new and useful for their organization. This paper seeks to advance our understanding of these “atypical” creative behaviors. We conceptualize a typology that encompasses both the commonly studied form of employee creativity (conventional steward‐type) and three other types of employee creativity that have not been previously theorized (critical steward‐type, cunning agent‐type, and innocent agent‐type). We then advance a conceptual model to identify situations that may lead employees to use their creative potential one way versus another. Further, we examine the different implications of these creative behaviors for the organization, employee, and society. Our conceptual framework provides a broader perspective of workplace creativity in which a wider range of behaviors, mechanisms, and outcomes must be considered. It provides new directions for future research as well as implications for managing creativity in different organizational and cultural contexts.     

Speaking of fire: reflexive governance in landscapes of social change and shifting local identities

ABSTRACT

The concept of reflexive governance has to a large extent emerged from an increasing recognition of the need to consider different meanings of nature in the environmental policy-making process. Yet, so far, little attention has been paid to creating conditions for reflexive governance among different actors in intercultural settings, particularly in the context of environmental conflict and strong cultural change among indigenous peoples. This paper reviews three participatory research projects carried out in the Gran Sabana in Canaima National Park, Venezuela, which facilitated dialogue among indigenous people regarding their conflicting views of fire, in part by developing community-wide critical reflections on processes of cultural change and identity formations. These experiences suggest that once marginalized environmental knowledge is publicly acknowledged within the context of endogenous cultural processes, indigenous people feel more confident to engage in dialogue with other actors, thus allowing the emergence of reflexive environmental governance.     

Retiring: Role identity processes in retirement transition

Retirement transition has become a prolonged process of adaptation, including changes in role identity. However, there is a dearth of research on the process by which retirees cope with the role transition, including how pre-retirement role identities shape the transition, the forms of identity work undertaken by retirees, and the unfolding nature of retirement transition. In an in-depth qualitative examination of the transition process, we identify pre-retirement role identity profiles based on work and nonwork role identities. We then examine how pre-retirement role identities influence the transition process, including the nature of identity work in transition and the transition pathways demonstrated by retirees. Our findings provide insights into strengths and limitations afforded by pre-retirement identities: They facilitate agentic coping in which retirees shed old and adopt new identities but also impose inertia and prolong the transition until identity crises force the retirees to undergo identity exploration and adoption of new identities.     

The measurement of place attachment: Personal,community, and environmental connections

Place attachment has been researched extensively in the social and behavioural sciences over the past two decades. However, it is challenging for researchers to assimilate the mixed messages presented in the place attachment literature and to understand the multiple place attachment terms. In this study, a four-dimensional model of rural landholder attachments to their natural resource management region was conceptually and empirically developed with the aim of developing an integrated approach to the measurement of place attachment that clearly distinguishes between different elements of place scholarship. A 29-item place attachment scale with the dimensions of place identity, place dependence, nature bonding, and social bonding was tested on a random sample of rural landholders in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia (N = 320). The majority of respondents were male (69.3%) and the average age was 59 years. The scale was reduced to 20-items and then administered simultaneously and in the same response format to rural landholders in two other areas of South Australia: the Northern and Yorke region (N = 664) and South Australian Murray-Darling Basin region (N = 659). In both studies, the majority of respondents were male (85%) and the average age was 55 years. Exploratory factor and reliability analyses of Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges and Northern and Yorke datasets produced a five-dimensional model of place attachment with high reliabilities. Social bonding divided into the constructs of family bonding and friend bonding. The refined five-dimensional model was then examined for convergent validity, with moderate but significant correlations found between individual attachment constructs and dependent variables expected to be related to the construct, such as place identity and length of residence, and nature bonding and time currently spent in nature. We used confirmatory factor analysis to test the goodness-of-fit of the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin (SAMDB) dataset to the proposed five-dimensional model and then compared its fit to the traditional two-dimensional model of place identity and place dependence. The five-dimensional model provided moderate fit for the SAMDB data. We conclude with a discussion of the validity and reliability of the five-dimensional model and its future role in place attachment research.