Factors affecting environmental behaviour of house inhabitants in Canada

• Main Author: Alexiadis, Pavlos
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/27843

The present study examined environmental behaviour of house inhabitants in Canada. An environmental psychology approach was followed. Over one thousand completed questionnaires were collected through a mail survey. Results indicated adoption levels for environmental housing behaviours were, in general, satisfactory. However, a large variation in adoption levels among behaviours was observed with waste management behaviours having the highest percentages of adoption and water conservation behaviours having the lowest. Numerous variables were found to have an effect on behaviour although this was at most of a moderate level magnitude. Variables measured at a level specific to a given behaviour were exerting the highest influence on behaviour. A theoretical model was formulated to explain environmental housing behaviour. The model was considered to be effective in capturing the main factors that affect behaviour at a general level, despite certain limitations in its generalisability. It can be of use to either researchers or policy makers concerned with environmental housing behaviour. Although current behaviour adoption levels are not regarded as low, a number of suggestions to further increase adoption were proposed to deal with increasing environmental pressures. These recommendations included employing variables that may affect one’s ability and motivation to process a persuasive message and implementing approaches that utilise a given behaviour’s relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, complexity, and observability.