Birgitta Gatersleben

Measurement and determinants of environmentally significant consumer behavior

Measures of proenvironmental behavior in psychological studies do not always reflect the actual environmental impact of a person or household. Therefore, the results of these studies provide little insight into variables that could be helpful in reducing household environmental impact. In this article, an environmentally significant measure of household consumer behavior (i.e., combined direct and indirect energy use) is presented and compared with a common social science measure of proenvironmental behavior (based on popular notions of environmentally significant behavior). Two large-scale field studies were conducted among representative samples of Dutch households. The results showed respondents who indicate they behave more proenvironmentally do not necessarily use less energy. Also, proenvironmental behavior is more strongly related to attitudinal variables, whereas household energy use is primarily related to variables such as income and household size. More multidisciplinary research seems necessary to identify variables that influence the actual environmental impact of household consumer behavior.

Affective Appraisals of the Daily Commute Comparing Perceptions of Drivers, Cyclists, Walkers, and Users of Public Transport

To date, most research on travel behavior has been limited to studying utilitarian appraisals of car users and users of public transport. Studies on affective experiences are usually limited to commuter stress. A survey among university employees revealed that in support of previous research, car commuters find their journey more stressful than other mode users. The main sources of this stress are delays and other road users. Users of public transport also “complain” about delays; however, this results in stress as well as boredom. Walking and cycling journeys are the most relaxing and exciting and therefore seem the most optimum form of travel from an affective perspective. The affective appraisals of the daily commute are related to instrumental aspects, such as journey time, but also to general attitudes toward various travel modes. These findings have implications for sustainable transport policy initiatives that aim to persuade people to abandon their car.

When walking in nature is not restorative-the role of prospect and refuge.

People tend to recover more quickly from stress and mental fatigue in natural than in urban environments. But natural environments may not always be restorative. Dense wooded areas may evoke fear and stress and require directed attention to avoid getting lost or tripping over. Little is known about the restorative potential of such environments. Two experiments were conducted to examine restoration in natural settings with different levels of accessibility, prospect (clear field of vision) and refuge (places to hide). An on-line survey (n=269) examined perceived restoration of environments presented in a slide show. An experiment examined actual restoration in response to walks in a real outdoor setting (n=17) and in response to videos of the same walks (in a laboratory; n=17). The findings demonstrate that exposure to natural environments with high levels of prospect and low levels of refuge, is indeed restorative. However, exposure to natural environments low in prospect and high in refuge is not, and may even further increase levels of stress and attention fatigue. These findings demonstrate that natural places may not always be restorative places.

Values, identity and pro-environmental behaviour

The importance of understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviour among individual consumers in modern Western Societies is generally accepted. Attitudes and attitude change are often examined to help reach this goal. But although attitudes are relatively good predictors of behaviour and are relatively easy to change they only help explain specific behaviours. More stable individual factors such as values and identities may affect a wider range of behaviours. In particular factors which are important to the self are likely to influence behaviour across contexts and situations. This paper examines the role of values and identities in explaining individual pro-environmental behaviours. Secondary analyses were conducted on data from three studies on UK residents, with a total of 2694 participants. Values and identities were good predictors of pro-environmental behaviour in each study and identities explain pro-environmental behaviours over and above specific attitudes. The link between values and behaviours was fully mediated by identities in two studies and partially mediated in one study supporting the idea that identities may be broader concepts which incorporate values. The findings lend support for the concept of identity campaigning to promote sustainable behaviour. Moreover, it suggests fruitful future research directions which should explore the development and maintenance of identities.

Affective and Symbolic Aspects of Car Use

Cars are attractive not only because of their instrumental advantages such as flexibility, cost and speed, but also because the car can influence mood (e.g., is thrilling, exciting and relaxing) and because it can provide an important social symbol to express status and power. This chapter gives an overview of the limited empirical research that examines the affective and symbolic aspects of car possession and use. Most of its exploratory research is not theory driven and the chapter hopes to provide more insight into definitions and operationalizations of the relevant concepts, which may aid future research and theory development.

Values and sustainable lifestyles

With ever-increasing concerns about the consequences of climate change, households are an important focus for change. There is increasing pressure on households to change lifestyles and adopt behaviours that require less energy and natural resources. At the same time, retailers and producers of consumer goods aim to persuade people to consume more through commercial advertisements. Social science research examining sustainable behaviours often fails to examine the relative influence of both environmental concern and materialism simultaneously. Moreover, most of this research focuses on explaining or promoting behaviours with pro-environmental intent, thereby ignoring many consumer behaviours that may have a significant environmental impact. This article aims to address some of these shortcomings by examining the relationships between materialistic and environmental values and different consumer behaviours. Survey data from 194 individuals from 99 households were analysed. The findings show that quite a number of people express both relatively high levels of environmental concern and relatively high levels of materialism simultaneously. Moreover, materialism and environmental concern appear to be related to different types of behaviours. This raises important questions for the promotion of sustainable lifestyles, which may need to address not only environmental concerns but also materialistic concerns.

’New Motherhood: a moment of change in everyday shopping practices?’

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw on data from 16 interviews (two each with eight women) to explore some of the ways in which everyday shopping may change as women become mothers. The meanings, practices and implications of the transition to motherhood have long been a topic for sociological inquiry. Recently, interest has turned to the opportunities offered by this transition for the adoption of more sustainable lifestyles. Becoming a mother is likely to lead to changes in a variety of aspects of everyday life such as travel, leisure, cooking and purchase of consumer goods, all of which have environmental implications. The environmental impacts associated with such changes are complex, and positive moves toward more sustainable activities in one sphere may be offset by less environmentally positive changes elsewhere. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on data from 16 interviews (two each with eight women) to explore some of the ways in which everyday shopping may change as women ...

Local transport problems and possible solutions: comparing perceptions of residents, elected members, officers and organisations

It is generally accepted that the current growth in personal car use poses a serious threat to local communities and the environment, and that radical changes in transport policy are needed. In order for local authorities to develop acceptable sustainable transport options, it will be necessary that they have a clear view of the attitudes and perceptions of various groups in their community. This research compared the views of elected members and officers with those of residents and organisations in relation to the local transport situation and the use of car travel reduction measures. It was found that the views of elected members and officers reflect those of residents rather well. The views of local organisations, however, were different. Organisations were, in particular, more negative about policy measures that aim to reduce car use in the town centre. They also attached more importance to the viability of the local economy than the other respondents. However, they did agree with the other groups that the quality of life in the community would improve if there was less traffic. The consequences of these findings for local transport planning are discussed.

Reasons for participating in formal employer-led carpool schemes as perceived by their users

Abstract Carpooling, the process by which individuals share a private vehicle for a particular journey or journeys, has been undertaken both formally and informally for a great number of years. A variety of computational methods for undertaking the ‘ride-matching’ element for the formation of carpools have been developed and subsequently made into integrated tools to allow the formation of multiple carpools. Such tools are commonly used by both Local Authorities and employers who are looking to establish and operate their own formal carpool scheme, increasingly using a web-based interface. The aim of this paper is to understand how users enrolled with employer-led carpool schemes perceive the importance of several different factors in their decision to participate. It is a further aim to determine the importance they attach to employer provided priority parking spaces. A survey-based approach investigates the perceptions of users from six different employer operated carpool schemes in the UK. The paper suggests that saving money was perceived as the most important reason for an individuals decision to use a formal employer-led carpool scheme – even amongst carpool schemes where the employer provides significant incentives to participate. No regular access to their own vehicle and ‘more sociable travel’ were generally perceived as less important reasons to participate. For employers who offer priority parking to carpoolers, this was generally valued as important by participants, even when the employment location did not have significant parking pressures.

Psychological Motives for Car Use

People buy and use cars for a range of different reasons. The (perceived) value of cars, compared to other more sustainable modes of travel, is usually described in instrumental outcomes (e.g. relative speed and cost). But cars are also useful objects for non-verbal communication of people’s achievements and identities (symbolic value) and buying and driving cars can elicit feelings of thrill, excitement, stress and embarrassment (affective value). It is argued that the relative importance of different instrumental, symbolic and affective outcomes is largely subjective and varies significantly between situations and individuals. These (perceived) outcomes can form significant barriers for behaviour change, but they can also be levered to promote more sustainable behaviours. If the final goal of transport policies is to promote sustainable travel it is important to gain a comprehensive insight into the different psychological motives for car use. More research into the relative importance of the three different types of outcomes, the relationships between them and the effectiveness of interventions targeting the different aspects is needed in order to help develop more effective sustainable transport policies.