Australian residents' attitudes toward pro-environmental behaviour and climate change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Climate changeand associated environmental impacts are increasingly important issues. Effective communication with residents of coastal communities is critical to mitigate and adapt to changing conditions; however, this can be a challenging feat without an understanding of attitudes toward pro-environmental behaviour. Drawing on three dimensions of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this paper: (1) explores the Australian public's perceptions of climate change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef; (2) segments respondents into homogenous groups based on their environmental attitudes; and (3) profiles the emergent segments using managerially-relevant indicators. Study findings illustrate that respondents can be organised into five distinct segments according to their attitudes toward pro-environmental behaviour that could potentially stem climate change-related impacts. These segments perceive a variety of threats to the health of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem, underestimate the performance of behaviours that help to mitigate impacts and face a variety of internal and external constraints on behavioural engagement. 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • van Riper, C. J., Kyle, G. T., Sutton, S. G., Yoon, J. I., & Tobin, R. C.

citation count

  • 20

complete list of authors

  • van Riper, Carena J||Kyle, Gerard T||Sutton, Stephen G||Yoon, Jee In||Tobin, Renae C

publication date

  • January 2013