Testing the Effects of Constraints on Climate Change-Friendly Behavior among Groups of Australian Residents Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • This study explores the relationship between Australian's attitudes toward climate change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). We hypothesize that general attitudes toward climate change, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control predict intended and reported behavior, and that attitude negatively influences constraints on adopting ERB. The moderating effect of residential condition (urban vs. rural contexts) was tested across these hypothesized relationships. We randomly selected 200 individuals from eight regions: Five within 50 km of the GBR Coastline and three from the Statistical Metropolitan Areas in Australia. We yielded 1,623 surveys by telephone interviews. Findings confirm our hypotheses and suggest the most important predictor of intentions is perceived behavioral control. The two groups of respondents (urban vs. rural) illustrate different relationships. This study offers insight on how managers of the GBR can effectively shape residents' behavioral tendencies that minimize human impacts on the natural environment. 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

published proceedings

  • COASTAL MANAGEMENT

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Yoon, J. I., Kyle, G. T., Van Riper, C. J., & Sutton, S. G.

citation count

  • 13

complete list of authors

  • Yoon, Jee In||Kyle, Gerard T||Van Riper, Carena J||Sutton, Stephen G

publication date

  • January 2013