Social and Personality Factors Predicting Pro- Environmental Behaviour Among University Students in the West-Midlands: Poster Presentation

The urgent need to address ever-increasing environmental problems such as global warming or biodiversity loss has led to the proliferation of research into the area of Pro-Environmental-Behaviour (PEB). PEB is defined as “the conscious actions performed by an individual to lessen the negative impact of human activities on the environment and to enhance the quality of the environment”. Following the social-cognitive theory, this study examined the role of social and personality factors in PEB. This online descriptive-survey research utilised correlational design to explore the relationship between innate social (gender, race/ethnicity, country of origin) and personality characteristics (Psychological entitlement, Extraversion, agreeableness conscientiousness, negative emotionality, and open mindedness) and PEB. Participants (N= 169; ages range 19-58) were University students recruited through a convenient sampling method to complete a questionnaire consisting of; Demographics, Pro-Environmental Behaviour Scale (PEBS), Psychological Entitlement Attitudes Questionnaire (PEAQ) and Big Five Inventory-2 extra-Short forms on Qualtrics online survey platform.
Findings revealed open mindedness, an item from a facet intellectual curiosity of the big personality factor, as the only significant predictor of PEB, contributing 22.2% (Adj R2; p <001) to the variance observed in the participant’s PEB. Pearson correlation showed a near significant inverse relationship (r(167)=0.16; P=.055) between PEAQ and PEB. Some other factors significantly intercorrelated.
The results suggest that open mindedness and psychological entitlement attitude are agentic factors to be considered in the design of programmes to motivate pro-environmental behaviour. The result has implication for further large-sample studies on the role of personality factors on pro-environmental behaviour.