Premium
An examination of the value‐belief‐norm theory model in predicting pro‐environmental behaviour in T aiwan
Author(s) -
Chen MeiFang
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
asian journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-839X
pISSN - 1367-2223
DOI - 10.1111/ajsp.12096
Subject(s) - structural equation modeling , psychology , environmentalism , social psychology , ascription , norm (philosophy) , causal chain , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , philosophy , politics , political science , law
Stern's value‐belief‐norm ( VBN ) theory of environmentalism suggests that perceiving adverse effects from global warming could promote mitigation behaviour. The VBN theory of environmentalism postulates a causal chain of five variables: values, the N ew E nvironmental (or E cological) P aradigm ( NEP ), awareness of consequences ( AC ), ascription of responsibility ( AR ) to self‐beliefs, and personal norms ( PN ). Given a limited number of studies with E ast A sian participants, this study examines the applicability of the VBN theory model in predicting pro‐environmental behaviour in T aiwan to enhance the intercultural validation. A questionnaire study was conducted among 757 Taiwanese respondents. The results of structural equation modelling analysis and Sobel tests confirm the direct and mediatory effects of the causal sequence of the variables in the VBN theory of pro‐environmental behaviour, with NEP , AC beliefs, AR beliefs, and PN all bearing a mediating relationship between their antecedent and outcome variables in the causal chain. We elucidate the research results of the intercultural validation of the VBN theory model in this empirical study to clarify pro‐environmental behaviour.