It is a moral issue: The relationship between environmental self-identity,obligation-based intrinsic motivation and pro-environmental behaviour

In order to effectively mitigate climate change, people need to adopt environmentally-friendly actions. We argue that some people act in an environmentally-friendly manner without external incentives to do so, but rather because they are intrinsically motivated to do so. There is some initial evidence to suggest that this is particularly likely for people with a strong environmental self-identity. However, not much is known about how environmental self-identity influences pro-environmental actions. In this research, we aimed to test whether, and if so, via which process environmental self-identity is related to environmentally-friendly behaviour. We conducted three studies to test our hypotheses. In the first study, our hypotheses were confirmed in a sample of the general population using a correlational design. In the second study, we replicated our findings with a different indicator of moral obligation and with a different dependent variable. In the third study, we tested our model in an experimental design. Again, we found support for our hypotheses that environmental self-identity is related to one's obligation-based intrinsic motivation (that is, feelings of moral obligation) to act pro-environmentally, which in turn affects pro-environmental actions. As expected, the obligation-based intrinsic motivation mediates the relationship between environmental self-identity and environmentally-friendly behaviour. Our findings suggest that strengthening environmental self-identity may be a cost-effective way to promote pro-environmental actions, as people with a strong environmental self-identity are likely to act in an environmentally-friendly manner without an external incentive to do so.     

MOTIVATION OF CHINESE INVESTMENT IN VIETNAM

1INTRODUCTIONIn January 2003, the London Based Financial Times re- ported that China attracted a record of US$52.7×109 in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the year 2002, sur- passing the United States to become the world's largest FDIrecipient. From zero in 1978 to over US$52×109 in 2002, the compound rate of growth of FDI in China has been nearly 40% per year. This growth helped China achieve a remarkably high average growth rate of GDP of nearly 10% per annum from 1978 to …     

Can Distrust Enhance Public Engagement? Insights From a National Survey on Energy Issues in Canada

Research examining the relationship between trust, public engagement, and natural resource management asserts that trust fosters positive behavior and enhanced cooperation. Yet some scholars are finding that certain kinds of distrust are helpful in achieving democratic outcomes by providing would-be participants with the motivation to engage in issues of public concern. This article seeks to clarify this apparent disjuncture in the trust literature by examining the multidimensional nature of trust as it relates to public engagement on energy-related issues in Canada. Based on a national online survey (n?=?3000) we use a binary probit model to explore the connections between trust, knowledge, and public engagement. About 70% of respondents had participated in at least one form of public engagement over the last 3 years. Drawing on a two-dimensional conception of trust, we find that general trust on its own is not positively linked to public engagement. A combination of general trust and skepticism, however, is positively associated with public engagement and confirms our hypothesis that at least some concern regarding credibility, bias, and vested interest can motivate public engagement. In this sense, trust is not uniformly good for public engagement. These results signal a need to further refine our assumptions about the relationship between public trust, public engagement and environmental governance.     

Development and validation of the motivation to avoid food waste scale

Food waste is one of society’s biggest problems, with huge ecological, economic and social consequences. Hence, there is a necessity to derive a better insight in how consumers can be triggered to avoid food waste. Although it is generally known that motivations are important drivers of human behavior, limited attention has been paid to motivations in the food waste context and no viable measurement instrument exists that systematically takes into account the different motivations underlying the avoidance of food waste. Current scales related to food waste concern encompass attitude and awareness items only. The current paper aims to fill this gap and develops a 21-item Motivation to Avoid Food Waste (MAFW) scale. Since consumers may be driven by different motivations to avoid food waste, special attention is paid to the multidimensionality of food waste avoidance motivations. Specifically, the MAFW-scale consists of four motivations: environmental, moral, financial and social motivations. Three studies demonstrate the scale’s internal reliability, test-retest reliability, nomological validity, and predictive validity. The MAFW-scale fosters research into the genesis of consumers’ food waste behaviors, and can serve as a tool to segment and target (un)motivated consumers.     

Climate variability and individual motivations for participating in political violence

Climate shocks are argued to affect the likelihood of conflict through individual economic outcomes that change the individual opportunity costs of participation in violent activities. Studies testing this proposition, however, either fail to answer convincingly because they use aggregated data, because they rely on observed controls and strong assumptions about variable independence, or because their study sample is restricted to particular conflicts. This article uses two rounds in Afrobarometer where respondents were asked about participation in politically motivated violence as well as how their living conditions had changed in the last year. To get around endogeneity problems, perceived changes in living conditions are instrumented using a standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI). The study finds that participation in violence would, on average, have been more likely if an individual experienced a deterioration of living conditions than if it had not, in the subpopulation in Africa whose living conditions are affected by droughts.     

生活方式型移民研究综述

在经济比较发达以及后现代社会带来个人主体性增强的背景下,以寻找更好的生活方式的迁移——“生活方式型移民”成为一种重要的人口流动类型,并受到西方学者的高度关注。在中国,生活方式型移民开始萌芽,然而研究较少,目前主要集中在对生活方式型旅游企业主移民研究;西方的研究则涉及退休移民、生活方式型企业主移民等多种类型,但尚未形成完整的研究体系,对于生活方式型移民概念界定及其类型划分较为杂乱。为此,本文从现有文献出发,试图对这类移民的研究内容进行介绍、探讨、厘清和评析,首先确定“生活方式型移民”的概念框架,根据生产和消费在时间和空间上的结合状态将生活方式型移民划分为三种类型,并从社会交往、生活状态、旅游行为和自我认知等方面综述其迁移后的行为表现及由此产生的影响,希望借此促进中国学者对生活方式型移民的关注。     

日本国民海外旅行信息来源及旅行动机影响因素研究——与国内旅行对比分析

日本一直是我国最重要的客源国之一,日本访华客源市场却处于缓慢的发展态势,在金融危机的影响下更是出现了负增长,因此,系统研究并开发日本客源市场不仅具经济意义,而且会对增进两国人民之间的了解,产生积极而深远的影响。文章以日本国内调查资料为基础,对日本海外旅行的信息来源、直接和间接影响的影响因素做了比较系统的研究,希望能增加对日本客源市场的了解。     

基于《地理学报》创刊85年载文的中国交通地理学传承与发展

科学认知中国交通地理学的发展脉络和发展方向,促进与实践紧密结合的理论和技术创新,对完善学科建设和促进实践应用具有重要意义。以《地理学报》1934年创刊以来的交通地理论文为依据,厘清中国交通地理学的发展脉络,归纳学科发展的驱动力和趋势,以服务于学科建设。① 中国交通地理学的发展经历了探索阶段、初创阶段、体系形成阶段和稳定发展阶段,逐渐明确了自然—人文—技术交叉综合的应用学科性质,形成了突出的综合性研究特征,根据研究内容、交通方式和空间尺度确立了较为完善的学科体系;② 国家与区域发展需求是中国交通地理学发展的基本动力,数据与方法创新、学科交叉需求和国际理论引介对学科发展发挥了重要的推动作用;③ 中国交通地理学的发展具有人文、生态和技术相结合的前沿方向,未来有必要适时地调整学科体系和发展方向,以保持学科优势和竞争力。     

Problem-Oriented Learning in Geography Education: Construction of Motivating Problems

This article reports on the possibilities and challenges of starting problem-oriented learning in geography lessons. The article focuses on the features of motivating problems, because one of the essential functions of the problem to start with is to animate learners to solve it. The analysis of various introductions to problem-oriented learning of geographic topics in primary schools shows that generating a cognitive dissonance is highly suitable for inducing a desire to learn. As a motivating role relative to the problem, the helper and expert roles were seen as being ideal.     

Student Attitudes and the Impact of GIS on Thinking Skills and Motivation

Abstract

The value of GIS within school curricula seems well perceived but ill-substantiated. This paper discusses the role of GIS in the development of higher order thinking skills and in motivating student learning. It then reports on attitudinal surveys undertaken before and after student exposure to GIS-related tasks. The tasks formed part of four subjects within three year levels. Data were collected from 109 students from two schools. Individual survey items were evaluated using a t-test for paired means and a two-tailed test for significance. Weighted average responses for the five constructs being surveyed were calculated. Attitudinal improvements were found in three of these: perceived usefulness of computers, perceived control of computers and behavioural attitude to computers. The weighted average declined for the remaining two constructs: attitude to subject and affective attitude toward computers. These data suggest that GIS influences student ability to utilise higher level thinking skills within a context of enhanced relevance.