Sociodemographic characteristics,cultural biases,and environmental attitudes: An empirical application of grid-group cultural theory in Northwestern China |
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Authors: | FangLei Zhong AiJun Guo XiaoJuan Yin JinFeng Cui Xiao Yang YanQiong Zhang |
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Affiliation: | 1. Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China;2. School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China;3. Institute For Public Policy, Gansu Academy of Social Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China;4. School of Foreign Languages, Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China |
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Abstract: | Natural resource-management studies have become increasingly attentive to the influences of human factors. Among these,cultural biases shape people's responses to changes in natural resource systems. Several studies have applied grid-group cultural theory to assess the effects of multiple value biases among stakeholders on natural resource management. We developed and administered a questionnaire in the Heihe River Basin(n = 364) in northwestern China to investigate the appropriateness of applying this theory in the Chinese context of natural resource management. The results revealed various cultural biases among the respondents. In descending order of prevalence, these biases were hierarchism(46.98%), individualism(26.65%), egalitarianism(18.96%), and fatalism(2.78%), with the remaining respondents(4.67%) evidencing no obvious bias. Our empirical study revealed respondents' worldviews and the influence of sociodemographic characteristics on cultural biases, as theoretically posited. Among the variables examined, age had a positive and significant effect across all biases except individualism. The correlation of income to all cultural biases was consistently negative. Only education had a negative and significant effect across all biases. Women were found to adhere to egalitarianism, whereas men adhered to individualism and hierarchism. Thus, grid-group cultural theory was found to be appropriate in the Chinese context, with gender, age, education, and income evidently accounting for cultural biases. Relationships between environmental attitudes and cultural biases conformed with the hypothesis advanced by grid-group cultural theory. This finding may be of value in explaining individuals' environmental attitudes and facilitating the development and implementation of natural resource-management policies. |
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Keywords: | sociodemographic characteristics environmental attitudes cultural biases grid-group cultural theory rural residents Northwestern China |
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