Pro-environmental Behavior among a Sample of Rural People in Gharbia Governorate

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Associate Professor of Rural Sociology- Faculty of Agriculture-Tanta University

Abstract

Human environmental behavior is a result of human-environment interaction. This interaction faces a wide variety of environmental problems. Solving these problems require understanding the environmental behavior. This research aimed to develop and test a causal model of pro-environmental behavior of rural people. The hypothesised causal model consists of 15 exogenous and endogenous variables, which are traditional values, altruism and biosphere values, self-interest values, openness to change values, age, education level, family size, housing level, monthly family income, the new ecological paradigm, awareness of the consequences of environmental problems, personal normative beliefs, environmental citizenship, willingness to sacrifice economically for the environment and environmental behavior of the consumer. Data were collected from a sample of 390 male and female of household’s heads in Gharbia Governorate through personal interviews. Results showed that the most important results indicated that the main variables that have a unique significant effect in explaining the variance in the causal model and the largest in terms of direct causal effect in the causal model are openness to change values; traditional values; personal normative beliefs; housing level and family size variables. The findings of this research to understanding pro-environmental behavior of rural people are discussed.

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