Using the norm activation model to predict the pro-environmental behaviors of public servants at the central and local governments in Taiwan

Wei Ta Fang, Yi Te Chiang, Eric Ng, Jen Chieh Lo*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An understanding of the environmental value-action gap between public servants at the central and local governments is essential for the effective implementation of environmental policies, which is limited in the extant literature. This study has adopted the norm activation model to explore the pro-environmental behaviors of public servants at the central and local governments in Taiwan. A total of 7567 valid questionnaires were collected, and significant differences were evident between public servants at the central (n = 3400) and local (n = 4167) governments in personal norms, awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and pro-environmental behaviors. Findings revealed that personal norms were the key factors predicting pro-environmental behaviors of public servants at both the central and local governments. Results also indicated that the awareness of consequences by public servants at the central government had a direct effect on their pro-environmental behaviors, which in turn had a significant effect on their ascription of responsibility. In contrast, awareness of consequences by public servants at the local government had no significant direct effect on their pro-environmental behaviors and had only a weak positive effect on their ascription of responsibility.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3712
JournalSustainability (Switzerland)
Volume11
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019 Jul 1

Keywords

  • Ascription of responsibility
  • Awareness of consequence
  • Central and local government
  • Norm activation model
  • Public servants

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science (miscellaneous)
  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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