Current Psychology

, Volume 37, Issue 1, pp 225–233 | Cite as

Investigating pro-Environmental Behaviors of Lithuanian University Students

Article

Abstract

In the light of global environmental problems, investigating pro-environmental behaviors is becoming increasingly popular and relevant. The present study is aimed at investigating some of the most common pro-environmental behaviors (recycling, using environmentally friendly transportation, conserving water, and conserving electricity) of Lithuanian university students. A total of 282 university students from several Lithuanian universities enrolled in various study programs participated in the survey. Participants filled in measures based on the theory of planned behavior, as well as measures for their value orientations and their perceived descriptive norms of pro-environmental behaviors. The results showed that perceived behavioral control and personal norms towards sustainable behaviors more or less consistently predict the investigated behaviors, while attitudes towards behavior do not necessarily translate into behavioral intentions; moreover the role of value orientations or perceived descriptive norms might not be that substantial in understanding pro-environmental behaviors. Some suggestions for future research and for promoting pro-environmental behavior are presented.

Keywords

Sustainability Theory of planned behavior Norms Values Environment Pro-environmental behavior 

Notes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institute of PsychologyMykolas Romeris UniversityVilniusLithuania

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