Cross-Country Comparisons of Environmental Concern
Cross-Country Comparisons of Environmental Concern

Summary/Abstract: We investigate two approaches to exploring environmental concern in cross-national, big datasets. It is widely believed that environmental concern encompasses at least two components: the cognitive component, i.e. the recognition of environmental threats, and the conative component, i.e. the willingness to do something about them. Previous research examining the International Social Survey Programme Environmental Module used either one general factor linked to environmental concern (Franzen & Vogl, 2013) or two independent factors (Marquart-Pyatt, 2012) to measure the cognitive and connotative factors separately. In the present work we used a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis to examine both approaches. Our results indicate that treating both factors separately was valid for cross-country comparisons. Measuring environmental concern with one factor, however, was not consistent across countries. We conclude by addressing the consequences of our results pertaining to research and policy-making.

• Details
• Contents