“Act on Climate Change”: An Application of Protection Motivation Theory

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 62-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Cismaru ◽  
Romulus Cismaru ◽  
Takaya Ono ◽  
Kristina Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Suitable Model ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Communication Campaigns

Our planet's climate is changing (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010), and current scientific evidence proves that global climate change is induced by humans (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). Many scientists agree that climate change is one of the greatest threats faced by our planet. The climate change literature demonstrates that fear appeals can be used to encourage behavioral changes that will mitigate climate change (Nisbet, 2009; Patchen, 2006; Pike, Doppelt, & Herr, 2010). This article proposes Protection Motivation Theory (PMT; Rogers, 1983) as a suitable model to guide communication campaigns in the area of climate change. It also analyzes the extent to which a series of communication campaigns that are designed to persuade individuals to adopt behaviors that prevent climate change conform to PMT. Recommendations to improve the campaigns are presented.

scholarly journals Can Protection Motivation Theory Explain Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change Decision Making in The Gambia?

Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdoul Bagagnan ◽  
Issa Ouedraogo ◽  
William M. Fonta ◽  
Musa Sowe ◽  
Anne Wallis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
The Gambia ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
River Region ◽  
Capacity Degradation

In The Gambia, climate change has affected, and continues to affect, the agriculture sector. Thus, there is a need to develop and understand effective agricultural adaptation policies. The present study used protection motivation theory to describe farmers’ adoption of climate change adaptation measures in the Central River Region of The Gambia. Primary data were collected in eight communities of the region. A transect walk was conducted, followed by a survey of farmers (n = 283). Perception data collected referred back to the past 20 years, with stated implementation addressing current adaptation practices. Results showed that the perception variables, namely, severity, ability to withstand, and internal barriers, were significantly correlated with protection motivation, while protection motivation and stated implementation for water conservation technique were strongly correlated. Structural equation modeling confirmed the mediation role of protection motivation between farmers’ “stated implementation” of adaptation measures and their perception of climate variability. A decrease in soil water storage capacity, degradation of the quality of soil surface structure, and a decrease of the length of the growing season are all factors that motivate farmers to implement an adaptation measure. The cost of the implementation and farmers’ vulnerability are factors that prevent implantation of adaptation measures. This study suggested that farmers’ resilience should be improved and adaptation measures should be subsidized in order to make them more accessible to farmers.

scholarly journals Increasing Intention to Reduce Fossil Fuel Consumption: A Protection Motivation Theory Based Experimental Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Jane Kothe ◽  
Mathew Ling ◽  
Barbara Mullan ◽  
Anna Klas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Experimental Study ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Fuel Use ◽  
The Impact

Reducing individual fossil fuel use is an important component of climate change mitigation, but motivating behaviour change to achieve this is difficult. This experimental study tests the impact of Protection Motivation Theory based messages on intention to reduce fossil fuel use in 3803 US adults recruited via Amazon MTurk (mean age = 36.11 years; 51.4% female). Only messages targeting self-efficacy and response efficacy increased intention to reduce fossil fuel use relative to the control group. However, only the self-efficacy message had an impact on its corresponding construct, highlighting the importance of manipulation checks in model testing. Given the urgency of responding to climate change, the potential for additive benefits of effective messages should be considered irrespective of their underlying psychological mechanism. Study preregistration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/2G6BQ. Data related to this manuscript: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/2TRBK.

scholarly journals Determinants of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation strategies: An Application of Protection Motivation Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (337) ◽  
pp. 9-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dereje Tesema Regasa ◽  
Nega Abera Akirso
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Adaptation And Mitigation

Abstract Climate change is an inevitable global challenge of the 21st century. For developing countries like Ethiopia, it intensifies existing challenges towards ensuring sustainable development. Adopting the protection motivation theory, this study examined factors affecting the practice of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies among farmers. The study employed a mixed research approach to assess the subjective understanding of farmers about climate change threats and identify factors determining their responses to climate change effects. Qualitative data were collected using focus group discussions and interviews. Quantitative information was gathered using semi-structured survey from 296 randomly selected farmers. Qualitative data was dominantly analyzed using content analysis, while descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyze quantitative data. Almost all respondents (97%) perceived that climate change was occurring and threatening their wellbeing. Dwindling precipitation, increasing temperature and occurrence of human and animal disease were perceived to represent climate change effects. From nationally initiated strategies, farmers were found to largely practice soil and water conservation, which they perceived as less costly and compatible to local knowledge. The result of binary logistic regression revealed that perceived severity of climate change, perceived susceptibility to climate change threat, perceived own ability to respond, response efficacy, and cost of practices predicted farmers’ motivation to practice climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Thus, building a resilient system should go beyond sensitizing climate response mechanisms. Policies should focus on human capital development and economic empowerment which would enable farmers to pursue context-specific adaptation and mitigation strategies, thereby maintaining a sustainable livelihood.

scholarly journals Determinants of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies: An Application of Protection Motivation Theory in Konta District, South Western Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 49-73
Author(s):  
Dereje Tesema Regasa ◽  
Nega Abera Akirso
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Adaptation And Mitigation

AbstractClimate change becomes a widely acknowledged and inevitable global challenge of 21st century. For developing countries like Ethiopia, it intensifies existing challenges of ensuring sustainable development. This study examined factors affecting climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies by taking in Protection Motivation Theory. The study draws on mixed research approach in order to assess the subjective understanding about climate change threats and identify the factors determining responses to climate change. While qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions and interviews, quantitative information was collected using semi structured survey from 296 randomly selected farmers from different agro-ecologies. Qualitative data was dominantly analyzed using content analysis while descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyze quantitative data. Almost all respondents (97%) perceived that climate change is occurring and threatening their wellbeing. Dwindling precipitation, increasing temperature and occurrence of human and animal disease were perceived to represent climate change. From nationally initiated strategies, farmers were found to largely practice soil and water conservation and agricultural intensification, which they perceived less costly and compatible to their level of expertise. The result of binary logistic regression revealed that perceived severity of climate change, perceived susceptibility to climate change threat, perceived own ability to respond, response efficacy and cost of practices predicted farmers motivation to practice climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Thus, building resilient system should go beyond sensitizing climate response mechanisms. Rural development and climate change adaptation policies should focus on human capital development and economic empowerment which would enable farmers pursue context specific adaptation and mitigation strategies thereby maintain sustainable livelihood.

scholarly journals Protection Motivation Theory and intention to reduce fossil fuel consumption in response to climate change

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Jane Kothe ◽  
Mathew Ling ◽  
Raissa Donadon Berne ◽  
Imogen Russell-Head ◽  
Barbara Mullan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Fossil Fuel Consumption ◽  
Intention To Change

Climate change represents a significant threat to society and the ecosystem at large, but many do not respond to this threat. This study investigates whether constructs within Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) explain individuals’ intention to reduce their fossil fuel consumption. US residents (N=541) completed a cross-sectional survey of intention to reduce fossil fuel consumption and PMT constructs. Correlational results were consistent with the PMT; threat appraisal and coping efficacy constructs were correlated with intention to change behaviour. In a regression model, all constructs accounted for unique variance in intention to reduce fossil fuel usage. However, maladaptive response rewards had an unexpected positive relationship with intention in this model. Interestingly, this was not observed in structure coefficients. PMT constructs accounted for 59% of intention to reduce fossil fuel use. These findings support the unique contributions of the PMT constructs in the context of individual pro-environmental behaviours and highlight potential targets for interventions.

scholarly journals Antecedents of Consumers’ Purchase Intention towards Organic Food: Integration of Theory of Planned Behavior and Protection Motivation Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5218
Author(s):  
Suk Min Pang ◽  
Booi Chen Tan ◽  
Teck Chai Lau
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Theory Of Planned Behavior ◽  
Planned Behavior ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Structural Relationships

Before consequences of climate change continue to intensify and increasingly affect the entire planet, immediate action must be taken. For instance, adopt the pro-environmental behaviors such as purchase of organic food to minimize the harmful human-caused impacts to the environment. This paper aims to determine the factors that influence the purchase intention of organic food in Malaysia by applying the theory of planned behavior and the protection motivation theory. A total of 300 questionnaires were collected and PLS-SEM was employed to test the structural relationships. Consequences of climate change and health threats were not the primary concerns among Malaysians when deciding whether to purchase organic food. Results show that perceived vulnerability, response efficacy, self-efficacy, subjective norm, and attitude affect purchase intention towards organic food. Consumers were more likely to have positive attitude towards organic food when they have adequate information on vulnerability of a threat and its consequences. The findings provide insights on the antecedents and outcomes of purchase intention towards organic food particularly in Malaysia. Although predictive power of perceived factors such as perceived rewards and perceived efficacy have been extensively researched in the past, there are limited studies that integrate both theories that simultaneously investigate antecedents of consumers’ purchase intention towards organic food.

Protection Motivation Theory Measure--Revised

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Williams ◽  
Susan Rasmussen ◽  
Adam Kleczkowski ◽  
Savi Maharaj ◽  
Nicole Cairns
Keyword(s):  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Motivation Theory

scholarly journals Determinants of adherence to COVID-19 measures among the Belgian population: an application of the protection motivation theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joris Adriaan Frank van Loenhout ◽  
Kirsten Vanderplanken ◽  
Bénédicte Scheen ◽  
Stephan Van den Broucke ◽  
Isabelle Aujoulat
Keyword(s):  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Protection Motivation Theory ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Protection Motivation ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Response Efficacy ◽  
Belgian Population

Abstract Background Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Belgian government has implemented various infection prevention and control measures. This study assessed the extent to which the general population in Belgium adhered to these measures, and which determinants were associated with adherence. Methods We undertook an internet survey among a sample of the Belgian population, representative for sex, age, socio-economic status and province. The questionnaire included various demographic, socio-economic and health-related questions, and also drew upon the Protection Motivation Theory as a theoretical framework to measure levels of perceived severity, vulnerability, perceived usefulness of the measures (response efficacy), perceived personal capacity to adhere (self-efficacy), and past and future adherence. Data were collected in Dutch and French, the main languages of Belgium. Results Our study was carried out in September 2020, and the number of respondents was 2008. On average, respondents provided high scores for each of the measures in place in September in terms of response efficacy (range of 3.54–4.32 on 1 to 5 Likert-scale), self-efficacy (range of 3.00–4.00), past adherence (4.00–4.68) and future adherence (3.99–4.61). The measure that overall received the highest scores was wearing a face mask in public spaces, while ‘the social bubble of 5’ generally received the lowest scores. There was a statistically significant relationship between response efficacy and self-efficacy on the one hand and (past and future) adherence on the other hand, in a multivariate model corrected for confounders. Vulnerability and severity did not show statistical significance. Conclusion Risk communication regarding COVID-19 should place a stronger emphasis on helping people understand why implemented measures are useful and how they can be put into practice, more than on increasing fear appeals.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document