Travel-Related Influencer Content on Instagram: How Social Media Fuels Wanderlust and How to Mitigate the Effect

Tremendous efforts will be required in the coming decades to limit the harmful effects of climate change. This includes travel behavior, which not only has a significant impact on climate but also affects the perceived justice and trust necessary to manage the transition to net zero successfully. Technologies such as social media can promote behavioral change; unfortunately, also for the negative. Drawing on social comparison theory, social identity theory, and the theory of planned behavior, this study uses a PLS-SEM model to investigate if and under which circumstances exposure to travel-related content posted by professional influencers affects their followers’ travel intentions. It extends previous studies by explicitly focusing on influencers that use Instagram to make a living and considers the effect of pro-environmental attitudes. On the one hand, it shows that influencers are not only responsible for their travel behavior. Their content stimulates their audiences’ wanderlust through benign envy. On the other hand, the study suggests that reinforcing pro-environmental attitudes can help mitigate the negative climate effects of imitating influencer travel behavior.

Schwartz’s Human Values and the Care for Nature in Croatia and Five Other Central European Countries Based on ESS Data from Round 4 (2008) and Round 9 (2018)

This paper examines the care for nature in Croatia based on the European Social Survey (ESS) data from Round 4 (2008) and Round 9 (2018) over time and cross-nationally, in comparison with five other Central European (CE) countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). We correlate the item about the care for nature with Schwartz’s Human Values Scale (HVS), as adapted for the ESS, to investigate whether values as defined by Schwartz serve as good predictors of the care for nature in selected CE countries. We also look at the correlation with respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics. Our analysis reveals that, while there are similarities regarding environmental attitudes and values among CE countries, there are also some individual differences. Croatia shows the strongest increase in the support for the care for nature over the 10-year period, and both Croatia and Slovenia score the highest on the care for nature in 2018. Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic show an overall stagnation in the results, while Hungary exhibits a significant decrease between 2008 and 2018. Our research in CE countries confirms that Schwartz’s HVS can be predictive of pro-environmentalism. However, while the findings for the higher-order value of Self-transcendence are in line with existing literature, the result suggesting that Conservatism is also a moderately good predictor of the care for nature is somewhat surprising. We posit that the reason could lie in the difference between collectivist vs. individualist value types, which provides a new dimension for the interpretation of environmental attitudes in these countries.

Paradise Regained? Localised and Limited Nature Connexions in the UK's Covid-19 Lockdown

Research has suggested that connexions between humans and the natural world lead to increased well-being and generate pro-environmental attitudes, which in turn benefit nature. This article asks whether users of outdoor public spaces in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 experienced greater connectedness with nature, consistent with the five “pathways to nature connectedness” identified in previous research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 42 individuals on their use of green and public spaces during the UK's lockdown, while a further 29 participants responded to an online survey. While the research revealed the importance of nature connectedness, only three of the five pathways were well-evidenced, and these connexions were frequently mediated by social activities. The article advances the study of nature connectedness by identifying challenges in applying the pathways framework and suggesting areas for further research to understand how the pathways operate in real-world conditions.

Cultural Models of the Self and Environmentalism: A Cross-cultural and Experimental Investigation

<p>Previous research suggests human–nature relations are influenced by human–human relations, particularly those related to the inclusion of others in self. Individuals who construe the self as more interdependent from others are more likely to protect nature than those who construe the self as more independent from others. We conducted cross-cultural and experimental studies to examine this proposition systematically using a recently developed seven-dimension model of self-construal. Study 1 (N = 7,279, k = 55) confirmed that those who saw themselves as more connected and committed to others were more likely to endorse environmental protectionism. Multilevel moderation analysis indicated that the association between commitment to others and environmental protection was stronger in societies that express greater difference to others and have greater self-expression, commitment to others, environmental performance, and societal development. However, experimentally priming interdependent versus independent self-construals in Study 2 (N = 419) did not increase participants’ connectedness with nature, but nature connectedness mediated the relationships between connection to others and pro-environmental attitudes. Results indicate that inclusion of others in self translates into inclusion of nature in self and environmental protection but inducing this effect may be challenging.</p>

Increasing the use of reclaimed and recycled building materials in New Zealand: Stakeholder perceptions

<p>This study investigated the perceptions of stakeholders in the building construction industry regarding the use of reused and recycled building materials (RRBMs) as a sustainable action in terms of using fewer natural resources and generating less waste. The aim was to find challenges to and opportunities for using RRBMs and provide recommendations for the relevant actors. Different occupations participated in this study including architects and designers, builders, manufacturers and suppliers, environmentalists, regulators and consumers. An explanatory-sequential, mixed-method approach was used to collect quantitative data and explore these more deeply with qualitative data to answer the research questions. The involvement of many different stakeholders was helpful in creating a multidimensional conceptualisation towards reaching sustainable construction goals. The roles, expectations, interrelationships, and demands of stakeholders were identified. The architect was perceived to be most influential construction industry stakeholder in the building project team on the uptake of RRBMs. The aim of this study was to create a big picture of the situation to show to decision-makers and other relevant audiences and give suggestions that could help to increase the use of RRBMs and ultimately lower the environmental impacts of buildings in New Zealand. The groups of stakeholders had different levels of environmental attitudes, although the mean score was in the pro-ecological range. Education level, occupation and ownership of property also influenced environmental attitudes. Of the stakeholders not directly associated with environmental activism, the architects had more environmentally friendly attitudes. Analysing the behaviour of stakeholders in terms of socio-demographic data and occupation indicated that women and people with tertiary education were more likely to engage in reuse and recycling activities and occupation also had an influence on this. Consumers had the least and architects the most knowledge of regulations and certification in this area. Examining the Theory of Planned Behaviour showed that architects with higher environmental attitude scores had stronger intentions to do more recycling or buy more recycled materials; however, their intentions were also influenced by factors affecting green purchase behaviour. Knowledge of related regulations and certificates also influenced their behaviour. Although the behavioural models differed for the other stakeholder groups, environmental attitudes and perceived behavioural control were strong predictors of behaviour involving reuse and recycling and particularly the use of RRBMs for all groups. Price and self-satisfaction were the most influential factors on green purchasing in this study, although age, gender, and income were also influential. The results of the quantitative and qualitative studies were different in the evaluation of material characteristics. In the qualitative results it was felt cost was most important whereas, in the quantitative results, it was felt performance and durability were most important. Architects and regulators emerged as the two most important stakeholder groups who could both lead and influence other stakeholders regarding the increased use of RRBMs in projects. In this situation, architects could have a leading role as decision-makers in the process of choosing a material, and could both inform and encourage the client to use RRBMs. Architects were also in a position to do the necessary research about such materials, and ask for supporting documents and certifications from manufacturers and suppliers.</p>

Increasing the use of reclaimed and recycled building materials in New Zealand: Stakeholder perceptions

<p>This study investigated the perceptions of stakeholders in the building construction industry regarding the use of reused and recycled building materials (RRBMs) as a sustainable action in terms of using fewer natural resources and generating less waste. The aim was to find challenges to and opportunities for using RRBMs and provide recommendations for the relevant actors. Different occupations participated in this study including architects and designers, builders, manufacturers and suppliers, environmentalists, regulators and consumers. An explanatory-sequential, mixed-method approach was used to collect quantitative data and explore these more deeply with qualitative data to answer the research questions. The involvement of many different stakeholders was helpful in creating a multidimensional conceptualisation towards reaching sustainable construction goals. The roles, expectations, interrelationships, and demands of stakeholders were identified. The architect was perceived to be most influential construction industry stakeholder in the building project team on the uptake of RRBMs. The aim of this study was to create a big picture of the situation to show to decision-makers and other relevant audiences and give suggestions that could help to increase the use of RRBMs and ultimately lower the environmental impacts of buildings in New Zealand. The groups of stakeholders had different levels of environmental attitudes, although the mean score was in the pro-ecological range. Education level, occupation and ownership of property also influenced environmental attitudes. Of the stakeholders not directly associated with environmental activism, the architects had more environmentally friendly attitudes. Analysing the behaviour of stakeholders in terms of socio-demographic data and occupation indicated that women and people with tertiary education were more likely to engage in reuse and recycling activities and occupation also had an influence on this. Consumers had the least and architects the most knowledge of regulations and certification in this area. Examining the Theory of Planned Behaviour showed that architects with higher environmental attitude scores had stronger intentions to do more recycling or buy more recycled materials; however, their intentions were also influenced by factors affecting green purchase behaviour. Knowledge of related regulations and certificates also influenced their behaviour. Although the behavioural models differed for the other stakeholder groups, environmental attitudes and perceived behavioural control were strong predictors of behaviour involving reuse and recycling and particularly the use of RRBMs for all groups. Price and self-satisfaction were the most influential factors on green purchasing in this study, although age, gender, and income were also influential. The results of the quantitative and qualitative studies were different in the evaluation of material characteristics. In the qualitative results it was felt cost was most important whereas, in the quantitative results, it was felt performance and durability were most important. Architects and regulators emerged as the two most important stakeholder groups who could both lead and influence other stakeholders regarding the increased use of RRBMs in projects. In this situation, architects could have a leading role as decision-makers in the process of choosing a material, and could both inform and encourage the client to use RRBMs. Architects were also in a position to do the necessary research about such materials, and ask for supporting documents and certifications from manufacturers and suppliers.</p>