Environmental activism and consumers’ perceived responsibility

Abstract

The growing importance of environmentalism trends have led to a significant rise in environmentally friendly consumers’ attitudes and behaviours who thereby demonstrate their collective strength through both their individual buying decisions and their involvement in social movements, as is the case of the environmental activism. This activism extends to include a set of environmental behaviours spanning environmental group membership, involvement in political action and/or in environmental organisations, influencing policy or management decisions and engaging in pro‐environmental protection behaviours. The more citizens become aware of their own role in the problem of environmental degradation, the more willing they prove to become part of the solution. High levels of individual Perceived Environmental Responsibility (PER) may foster the more environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviours that lead to Environmental Activism (EA). Thus, the purpose of this research is precisely to discuss the relationship between PER and EA, and whether gender proves a significant factor in predicting PER and EA. For a sample of Portuguese consumers, who consented to participating in the research, we studied the predisposition towards EA by applying a questionnaire administered in the form of a personal interview. The results indicate that despite the perceived environmental responsibility observed, individuals present only low levels of environmental activism and civic participation in environmental causes. However, for the small percentage of individuals belonging to an environmental organisation, we do verify that EA ran higher among those reporting Environmental Group Membership (EGM). We additionally observe how PER might prove a predictor of EA even though the model applied to test this relationship only explained a small proportion of the variance in EA levels and hence requiring further research into the factors influencing EA. As regard gender, while women display similar levels of EA to men, they also report significantly higher PER than men.