The role of exposure to communication channels, institutional trust and moral norm in predicting PM2.5 risk-reduction intention in China: A study of the theory of planned behavior.

Understanding and encouraging people to perform PM2.5 risk-reduction behaviors is essential to reduce the health risks caused by PM2.5 and to promote a healthy lifestyle. This study aims to predict the effects of psychological factors (attitude, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and moral norm) on individual’s PM2.5 risk-reduction intention. It also looks into how contextual factors (exposure to communication channels and institutional trust) can influence behavioral intention and make contributions to the predicting powers of the theory of planned behavior. To achieve this goal, I analyze the secondary survey data that randomly selected residents living in three regions known for heavy air pollution in China. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is conducted to validate the reliability and construct validity for each theoretical concept. Then, I assess the underlying structure of exposure to communication channels to two dimensions (news vs. socially mediated communication) through a principal axis factor analysis. Hierarchical regression analysis indicates that individual’s attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and self-efficacy are important factors of individual’s PM2.5 risk-reduction intention. Moral norm plays an important role in the study and predicts a significant additional variance in intention. Furthermore, two types of exposure to communication channels have a significant effect on intention to perform risk-reduction behavior. In addition, institutional trust is found to be positively associated with intention and has positive correlations with all of the components of the theory of planned behavior. The study also finds that items regarding behavioral adjustment to external air (pollution) quality are the most helpful and will make the most difference in predicting PM2.5 risk-reduction behavioral intentions

Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3

Consumers’ behavioural intentions in wellness tourism : insights from Hainan, China

Wellness tourism has become a popular trend of tourism activity in the 21st century for people to meet the needs of wellness and leisure. As a sunrise industry, wellness tourism has great market potential and prospective future in China. Hainan, the only tropical island in China, has great advantages in developing wellness tourism. Hainan has a pleasant climate and picturesque scenery, its nature environment and unique features attract tourists from all over the world. Given the importance of the wellness tourism industry in Hainan, wellness tourist consumption behaviour needs to be further explored. However, there is a limited study in exploring the consumptive profiles of wellness tourists. In order to fill the gaps of the research in wellness tourism, this study chose wellness tourists as the research subject for the study of consumer behaviour to identify the needs of wellness tourists, factors influencing the tourist needs, and their degree of influence on the choice of wellness tourism. The aim of this research was to achieve the following objectives: (1) To identify the socio-demographic profiles of wellness tourists in Hainan; (2) To analyse the factors including attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, past behaviour, perception of the tourist destination and wellness lifestyle attributes that affect Chinese people’s travel intention of wellness tourism; (3) To test the relevance of the original TPB model and develop an extended TPB model (ETPB). The results showed that subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, past behaviour, perception of tourist destination and wellness lifestyle were significantly related to behavioural intention of wellness tourism. Perception of tourist destination was found to function as a mediating variable in the formation mechanism of travel intention of wellness tourism. In addition, the moderating effect of wellness lifestyle has also been tested and verified in the relationships between subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and travel intention of wellness tourism in the ETPB model. Surprisingly, attitude toward wellness tourism was found to exert no direct effect on travel intention of wellness tourism, yet it indirectly predicted travel intention through perception of tourist destination. Moreover, wellness lifestyle failed to moderate the relationship between attitude toward wellness tourism and travel intention

仮想評価法と計画的行動理論に基づく北京市住民による都市廃棄物管理政策の評価手法に関する研究

Research of the willingness to pay (WTP) for the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management by using the online questionnaires was conducted with local residents in Beijing. A standard CVM was used for surveying the WTP for the MSW management by measuring subjective feed backs with the questionnaires. All study participants provided informed consent, and the research has been approved and admitted by the ethics committee of Kitakyushu University, Japan. This research predicts the willingness to pay of Beijing citizens for municipal solid waste waste management, using Beijing as an example, and proposes an extended model based on the contingent valuation method and the theory of planned behavior. Based on this extended model, it contributes to the development of new low-carbon policies in Chinese cities and socially sustainable cities, and proves its effectiveness.北九州市立大

Solving the ‘Wicked Problem’ of China’s Environmental Future: Cautious Optimism in the Face of Unprecedented Threats

China’s global position as an exporter of inexpensive, low-value goods has been sustained by a coal-fired growth model whose devastating environmental and social consequences are only recently being acknowledged properly by party leadership. A systematic review and analysis has been conducted of the most current academic literature addressing China’s environmental challenges. A sizeable amount of research (around 360 publications) was amassed in this pursuit, covering not only China’s environment, but also related governmental, economic, and social factors. The author has defined China\u27s environmental future as a \u27wicked problem\u27, which creates two allowances by default. First, it communicates that the problem is highly complex, involves multiple stakeholders, and has no easy solutions. Second, it recognizes that only a uniquely multi- sectoral approach can achieve accurate forecasting and sound recommendations. This paper follows this multi-sectoral approach, crossing institutional lines in search of developments economically and politically, as well as prevailing trends in both technology and culture. Scenario building of divergent futures has been visualized in order to generate confident and informed forecasting of China\u27s environmental future. The author remains cautiously optimistic regarding these future projections. However, heroic innovations in technology and environmental efficiency must be matched by seismic shifts in economic, social, and political policy. Real solutions and recommendations are prescribed in the final section of this Capstone. The importance of these recommendations cannot be overestimated. Expert consensus has equated humanity\u27s avoidance of climate fallout with the need for transformative solutions in China

TOWARD THE MICRO-FOUNDATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: FOSTERING PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR AMONG EMPLOYEES TO BOOST CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Today, the world is still struggling to find ways to control pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change. Consequently, environmental sustainability has become an essential concept in the global business environment. This study examined the factors that can influence the environmental sustainability performance of organizations. While previous studies have examined the role of regulatory frameworks, industry standards, innovation, and the use of clean technologies in achieving environmental sustainability, little attention has been paid to the role of employees in improving a company\u27s environmental performance. This study examined how employees\u27 pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors are triggered in the workplace. It then examines how employees influence the environmental sustainability performance of their organizations. This research project consists of two independent studies: (1) Investigating the determinants of employees\u27 pro-environmental behavior. Based on the theory of planned behavior, it is hypothesized that employees\u27 participation in environmental training, environmental initiatives, and leadership roles related to environmental values will induce subjective norms, pro-environmental attitudes, and pro-environmental behavioral controls in employees, in turn, has a positive effect on their pro-environmental behavior, and (2) How employees\u27 pro-environmental behavior can influence the environmental performance of organizations? Both studies provided an understanding of the micro-foundations of corporate environmental sustainability, responding to recent calls for bridging the micro and macro domains in the field of environmental sustainability. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the proposed theoretical framework. For this purpose, a survey was conducted among 309 employees and managers of public and private sector organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Research findings show a significant positive relationship between employee environmental behavior and organizational performance when cost-effective factors such as environmental training, transformational leadership, and employee participation in decision-making processes are supported by organizations

Pristine Places and Passive People? Responses to Neoliberal Development and Maoist Conflict in Nepal\u27s Northwest Himalayas

In Humla District, Nepal, agro-pastoralists\u27 confrontations with forces of change in the last generation have altered villagers\u27 abilities to gain access to scarce resources. Development efforts and Nepal\u27s recent armed conflict, in particular, introduced novel technologies and ideologies that affected Humli vulnerabilities. This dissertation is based on field research comparing two Hindu villages in northwest Nepal during 2009 and 2010. One village had more extensive ties to development than the other, and these villagers and other change agents co-created transitional contexts of vulnerability in the post-conflict setting of rural Nepal. An armed conflict dominated the political landscape in Nepal for nearly ten years, ostensibly to uplift downtrodden members of society. Humlis who joined the Maoists during the insurgency had higher average incomes and higher overall socioeconomic statuses than those who did not join. This research challenges conventional wisdom about how `people\u27s wars\u27 motivate individuals of different social positions. Indeed, villagers\u27 responses to development workers and Maoist combatants were surprisingly similar. Certain development processes had de-stabilized parts of the region, and contributed both materially and ideologically to the vulnerabilities people experienced during and following the conflict. The rise of Nepali democracy and the development industry since the early 1990s has presented new social networking and resource options to Humlis as well as exposing them to new risks and vulnerabilities. The villagers who resisted some of these novelties had better food security and health outcomes and less divisive experiences of the conflict than villagers more engaged with development. Based on over a year of fieldwork (participant observation, surveys, interviews, and focus groups), statistical and ArcGIS analyses represent landscapes of health, health-seeking behavior, conflict, and kin networks in northwestern Nepal. These findings explore the integration of neoliberal development in this post-conflict setting in which cultural pluralism, caste, Hinduism and cultural conservatism all shape decision-making. They reveal the social and material resource conditions conducive to engagement in risky behavior in a politically and ecologically diverse and fragile context, with implications for Nepal\u27s, and by extension other rapidly developing regions\u27, ongoing development and contexts of vulnerability