Effort as a Moderator of the Attitude-Behavior Relationship: General Environmental Concern and Recycling

Schultz, P. W. & Oskamp, S. (1996). Effort as a moderator of the attitude-behavior relationship: General environmental concern and recycling. Social Psychology Quarterly, 59, 4, 375-383.

Examined the role of effort in the link between attitudes and behavior, and tested the possibility that effort can reconcile the disparate findings on the relationship between environmental concern and proenvironmental behaviors. In Exp 1, 129 undergraduates completed a measure on environmental concern. Results indicate that environmental concern is related to observed recycling in a setting that required high effort. In Exp 2, 104 undergraduates completed measures on efforts to recycle. Results indicate a strong positive relationship between attitudes of environmental concern and the amount of effort they were willing to exert to recycle. The 3rd study, a meta-analysis of studies on the relationship between environmental concern and recycling, showed that studies conducted in high-effort dropoff recycling programs typically found a stronger relationship than studies conducted in low-effort curbside recycling programs. Results consistently support the finding that effort is a strong moderator of the attitude-behavior relationship.

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