Title: Campus conservation initiatives: factors influencing student engagement, attitudes and behaviours

Authors: Rick Gage; David Graefe

Addresses: Outdoor Recreation Management, Division of Business and Entrepreneurship, Davis & Elkins College, 100 Campus Drive, Elkins, WV 26241, USA ' Natural Resources and Recreation Management, College of Science, Marshall University, One John Marshall Drive, Huntington, WV 25755, USA

Abstract: College campuses play a primary role in promoting and facilitating sustainability and pro-environmental behaviour. While many studies have focused on campus sustainability efforts, few have specifically focused on how students interact with campus conservation initiatives, factors that influence these interactions, and how interactions are related to attitudes and behaviours. The purpose of this study is to examine factors that influence student engagement with campus conservation initiatives, and the relationships between engagement, demographics, attitudes, and behaviours. Analyses revealed more similarities than differences between demographic groups, and the differences that were found were too small to be of practical importance. Of greater importance was the finding that student who had been exposed to conservation projects via a course or professor showed greater overall engagement and more frequent participation in pro-environmental behaviours. Path analyses suggest that student engagement with campus conservation initiatives and general environmental attitudes can be used to predict pro-environmental behaviours.

Keywords: campus conservation; conservation initiatives; environmental attitudes; environmental behaviours; student engagement; sustainability; higher education; sustainable development; new ecological paradigm; NEP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHES.2019.101960

International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability, 2019 Vol.2 No.3, pp.197 - 215

Received: 23 Jul 2018
Accepted: 24 Oct 2018

Published online: 02 Sep 2019 *

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