Title: Consumer environmental concern: the imbalance between values, attitudes and behaviour - a survey in Central Brazil

Authors: Bento Alves Da Costa Filho; Fernando De Rosa; Mariana De Freitas Coelho

Addresses: Programa de Mestrado Profissionalizante em Administração, Faculdades Alfa, Av. Perimetral Norte, No. 4129 Vila João Vaz, Goiânia, GO, Brasil ' Programa de Mestrado Profissionalizante em Administração, Faculdades Alfa, Av. Perimetral Norte, No. 4129 Vila João Vaz, Goiânia, GO, Brasil ' Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Rua Coronel Córdova, 1274 Centro, Lages, SC, Brazil

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to assess the environmental concern felt by Brazilian citizens who live in a region where economic success has environmental consequences. This evaluation takes into consideration the most frequent environmental issues as identified in the literature, including environmental degradation, waste and recycling, environmental preservation responsibilities, consumer tradeoffs, pro-environmental behaviour and product usage. Based on a proposed framework, the main hypothesis tested is related to the gap between values and attitudes towards actual pro-environmental behaviour. A non-probabilistic sample was collected from the city of Goiania in Central Brazil and data was analysed through structural equation modelling and exploratory factorial analysis. Results confirmed the findings of previous studies undertaken in other locations. Although respondents are concerned about the environment in terms of their attitudes and values, this concern did not translate into corresponding pro-environmental action.

Keywords: consumer; environmental concern; values; attitudes; behaviour; Central Brazil; structural equation modelling; SEM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2017.085070

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2017 Vol.16 No.3, pp.279 - 296

Received: 17 Oct 2015
Accepted: 15 Nov 2016

Published online: 10 Jul 2017 *

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