Browsing by Author "Milfont TL"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Environmental stewardship: A systematic scoping review.
    (Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2024-05-07) McLeod LJ; Kitson JC; Dorner Z; Tassell-Matamua NA; Stahlmann-Brown P; Milfont TL; Hine DW; Belgrano A
    Environmental stewardship is a term describing both the philosophy and the actions required to protect, restore, and sustainably use natural resources for the future benefit of the environment and society. In this paper, we review the environmental science literature to map the types of practical actions that are identified as 'environmental stewardship' using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for scoping reviews. We specifically mapped: 1) the type of actions and outcomes targeting the natural environment that have been categorized as environmental stewardship, 2) the main actors, and the underlying factors influencing their environmental stewardship actions, and 3) the methods used to mobilize environmental stewardship actions once these factors are known. From the 77 selected articles, we found the term environmental stewardship encompassed a multitude of different actions, undertaken by a range of actors and addressing an array of issues that impact biodiversity on the land and in the water. These stewardship actions were conducted on both privately-owned and publicly managed lands and waterways, and across rural and urban landscapes. Despite many studies identifying characteristics and underlying behavioral factors that predicted actors' participation in stewardship actions, there were few studies formally evaluating interventions to increase stewardship. Our review highlighted the term environmental stewardship is not embraced by all and is viewed by some as being inconsistent with aspects of indigenous worldviews. A better understanding of the concept of environmental stewardship and continued practical research into its practice is fundamental to empowering people to demand and enact environmental stewardship as well as for evaluating the success of their actions.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Protecting and restoring freshwater biodiversity across urban areas in Aotearoa New Zealand: Citizens' reporting of pollution in stormwater drains and waterways
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2024-02) McLeod LJ; Hine DW; Milfont TL; Dorner Z; Tassell-Matamua NA; Maris RDC; Kitson JC; Stahlmann-Brown P
    Urbanization poses numerous challenges to freshwater biodiversity. This paper describes two studies with the joint aim of demonstrating the benefits of applying a systematic behaviour change framework and providing the foundational knowledge to inform future behavior change work to protect and restore urban freshwater biodiversity. In Study 1 we used a mixed-methods research design, involving 14 key informant interviews followed by an online survey targeting 17 freshwater biodiversity experts and another targeting a representative sample of 550 urban residents, to identify and prioritize the most promising resident behaviors to target to reduce stormwater pollution and improve natural waterway habitats in urban areas. Study 2 focused on the top-ranked short-term behavior identified in Study 1, citizen reporting of pollution in stormwater drains and waterways. We surveyed a representative sample of 1901 urban residents across Aoteraoa New Zealand to identify four main determinants influencing this behavior: awareness and uncertainty about reporting, lack of opportunity to report, social motivation and personal motivation to report, and five potential target audiences: 'Supportive', 'Unaware but receptive', 'Motivated but lack support', 'Reluctant', and 'Not my problem'. We make recommendations for the most appropriate intervention designs to target each of these audience segments to promote the reporting of stormwater pollution in urban areas. This knowledge will allow for a more coordinated and effective approach for addressing the 'human element' that lies at the heart of many urban freshwater management problems.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The impact of the Kaikoura earthquake on risk-related behaviour, perceptions, and social norm messages
    (Massey University, 2019-12) Vinnell LJ; Milfont TL; McClure J
    The unpredictability of earthquakes poses a significant challenge to examining and understanding the effects of these events on risk-related perceptions and behaviour. Natural experiments, a type of quasi-experimental method, allow for close approximations of treatmentcontrol designs when data collection and earthquake events coincide. This study reports one such natural experiment, testing the effect of the November 2016 Kaikoura earthquake on risk perception, perceived norms, and preparation among residents of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Additionally, this research tested whether previously demonstrated effects of social norm messaging on support for recent legislation for strengthening earthquake-prone buildings was weaker following the event. As expected, earthquake preparation and concern were higher after the earthquake. Social norm effects were weaker after the earthquake but did not disappear entirely; these effects therefore appear to be relatively robust even to significant events, supporting the use of social norms in earthquake-related messaging.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Why do people prepare for natural hazards? Developing and testing a Theory of Planned Behaviour approach
    (Elsevier B.V., 2021-06-12) Vinnell LJ; Milfont TL; McClure J
    Natural hazards such as earthquakes and tsunami can have adverse impacts on infrastructures and populations globally. In Wellington, New Zealand, perception of these risks is high but many people are poorly prepared. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour in a pre-registered longitudinal study, we assessed intentions, cognitions, and beliefs about the behaviour of preparing for natural hazards at Time 1 (N= 153) and self-reported behaviour one month later with 61 participants from the sample at Time 2. Experiential attitudes, instrumental attitudes, self-efficacy, and perceived descriptive norms explained approximately 34% of the variance in intentions, which in turn predicted preparation for natural hazards, although confidence in this result is qualified by the small sample size. Further, this study identified several key beliefs related to preparing, such as the belief that preparing helps people to get through a natural hazard event better, that people can make the effort to prepare, and that preparing can be fun and rewarding. These beliefs offer specific and tangible factors which can be efficiently addressed in public education campaigns. Secondly, this study addressed a number of common methodological limitations in how the Theory of Planned Behaviour is conceptualised, applied, and measured, by incorporating consistent inclusion of constructs and belief measures and coherence between measures of intentions and behaviour. This research supports the implementation of the two-factor distinction, splitting attitudes into instrumental and experiential, social norms into descriptive and injunctive, and perceived behavioural control into controllability and self-efficacy as well as including the belief measures which indirectly explain intentions. The Theory of Planned Behaviour has a long history of beneficial applications to a variety of behaviours, but the recommendations made here for future use aim to improve the usefulness of the theory in research beyond natural hazards, including comparisons of findings between studies.