Motivations to Act for the Protection of Nature Biodiversity and the Environment: A Matter of "Significance"

Molinario, Erica;Kruglanski, Arie W.;Bonaiuto, Flavia;Bonnes, Mirilia;Cicero, Lavinia;Fornara, Ferdinando;Scopelliti, Massimiliano;Admiraal, Jeroen;Beringer, Almut;Dedeurwaerdere, Tom;deGroot, Wouter;Hiedanpää, Juha;Knights, Paul;Knippenberg, Luuk;Ovdenden, Chris;Polajnar Horvat, Katarina;Popa, Florin;Porras-Gomez, Carmen;Smrekar, Aleš;Soethe, Nathalie;Vivero-Pol, Jose Luis;van den Born, Riyan J. G.;Bonaiuto, Marino

2020-01-01

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Abstract

Environmental activism, defined as a range of difficult pro-environmental behaviors, is analyzed within the conceptual framework of Significance Quest Theory (SQT). In Study 1, 40 interviews were carried out on two groups of people in the European Union: Committed Actors for Nature (CANs,n= 25) versus Committed Actors for Society (CASs,n= 15). Results demonstrated that Significance Quest (SQ) motivates each group to be strongly committed to their chosen action and the main difference between them being in their ideology (pro-social vs. pro-environmental). In Study 2 (N= 131), the relationship between SQ and intention to enact difficult pro-environmental behaviors was assessed. Results suggested that the higher the SQ, the higher the tendency to enact difficult pro-environmental behaviors, but not average or easy ones. Moreover, the higher the pro-environmental ideology, the stronger the indirect effect of SQ on difficult behavior through willingness to sacrifice.