Title: The continuum of pro-environmental behaviour in the context of the value-belief-norm theory of environmentalism: implications towards sustainable development

Authors: Ian Phil Canlas; Mageswary Karpudewan

Addresses: Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Central Asia, Naryn 722918, Kyrgyz Republic ' School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia

Abstract: This paper reports a systematic review of studies on pro-environmental behaviour anchored on the value-belief-norm theory of environmentalism extracted from the Scopus database and published between 1999 and the present. It aimed at determining the continuum of pro-environmental behaviour and study locale by examining context-themes of the same in the hope of determining research opportunities and future research directions. Results revealed that although the trend is increasing, the number of studies related to it still needs to grow. Among the categories of the context-themes that emerged include: 1) energy conservation; 2) green/sustainable consumption; 3) waste management; 4) green/sustainable tourism; 5) climate change mitigation and adaptation; 6) biodiversity conservation; 7) policy support; 8) pro-environmental behaviour in workplaces; 9) other minor emergent themes. Most locales were from western and highly developed countries. The later part of the paper reflects environmentalism in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Keywords: value-belief-norm theory; pro-environmental behaviour; environmentalism; sustainable development; sustainable development goals; SDGs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2023.129143

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2023 Vol.26 No.1, pp.22 - 50

Received: 22 Dec 2021
Received in revised form: 06 Aug 2022
Accepted: 18 Nov 2022
Published online: 22 Feb 2023 *