Dimensionality of Environmental Values and Attitudes: Empirical Evidence from Malaysia

Booi Chen Tan (), Nasreen Khan and Teck Chai Lau
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Booi Chen Tan: Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Persiaran Multimedia, Cyberjaya 63100, Selangor, Malaysia
Nasreen Khan: Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Persiaran Multimedia, Cyberjaya 63100, Selangor, Malaysia
Teck Chai Lau: Faculty of Business and Law, School of Marketing and Management, Taylor’s University, 1, Jalan Taylors, Subang Jaya 47500, Selangor, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-17

Abstract: This paper aims to examine the dimensions of environmental values from the combination of biospheric and altruistic values; and the dimensions of environmental attitudes using a revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale in a developing country. The unit of analysis was individual respondents who live in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Descriptive, reliability, exploratory, and confirmatory factor analyses were used to analyze the 500 useable data. The findings supported the reliability and validity of the research instruments. Both environmental values and attitudes are recommended as a single dimensional rather than multidimensional structure in a multicultural context of Malaysia. Respondents placed altruistic and biopsheric values in the same environmental value cluster, and a shorter version of the revised NEP scale is provided. As such, segregating environmental values and attitudes into multiple dimensions to segment and target individuals in Malaysia is not recommended. The distinction between altruistic and biopsheric values has rarely been validated in empirical research; and the suitability of the revised NEP scale to measure environmental attitudes is debatable due to the issues of its reliability, dimensionality, and applicability in the context of a non-Western developing country.

Keywords: attitudes; dimensions; environment; NEP; values (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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