Measuring “environmental quotient (EvQ)” for individuals: development of a multiple-item scale

Poornima Gupta, Sanghamitra Bhattacharyya and Alok Kumar

Social Responsibility Journal, 2025, vol. 21, issue 7, 1484-1502

Abstract: Purpose - The urgency of achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) necessitates individual behavior change toward environmental sustainability. Given the positive influence of high intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ) on life choices, this study aims to propose and validate a novel construct – the environmental quotient (EvQ), for individuals. Design/methodology/approach - Primary data was collected from 692 respondents on a survey questionnaire comprising of 33 items measuring 5 constructs. Covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to validate the constructs and test the model fit using AMOS. Findings - The constructed EvQ scale demonstrated strong internal consistency and convergent validity. Analysis revealed significant positive relationships between EvQ and pro-environmental behavior. Research limitations/implications - The study contributes to literature on individual and interpersonal behavior in the context of sustainability and pro-environmental behavior, by developing a theoretically grounded, multi-item, multidimensional scale – the EvQ – for individuals. Practical implications - The EvQ can be a significant tool for faculty in educational institutions as well as for managers in organizations, to structure sustainability-related teaching and training curriculum for students and employees, geared toward pro-environmental behavior. Social implications - Individuals – be it students, home makers or working professionals – can use this tool to become more self aware about their EvQ and adopt more socially and environmentally responsible behaviors, which would benefit society at large. Originality/value - There is no psychometric tool to date that has looked at EvQ in a holistic manner using values, attitudes, subjective norms, knowledge, intention and behavior and drawing on multiple related theories. The study also addresses a significant gap in literature pertaining to an individual quotient (similar to IQ and EQ) in the context of pro-environmental behavior.

Keywords: Environmental quotient; Pro-environmental behavior; Sustainable Development Goals; Scale development; Structural equation modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:srjpps:srj-02-2024-0091

DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-02-2024-0091

Access Statistics for this article

Social Responsibility Journal is currently edited by Prof David Crowther

More articles in Social Responsibility Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().