A Five-Culture Validation of the Environmental Value-Bases Scale: A Measure of Instrumental, Intrinsic, and Relational Environmental Values

Michael L. Lengieza (), Janet K. Swim, Jamie DeCoster, Joseph G. Guerriero, Osamu Saito, Philippe Le Coent, Lisa Sella, Herlin Chien, Cécile Hérivaux, Francesca Silvia Rota and Elena Ragazzi
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Michael L. Lengieza: Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
Janet K. Swim: Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Jamie DeCoster: School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
Joseph G. Guerriero: Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Osamu Saito: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Hayama 240-0115, Japan
Philippe Le Coent: BRGM, University of Montpellier, 34000 Montpellier, France
Lisa Sella: CNR Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth, 10135 Torino, Italy
Herlin Chien: College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Neipu, Pingtung 912, Taiwan
Cécile Hérivaux: BRGM, University of Montpellier, 34000 Montpellier, France
Francesca Silvia Rota: CNR Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth, 10135 Torino, Italy
Elena Ragazzi: CNR Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth, 10135 Torino, Italy

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-33

Abstract: Previous research identified three reasons for valuing nature (i.e., the basis for seeing nature as valuable and important): (1) valuing nature for what it gives to humans (instrumental), (2) valuing nature for its own sake (intrinsic), and (3) valuing nature because of the relationship between people and nature (relational). Of these, relational value-bases have been less studied, especially in non-Western cultures. Using a large sample ( n = 2618), with participants from five distinct cultural regions (Japan, Taiwan, Italy, France, USA), the present research tests whether a three-factor framework of environmental value-bases generalizes to other cultures. Our findings demonstrate the configural and metric invariance of the recently validated Environmental Value-Bases Scale, indicating that the latent constructs generalize across sub-samples of the five regions and that the measure can be used to test associations between the value-bases and outcomes across cultures. However, we only found partial scalar invariance, suggesting (a) that caution is needed when comparing scale means between cultures and (b) that such tests are most appropriately performed using latent means. This research further contributes to the growing value-basis literature by comparing the latent means for each value-basis between and within each of the five regions and by demonstrating their associations with place attachment.

Keywords: environmental values; intrinsic values; relational values; instrumental values; place attachment; nature as community; nature for people; nature for nature; value-bases (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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