Geaney, Jacqueline N. “The Attitude-Behavior Disconnect”, Boston College, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/1320.
Abstract
This study examines how attitudes of environmental concern affect the behavior of students on the Boston College (BC) campus. Conventional wisdom suggests that attitude would determine behavior, but past studies have been unable to find a connection between environmental attitude and behavior. This suggests that there are other factors at play, in addition to environmental concern. Using survey and in-depth interview data, this study focuses on the influence of the following factors: monetary cost, convenience, habit and visibility of consequences. The findings suggest that attitude itself does influence environmental behavior, but that the aforementioned factors play an important role in either increasing or decreasing the rate of behavior. I conclude by suggesting that the impact of cost as a barrier to behavior speaks to the importance of structural change in order to increase the rate of green behavior.