No Measure without Concept

Volume 1, Issue 3, October 2011, 11-31 International Review of Social Research

No Measure without Concept.

A Critical Review on the

Conceptualization and Measurement

of Environmental Concern

André SCHAFFRIN•

University of Cologne

Abstract: Environmental concern is a highly relevant concept in the context of environmental

change and increasing demand for political regulation of environmental protection. In order

to prevent climate change, loss in global biodiversity or other highly critical environmental

issues, we need to understand why (and why not) citizens support environmental politics.

However, there is no measure without a concept, and empirical results might be biased if they

are not operationalized according to well defined (theoretical and methodological) criteria.

This research endeavor focuses on historical and more recent developments of the concept

of individual environmental concern. It will be demonstrated that environmental concern is

not only a distinct concept excluding behavior and knowledge, but is also rather complex

addressing geographical as well as temporal issues. Most recent developments suggesting a

hierarchical multi-dimensional character will be discussed and examples of the most relevant

empirical measures and scales will be evaluated.

Keywords: environmental concern, climate change, measurement construction.

Introduction

During the last decades, environmental

protection became an urgent and

relevant topic in public and political

debates. Global warming, the depletion

of natural resources, habitats, and the

overall biodiversity are issues that are

subject to international agreements

and negotiations but are also highly

NTERNATIONAL REVIEW of SOCIAL RESEARCH

I

IRSR

•e-mail: schaffrin@wiso.uni-koeln.de. André Schaffrin is Doctoral Candidate in the Research Training Group

‘Social Order and Life-Chances’ (SOCLIFE) at University of Cologne (Germany). He holds a Masters degree in

Social Science from Mannheim University (Germany) and studied Sociology at Flinders University (Australia).

‘(…) environmental concern is a broad concept that refers to a wide

range of phenomena – from awareness of environmental problems to

support for environmental protection – that reflect attitudes, related

cognitions, and behavioral intentions towards the environment’

(Dunlap and Jones, 2002: 484-485).

DOI: 10.1515/irsr-2011-0018

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discussed by domestic political

elites in Western Europe. Driven by

environmental movements on the

global and local scale as well as the

electoral success of green parties

throughout European parliaments,

national governments now have the task

to set up extensive policy programs and

regulation in order to meet ambitious

international agreements such as the

Kyoto Protocol and EU environmental

directives (e.g. the EU Climate and

Energy Package). Since electoral

support is one of the central influence

factors of policy making in democracies

(Burstein, 2003), environmental

concern of the general public plays

an important role in supporting the

government to foster environmental

policies, and are, therefore, of major

interest for social research (Marquart-

Pyatt, 2007). In order to understand

recent developments in public support

for environmental politics on the

domestic and the international level, we

have to investigate whether and how

individuals think, feel, and act on issues

which are related to the environment.

Following this line of argument,

it seems crucial to understand the

character and diversity of individual

environmental concern in a first step

before we can analyze its impact on

political decision making in the second

step. Thus, to provide 1) a general

concept and 2) reliable measurement

instruments of environmental concern

is of major importance for research on

the individual-nature relationship and

will be subject of this research article.

dd1) Until the 1960s, scholars from

different social science disciplines

conceptualized and operationalized

environmental concern rather diverse.

This variety of concepts is often

misleading. In order to provide

a research basis on individual

environmental concern, it is crucial to

discuss a more general concept which

combines similarities and differences

in environmental research across social

science disciplines.

ddAnother issue is the changing

character of the object we are

concerned about: the environment as

a basic element of human being in the

temporal and geographical dimension.

Thus, the environment itself is a

rather complex construct. It can be

global but also local in character

reflecting specific problems of short-

term nature but also long-term stable

developments. It might include high

numbers of actors and often has no

straightforward solution. The concept

of environmental concern must reflect

these characteristics in order to address

the full complexity of nature and the

environmental problems society faces.

dd2) On the ground of these

conceptual debates, there has also been

a development in measures and scales

targeting on individual environmental

concern. Empirical research on

environmental concern, however, only

provides reliable and valid evidence

if the underlying theoretical concept

sufficiently addresses all possible

options and characteristics of the real

concept. Recent developments on

measurement and scale construction

integrate a range of environmental

characteristics and make assumptions

about underlying dimensions on

individual aspects of concern,

knowledge, attitudes, and values. The

article will discuss several measures

and evaluates the more recent

development of the environmental

attitudes inventory by Milfont and

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ANDRE SCHAFFRIN No Measure without Concept | 13

Duckitt (2010).

ddFollowing this line of argument, the

paper will present a distinct formulation

of the concept of environmental

concern. In the first section, I outline

both aspects of environmental concern,

the substantive issue of environment

and the more theoretical perspective

of different expressions of concern.

The discussion will illustrate different

developments and peculiarities of both

aspects. At the end of this section, I

will highlight different definitions and

suggest a conceptualization which tries

to combine all remarks. The analysis

proceeds with a discussion on examples

of general operationalization practices

and the most relevant measures. This

section will conclude with recent scale

developments of Milfont and Duckitt

(2010). The final section concludes

with general remarks for future

research developments.

Environmental Concern: The Two

Concepts’ Formulation

Dunlap and Jones (2002) suggested

a distinction between the substantive

part (environment) and the theoretical

aspect (concern) of the concept of

environmental concern. These two

categories precisely address the two-

dimensional character of the theoretical

concept: the object of concern which is

all facets of the physical or constructed

environment, and the expression of

concern which regards all aspect of

feelings, attitudes, values, and norms

an individual can engage with (Dunlap

and Jones, 2002).

Environmental Concern for Substantive

Issues: The Object of Concern

Research on environmental con-

cern can focus on very different

environmental issues which makes

general conceptualization difficult (for

a more detailed discussion see Dunlap

& Jones, 2002). I will discuss only

two basic aspects of the substantive

issue of environmental concern in

more detail which seem to capture the

most relevant dimension for social

science research: 1) the geographical

and 2) the temporal dimension of the

environment.

dd1) Comparing environmental

concern across people living in very

different geographical circumstances

of environmental pollution is

problematic (Dunlap and York, 2008).

People might not have coherent

beliefs about environmental issues

generally but instead choose particular

environmental problems that they

care more about (Ignatow, 2006).

Hence, scholars of environmental

attitudes (Inglehart, 1995; Franzen

and Meyer, 2004; Gelissen, 2007)

distinguish between concern about

‘objective problems’ and more general

‘subjective values’. On the one

hand, environmental concern of an

individual very much depends on its

spatial background like the weather,

but also geographical vulnerability

from sea-level rise and natural hazards

(‘objective problems’) (Hamilton,

Colocousis and Duncan, 2010).

Following Wynnveen, Kyle & Sutton

(2010), it is the change in the physical

settings and personal experiences

combined with place identity or place

dependence which affects individuals’

concern for the environment. On the

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14 | IRSR Volume 1, Issue 3, October 2011

other hand, Milfont, Sibley and Duckitt

(2010) argue that there is more general

concern for global environmental

problems like climate change than

for local changes because they are

interpreted as more serious (‘subjective

values’) (also called ‘environmental

hyperopia’ in Uzzell, 2000). Following

this line of argument, it is crucial to

consider the spatial component in the

concept of environmental concern in

order to avoid bias in measurement.

dd2) A second important dimension

is the temporal perspective of

environmental issues. As Dietz, Dan

and Shwom (2007) state, ‘individuals

vary in how much they think about

the future and how far into the future

they think’ (ibid: 188). In general, we

find a conflict between individuals’

short- vs. long-term interests (Milfont

and Gouveia, 2006). On the one hand,

concern for the environment can be

understood as a reaction towards local

threats for health and economic well

being. On the other hand, environment

is a space for next generations and

present environmental pollution will

lead to negative consequences in future.

Individuals who are concerned about

environmental problems that harm, for

example, their physical health status

are not necessarily worried about the

environment of their grandchildren.

Consequently, protest against water

pollution of local rivers is motivated

quite differently than support of

domestic policies for greenhouse gas

emission reduction. Water pollution

instantly affects individual well being

whereas domestic climate policies such

as taxes on carbon intensive energy

production and fuels serves to prevent

global warming in the long run, but

affects electricity prices in short term.

Individuals focusing on short term

interests would be more likely to

protest for higher standards in water

quality but would reject policies which

are likely to increase electricity prices.

Given these arguments, it is crucial to

consider the time perspective in the

concept of environmental concern in

order to avoid bias in measurement.

ddIn order to address both the

temporal and geographical issue of the

environment, research should focus

on individuals’ general relationship

to nature protection, their specific

experiences and spatial attachment but

also on their time perspective in short-

vs. long-term interests. Interest-based

concern mostly derives from past

or present experiences of the direct

individual environment (Shwom, Dan

and Dietz, 2008). Taking individuals’

general value orientations for

future generations into account and

measuring their place attachment and

personal experiences with the physical

environment reflect a more precise

measure of environmental concern.

Environmental Concern as a

Theoretical Conceptualization: The

Expression of Concern

Two different historical perspectives

on the expression of concern can

be distinguished in the literature

(Dunlap and Jones, 2002). The first

one comes from political science

and is aiming at individual attitudes

towards environmental policies (e.g.

Heberlein, 1981). Applied dimensions

or attributes which can be derived

from this research stream is the

question of causes for environmental

problems, for responsibility, and

individuals’ suggestion and beliefs

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about possible solutions. The political

science approach further asks for the

individuals’ evaluation of seriousness

of specific environmental problems and

whether they would support policies

or even become actively involved in

environmental protection (Dunlap and

Jones, 2002).

The theoretical perspective as the

second historical approach with the

focus on individuals’ expression of

concern comes from psychology and

attitude theory (e.g. Ester, 1981).

In general, attitudes or individual

concern is categorized along four

components: a cognitive, affective,

conative, and behavioral dimension.

Cognitive aspects are knowledge,

believes, or norms, whereas the

affective dimension refers to emotive

and evaluative individual stages. The

conative dimension is an expression

of behavior intention. Both actual

behavior and behavior intention

refer to policy support as well as to

personal action in order to protect the

environment.

Table 1. Similarities between the policy and the theoretical approach of individual concern

Both approaches are discussed by

Dunlap and Jones (2002). However,

I argue that they can be combined by

looking at the similarities between

the components of both concepts.

Table 1 gives an overview of the

suggested parallel interlink. Thus,

individual knowledge about causes,

responsibilities, and solutions are

clearly cognitive aspects which include

a searching process for information

as well as selective filtering into

predefined cognitive categories such

as believes or norms. Furthermore,

asking respondents whether they think

of specific environmental problems

as a serious threat means asking

for an evaluation of that process

which might also be influenced by

emotional aspects. Looking at the

ANDRE SCHAFFRIN No Measure without Concept | 15

Source: Own conceptualization based on Dunlap and Jones (2002).

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16 | IRSR Volume 1, Issue 3, October 2011

rows of policy support (as a conative

component) and behavior, similarities

between both approaches are rather

obvious. Consequently, we end up

with very distinct attributes which

constitute a more general definition of

environmental concern.

Definition

Having discussed both sub-concepts

of environmental concern, which

is the environment and concern,

we now develop a definition of the

overall concept. One definition which

includes all components discussed

so far is provided by van Liere and

Dunlap (1980). The authors define

environmental concern as ‘perceiving

environmental problems as serious,

supporting efforts by government to

protect environmental quality’ and

as ‘engaging in behaviors aimed at

improving environmental quality’

(van Liere and Dunlap, 1980: 188).

Following this definition and from the

discussion above, we can summarize

this definition in a scheme as indicated

in Figure 1 where environmental

concern consists of four separate

components. The cognitive component

is personal knowledge and believes

about causes, responsibilities, and

solutions for environmental problems.

The affective component adds an

emotional or evaluative part where

individuals decide whether postulated

consequences from environmental

problems are good or bad (more or

less seriousness) on the basis of their

knowledge and believes (cognitive

component). This evaluation activates

the conative component of behavior

intention which is either support for

environmental policies or personal

action to prevent personal harm. The

final step is to transpose the intention

into real action which is the fourth

component of environmental concern.

As indicated by the direction of the

arrows in Figure 1, all components

serve as measures for the overall latent

construct of environmental concern but

do not constitute necessary/sufficient

parts of it. During the years of research,

this understanding changed by focusing

on single components and investigating

whether they are necessary for the

concept of environmental concern.

Following, I will discuss two major

issues concerning specific attributes of

the concept.

Figure 1. The concept of environmental concern – first version

Source: Own illustration based on van Liere and Dunlap (1980).

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ddOne important issue is the exclusion

of knowledge as a cognitive attribute of

the concept definition. Bord, O’Connor

and Fisher (2000) state that accurate

knowledge about consequences of,

for example, global warming is a

precondition in order to be actively

engaged in the mitigation of climate

change. In contrast, accurate knowledge

is not necessary in order to stimulate

general concern. Several studies find

knowledge to be a very distinct aspect

from environmental concern since it

significantly explains environmental

behavior, but not beliefs or attitudes

(Bord, et al. 2000, Dietz et al., 2007,

Milfont and Gouveia 2006). Moreover,

knowledge might serve as an additional

link between environmental concern

and environmental behavior: someone

who is very much concerned about the

environment in general will be more

active if the person knows what to do

serves as an indicator for individuals’

media consumption or general interest

in science. This line of argument

leads to the distinct conclusion that

knowledge is not part of the overall

concept of environmental concern.

ddThe second important issue concerns

individual behavior. Correlational

measures indicate only a moderate

relationship between environmental

attitudes and environmental behavior

which is discussed by a high number

of studies (e.g. Diekmann and

Preisendörfer, 1992; Franzen, 1995;

Diekmann, 1996; Diekmann and

Preisendörfer, 1998; Kühnel and

Bamberg, 1998; Quandt and Ohr,

2004; Best, 2009). Further analyses

point to the distinction between

environmental behavior and behavior

intention (e.g. Urban, 1986; Takács-

Sánta, 2007). A very important

argument for not considering behavior

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