What makes you a ‘hero’ for nature? Socio-psychological profiling of leaders committed to nature and biodiversity protection across seven EU countries

Massimiliano Scopelliti; Erica Molinario; Flavia Bonaiuto; Mirilia Bonnes; Lavinia Cicero; Stefano De Dominicis; Ferdinando Fornara; Jeroen Admiraal; Almut Beringer; Tom Dedeurwaerdere; Wouter de Groot; Juha Hiedanpää; Paul Knights; Luuk Knippenberg; Katarina Polajnar Horvat; Florin Popa; Carmen Porras-Gomez; Aleš Smrekar; Nathalie Soethe; Jose Luis Vivero-Pol; Riyan van den Born; Marino Bonaiuto

doi:10.1080/09640568.2017.1421526

What makes you a ‘hero’ for nature? Socio-psychological profiling of leaders committed to nature and biodiversity protection across seven EU countries

Massimiliano Scopelliti^*, Erica Molinario, Flavia Bonaiuto, Mirilia Bonnes, Lavinia Cicero, Stefano De Dominicis, Ferdinando Fornara, Jeroen Admiraal, Almut Beringer, Tom Dedeurwaerdere, Wouter de Groot, Juha Hiedanpää, Paul Knights, Luuk Knippenberg, Katarina Polajnar Horvat, Florin Popa, Carmen Porras-Gomez, Aleš Smrekar, Nathalie Soethe, Jose Luis Vivero-PolRiyan van den Born, Marino Bonaiuto

^*Corresponding author for this work

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Biodiversity loss is a widely debated world problem, with huge economic, social, and environmentally negative consequences. Despite the relevance of this issue, the psychological determinants of committed action towards nature and biodiversity have rarely been investigated. This study aims at identifying a comprehensive social-psychological profile of activists committed to biodiversity protection and at understanding what determinants best predict their activism. A questionnaire investigating relevant social-psychological constructs identified in the literature on environmental activism was administered to 183 outstanding leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection across seven EU countries. Leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection showed, among other constructs, higher scores on environmental values, attitudes, identity, perceived control, a feeling of union and spirituality with nature, and willingness to sacrifice for their cause. Results are discussed within the theoretical framework of a motivation model of committed action for nature and biodiversity protection. Applications of the results are also proposed.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
Volume	61
Issue number	5-6
Pages (from-to)	970-993
Number of pages	24
ISSN	0964-0568
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2017.1421526
Publication status	Published - 2018
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Activism
Biodiversity
Motivation
Nature
social psychology

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Scopelliti, M., Molinario, E., Bonaiuto, F., Bonnes, M., Cicero, L., De Dominicis, S., Fornara, F., Admiraal, J., Beringer, A., Dedeurwaerdere, T., de Groot, W., Hiedanpää, J., Knights, P., Knippenberg, L., Polajnar Horvat, K., Popa, F., Porras-Gomez, C., Smrekar, A., Soethe, N., ... Bonaiuto, M. (2018). What makes you a ‘hero’ for nature? Socio-psychological profiling of leaders committed to nature and biodiversity protection across seven EU countries. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 61(5-6), 970-993. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2017.1421526

What makes you a ‘hero’ for nature? Socio-psychological profiling of leaders committed to nature and biodiversity protection across seven EU countries. / Scopelliti, Massimiliano; Molinario, Erica; Bonaiuto, Flavia et al.
In: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Vol. 61, No. 5-6, 2018, p. 970-993.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Scopelliti, M, Molinario, E, Bonaiuto, F, Bonnes, M, Cicero, L, De Dominicis, S, Fornara, F, Admiraal, J, Beringer, A, Dedeurwaerdere, T, de Groot, W, Hiedanpää, J, Knights, P, Knippenberg, L, Polajnar Horvat, K, Popa, F, Porras-Gomez, C, Smrekar, A, Soethe, N, Vivero-Pol, JL, van den Born, R & Bonaiuto, M 2018, 'What makes you a ‘hero’ for nature? Socio-psychological profiling of leaders committed to nature and biodiversity protection across seven EU countries', Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, vol. 61, no. 5-6, pp. 970-993. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2017.1421526

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abstract = "Biodiversity loss is a widely debated world problem, with huge economic, social, and environmentally negative consequences. Despite the relevance of this issue, the psychological determinants of committed action towards nature and biodiversity have rarely been investigated. This study aims at identifying a comprehensive social-psychological profile of activists committed to biodiversity protection and at understanding what determinants best predict their activism. A questionnaire investigating relevant social-psychological constructs identified in the literature on environmental activism was administered to 183 outstanding leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection across seven EU countries. Leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection showed, among other constructs, higher scores on environmental values, attitudes, identity, perceived control, a feeling of union and spirituality with nature, and willingness to sacrifice for their cause. Results are discussed within the theoretical framework of a motivation model of committed action for nature and biodiversity protection. Applications of the results are also proposed.",

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author = "Massimiliano Scopelliti and Erica Molinario and Flavia Bonaiuto and Mirilia Bonnes and Lavinia Cicero and {De Dominicis}, Stefano and Ferdinando Fornara and Jeroen Admiraal and Almut Beringer and Tom Dedeurwaerdere and {de Groot}, Wouter and Juha Hiedanp{\"a}{\"a} and Paul Knights and Luuk Knippenberg and {Polajnar Horvat}, Katarina and Florin Popa and Carmen Porras-Gomez and Ale{\v s} Smrekar and Nathalie Soethe and Vivero-Pol, {Jose Luis} and {van den Born}, Riyan and Marino Bonaiuto",

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doi = "10.1080/09640568.2017.1421526",

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AU - Scopelliti, Massimiliano

AU - Molinario, Erica

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AU - Bonnes, Mirilia

AU - Cicero, Lavinia

AU - De Dominicis, Stefano

AU - Fornara, Ferdinando

AU - Admiraal, Jeroen

AU - Beringer, Almut

AU - Dedeurwaerdere, Tom

AU - de Groot, Wouter

AU - Hiedanpää, Juha

AU - Knights, Paul

AU - Knippenberg, Luuk

AU - Polajnar Horvat, Katarina

AU - Popa, Florin

AU - Porras-Gomez, Carmen

AU - Smrekar, Aleš

AU - Soethe, Nathalie

AU - Vivero-Pol, Jose Luis

AU - van den Born, Riyan

AU - Bonaiuto, Marino

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Biodiversity loss is a widely debated world problem, with huge economic, social, and environmentally negative consequences. Despite the relevance of this issue, the psychological determinants of committed action towards nature and biodiversity have rarely been investigated. This study aims at identifying a comprehensive social-psychological profile of activists committed to biodiversity protection and at understanding what determinants best predict their activism. A questionnaire investigating relevant social-psychological constructs identified in the literature on environmental activism was administered to 183 outstanding leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection across seven EU countries. Leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection showed, among other constructs, higher scores on environmental values, attitudes, identity, perceived control, a feeling of union and spirituality with nature, and willingness to sacrifice for their cause. Results are discussed within the theoretical framework of a motivation model of committed action for nature and biodiversity protection. Applications of the results are also proposed.

AB - Biodiversity loss is a widely debated world problem, with huge economic, social, and environmentally negative consequences. Despite the relevance of this issue, the psychological determinants of committed action towards nature and biodiversity have rarely been investigated. This study aims at identifying a comprehensive social-psychological profile of activists committed to biodiversity protection and at understanding what determinants best predict their activism. A questionnaire investigating relevant social-psychological constructs identified in the literature on environmental activism was administered to 183 outstanding leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection across seven EU countries. Leaders (vs. non-leaders) in biodiversity protection showed, among other constructs, higher scores on environmental values, attitudes, identity, perceived control, a feeling of union and spirituality with nature, and willingness to sacrifice for their cause. Results are discussed within the theoretical framework of a motivation model of committed action for nature and biodiversity protection. Applications of the results are also proposed.

KW - Activism

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Motivation

KW - Nature

KW - social psychology

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DO - 10.1080/09640568.2017.1421526

M3 - Journal article

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JF - Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

IS - 5-6

ER -

What makes you a ‘hero’ for nature? Socio-psychological profiling of leaders committed to nature and biodiversity protection across seven EU countries

Abstract

Keywords

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