Psychosocial drivers of land management behaviour: How threats, norms, and context influence deforestation intentions

Simmons, B. Alexander; Wilson, Kerrie A.; Dean, Angela J.

doi:10.1007/s13280-020-01491-w

Psychosocial drivers of land management behaviour: How threats, norms, and context influence deforestation intentions

Journal Article · Tue Jan 26 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Ambio

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01491-w· OSTI ID:1989180

^[1]; Wilson, Kerrie A. ^[2]; Dean, Angela J. ^[3]

Boston University, MA (United States); University of Queensland, St. Lucia (Australia)
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane (Australia)
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane (Australia); Queensland, St. Lucia (Australia)

Understanding how private landholders make deforestation decisions is of paramount importance for conservation. Behavioural frameworks from the social sciences have a lot to offer researchers and practitioners, yet these insights remain underutilised in describing what drives landholders' deforestation intentions under important political, social, and management contexts. Using survey data of private landholders in Queensland, Australia, we compare the ability of two popular behavioural models to predict future deforestation intentions, and propose a more integrated behavioural model of deforestation intentions. We found that the integrated model outperformed other models, revealing the importance of threat perceptions, attitudes, and social norms for predicting landholders' deforestation intentions. Social capital, policy uncertainty, and years of experience are important contextual moderators of these psychological factors. Here, we conclude with recommendations for promoting behaviour change in this deforestation hotspot and highlight how others can adopt similar approaches to illuminate more proximate drivers of environmental behaviours in other contexts.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1989180

Journal Information:: Ambio, Journal Name: Ambio Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 50; ISSN 0044-7447

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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