Engaging with the natural environment: the role of affective connection and identity

Research has shown pro-environmental behaviour to be positively associated with the strength of emotional connection towards the natural environment. The present study (N=199) investigated the predictive utility of an extended model of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) [ Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behaviour. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211] for people's intentions to engage with the natural environment. It was hypothesised that both affective connection and identification with the natural environment would contribute significantly to the prediction of people's intentions. A secondary hypothesis was that participants who had grown up in rural areas would report more positive orientations towards engaging with the natural environment than would urban participants. The research found that affective connection was a significant independent predictor of intentions to engage with the natural environment. Environmental identity was only a significant predictor in the absence of affective connection in the regression model. As predicted, rural and urban participants differed significantly along the measured variables.