ANALYSIS
Environmental behavior structure and socio-economic conditions of hillside farmers: A multiple-group structural equation modeling approach

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.07.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Using structural equation modeling and a health belief model within a conceptual economic framework, we examined the effects of perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers on farmers' awareness of and attitudes towards environmental degradation. Perception of the severity of land degradation had a positive effect on individuals' awareness and attitude, regardless of socio-economic status. Farmers' perceived susceptibility to land degradation on household well-being positively affected attitude at low economic levels, whereas perceived benefits of land improvement positively influenced attitude of higher economic groups. Awareness of environmental degradation affected all economic groups' environmental behaviors. Attitude towards the problems affected behavior only for high income categories.

Introduction

Environmental degradation due to marginal management practices and their multiple, global consequences has been a serious impediment to agricultural and economic development in the tropics (Lal, 1989). Concern over the depletion of natural resources in general, and land degradation in particular, has stimulated the development and implementation of policies aimed at changing farmers' attitude toward adopting practices to protect the environment. Studies focusing on returns on investment have identified factors, such as short-term profitability and long-term asset value, as influencing farmers' attitudes toward land improvement (McConnel, 1983, Ervin and Ervin, 1982, Barbier, 1990, Napier, 1991, Sain and Barreto, 1996). Those studies suggested that profit was the decisive factor leading farmers to invest in sustainable land management practices.

Some researchers (Gould et al., 1989, Bultena and Hoiberg, 1983, Norris and Batie, 1987, Burton et al., 1999, Featherstone and Goodwin, 1993, Shields et al., 1993, Sureshwaran et al., 1996) pointed out the importance of demographic and socio-economic factors, such as age, education, farm income, off-farm employment, risk aversion, and subsidies in determining farmers' land management behaviors. These studies, while recognizing the influence of personal background and economic variables on individuals' environmental attitudes and behaviors, stressed the importance of perceptions in the process of change. Several studies (Ervin and Ervin, 1982, Gould et al., 1989, Traoré et al., 1998, Bultena and Hoiberg, 1983, Napier, 1991, Napier and Napier, 1991, Napier and Brown, 1993) suggested that perceptions and awareness were important determinants of environmental behavior.

The analysis of farmers' environmental behaviors has been limited due to inadequacy of a theoretical framework consistent with empirical observations. Environmental decisions based on the neoclassical theory of consumer utility maximization, failed to incorporate the complex nature of environmental behavior and have resulted in inaccurate policy prescriptions (Van den Bergh et al., 1998, Costanza, 1991). Thus, there has been an imminent need to expand the domain of economics to encompass ecological and psycho-social behaviors. Hence, the objective of the study was to examine Haitian hillside farmers' environmental behavior structure as it was affected by their socio-economic conditions using a more inclusive model that considered social as well as economic principles. We proceeded with a review of literature on the empirical determinants of environmental behavior in Section 2; then in Section 3 we presented the conceptual framework and hypotheses; we followed with the methods in Section 4; we then presented the results in Section 5; and finally in Section 6, we discussed the results and concluded.

Section snippets

Empirical studies on the determinants of environmental behavior

Farmers' attitudes toward environmental degradation have been studied by a number of social scientists. Napier and Napier (1991), Napier and Brown (1993) found a significant positive influence of perceptions and awareness on farmers' environmental behavior. Lynne and Rola (1988), Lynne et al. (1988), Luzar and Diagne (1999), Willock et al. (1999), Bourke and Luloff (1994), Vogel (1996) found that attitude was an important factor influencing farmers' decisions to participate in land regeneration

Conceptual framework and hypotheses

Environmental and ecological economics research is strongly rooted in biophysical and psycho-social reality rather than in an abstract world where resources and commodities can be reduced to fungible assets (Solow, 1993, Stern, 1997). Tvesky and Kahneman (1997) and Albanese (1988) revealed that expected utility theory, with its two dimensional view of behavior, was too narrow to describe how people really behave. Lynne et al. (1988) discussed the absence of a cohesive conceptual framework for

Geographic location and sample

Data used to evaluate farmers' environmental behavior structure were collected through face-to-face interviews with individuals directly involved in agriculture in two regions in Haiti where land degradation is a major hindrance to agricultural development. In the south, data were collected in Gaita and Bannate, two villages in the community of Camp-Perrin. In the southeastern region information was gathered in three locations including Cap-Rouge, Cayes-Jacmel, and Marigot.

Interviews with 594

Perception–attitude–behavior relationships

Results of the environmental behavior model for all farmers are presented in Table 1. Values for NFI, GFI, and AGFI were 0.95, 0.93, and 0.91, respectively. Those statistics suggested that the overall fit of the model was acceptable. Among the belief factors, only perception of the severity of environmental degradation was found to cause farmers' awareness of the problems at p = 0.05, but at p = 0.1 susceptibility also positively influenced awareness. The standardized path coefficients for the

Discussion and conclusion

An important finding of the study was the statistically significant positive causal effect of perceived severity of land degradation and perceived susceptibility on awareness and attitude. Several items dealing with the effect of land degradation on the agricultural production process defined the severity factor. The more susceptible farmers felt about the problem, the more they became aware of the extent of environmental degradation in Haiti, and the more they developed a positive attitude

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by USAID Global Bureau under the Contract Number LAG-G-00-97-0002-00 and USAID/Haiti Mission and SECID under contract No. 521-0217-C-00-5031-00). The authors thank Dr. Robert Taylor, Auburn University, Alabama Agricultural experiment Station, Alabama 36849; Dr. Ellene Kebede, Tuskegee University, and Dr. John Ehiri,, University of Alabama for their reviews.

References (55)

  • L. Bourke et al.

    Attitudes toward the management of non-industrial private forest land

    Society and Natural Resources

    (1994)
  • S.R. Brechin et al.

    Global environmentalism: a challenge to the post-materialism thesis

    Social Science Quarterly

    (1994)
  • G.L. Bultena et al.

    Factors affecting farmers' adoption of conservation tillage

    Journal of Soil and Water conservation

    (1983)
  • M. Burton et al.

    Analysis of the determinants of adoption of organic horticultural techniques in the UK

    Journal of Agricultural Economics

    (1999)
  • B.M. Byrne

    Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic Concepts, Applications, and Programming

    (1988)
  • J.M. Dabbs et al.

    Effects of varying the recommendations in a fear arousing communication

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1996)
  • A.G. Daniere et al.

    Environmental behavior in Bangkok, Thailand: a portrait of attitudes, values, and behavior

    Economic Development and Cultural Change

    (1999)
  • A. Diekmann et al.

    The wealth of nations and environmental concern

    Environment and Behavior

    (1999)
  • R.E. Dunlap et al.

    Global concern for the environment: is affluence a prerequisite?

    Journal of Social Issues

    (1995)
  • R.E. Dunlap et al.

    Of global concern: results of the health of the planet survey

    Environment

    (1993)
  • M. du Toit et al.

    Interactive Lisrel: User's Guide

    (2001)
  • C.A. Ervin et al.

    Factors affecting the use of soil conservation practices: hypotheses, evidence, and policy implications

    Land Economics

    (1982)
  • A.M. Featherstone et al.

    Factors influencing a farmer's decision to invest in long-term conservation improvements

    Land Economics

    (1993)
  • B.W. Gould et al.

    Conservation tillage: the role of farm and operator characteristics and the perception of soil erosion

    Land Economics

    (1989)
  • J.W. Hass et al.

    Coping with the energy crisis: effects of fear appeals upon attitudes toward energy consumption

    Journal of Applied Psychology

    (1975)
  • J.M. Hines et al.

    Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible environmental behavior: a meta-analysis

    Journal of Environmental Education

    (1990)
  • Cited by (82)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text