The first pillar of my research focus began in the understanding of citizen’s acceptance and adoption of pro-environmental behaviours. The work involves both theory-driven and analysis of empirical data Eurobarometer in the fields of environmental and social psychology.
The master thesis, in which structural equation modelling and mediation analysis were applied to the TPB model from Ajzen (1991), have contributed to a better understanding of:
- what citizens think about the product information that are used by environmental standards eco-label system –i.e. the importance to build consumer knowledge and confidence to help identify sustainable products.
- the psychological processes underlying in pro-environmentally behaviours –i.e. moderating role of moral norms in the association between personal norm and attitudes.
- finally, what are the suitable strategies to accelerate the diffusion and implementation of environmental labels to address perceived behavioural control and moral norms factors.
The far reaching implications of this research point to new (inter) national policy directions (SET-Plan) that foster community-oriented engagement opportunities (ultimately in stimulating citizen’s pro-environmental behavior) and, fruitful avenue for future research with an integrated approach:
- using a multilevel theoretical perspective to gain a holistic understanding of barriers and drivers for purchasing EFP (SIMPEA model to help explain the role of values and moral norms in pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour)
- country-region-citizen segmentation using latent class models to identify population segments with different situational and motivational factors.