Pro-environmental Behavior of Residents in River's Bank: Understanding Effects of Place Identity, Social Norms

 

Jakarta older than 17 years old, selected with snowball. The questionnaire was collected by face-to-face interview. There are two research areas: (1) cleaner areas where the residents were mostly born and bred there, (2) dirtier areas where the residents mostly from other areas who have moved to Jakarta to find work or other reasons. Hypotheses were partly supported. A hierarchical multiple regression shows that intention to put rubbish in the dumpsites were predicted by place identity, attitude, and the interactions of place identity with injunctive and descriptive norms. However, significant predictors only emerged for dirtier locations. A simple slope analysis demonstrates that high identifiers would still engage in pro-environmental behavior regardless whether norms were anti or pro-environmental. On the other hand, low place identifiers would be more likely influenced by what their neighbors doing, highlighting the important of social norms for low than high place identifiers and the ability of place identity to overcome anti-environmental injunctive norms. Recommendations are offered for optimizing intention to take rubbish in dump sites for residents surrounding the river.