Promoting internalized motivation for environmentally responsible behavior: A prospective study of environmental goals

We used a prospective design and structural equation modeling procedures to examine the processes by which people internalize the doing of new environmental behaviors. As predicted by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985: Intrinsic Motivation and Self-determination in Human Behaviour, Plenum, New York; Deci & Ryan, 2000: Psychol. Inquiry 11, 227), participants who perceived the experimenter as autonomy-supportive evidenced greater internalized motivation regarding a set of self-selected environmental goals. Internalized motivation in turn predicted goal performance during the following week, which in turn predicted intentions to keep on striving after the study was over. Implications for the question of how to motivate people to engage in more environmentally responsible behavior are discussed. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. In order to help offset continuing environmental degradation in the 21st century, humans will have to significantly alter their habits (Howard, 2000; Oskamp, 2000; Winter, 2000). These altered habits cannot consist of merely doing the right thing every now and then; rather, they must be consistent, persistent efforts to move away from inherently wasteful and damaging behaviors and to move towards conservation-oriented or environmentally responsible behaviors (ERB). These changes in behavior will take motivation of a very special kind. This article explores the nature of such ‘‘high-quality’’ motivation, seeking to understand what kinds of motivations can give rise to lasting positive change in peoples’ ERB. We also explore the kind of approach that authorities should take as they try to inspire others to adopt more environmentally responsible behaviors. Thus, the purpose of this article is twofold: to understand the nature of ‘‘high-quality’’ motivation at a theoretical level and to understand how to promote ERB at a practical level. Our inquiry is grounded in self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985, 1991, 2000), which, for more than 25 years, has been empirically examining optimal motivation and the conditions that support it. This theory began with the concept of intrinsic motivation, g author. Tel.: +1-573-771-9093. s: [email protected] (R. Osbaldiston). see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 2-4944(03)00035-5 i.e., actions motivated purely by the rewarding qualities of experience that they provide (Deci, 1972). However, many important behaviors cannot be intrinsically motivated. Thus, SDT has expanded to provide a comprehensive theoretical account of the social and intrapersonal processes by which important duties are internalized (Deci & Ryan, 2000), such that individuals perform behaviors willingly even when they do not enjoy those behaviors. Clearly, many ERBs, such as sorting recyclables into the correct bins or taking abbreviated showers, fall into this category. SDT posits that people are more likely to engage in a behavior if they perceive that the motivation to do it comes from within them rather than from an external, controlling agent. In other words, motivation is enhanced when people have an internal perceived locus of causality (I-PLOC) for their behavior. Internalized motivation or I-PLOC is said to exist when people act either because the behavior is enjoyable and challenging (intrinsic motivation) or because they endorse the values underlying the behavior (identified motivation). Noninternalized motivation is said to exist when people act primarily because they expect to receive a reward (external motivation) or because they want to avoid feeling guilty (introjected motivation). Many prior studies of ERB have focused on the use of external rewards and social obligations to elicit and maintain the desired behaviors (for reviews, see Dwyer,