Lecturer in Marketing in the School of Business, Dr Christian Martin, has recently published the article ‘Where do biospheric values come from? A connectedness to nature perspective’ in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. The paper is co-authored with Professor Sandor Czellar (University of Lausanne).
In their paper, the authors explore the relationship between a feeling of connectedness to nature and the general and trans-situational belief that environmental protection is an important goal in a consumer’s life (i.e., a biospheric value orientation). Their results suggest that a feeling of connectedness to the natural environment may foster a biospheric value orientation in consumers, which in turn motivates consumers to behave sustainably.
This research links two important concepts in the literature and thus helps to better understand how the natural environment can shape consumer judgment and decision making. The research furthermore has implications for public policy makers who wish to promote sustainable behavior in consumer populations.
The Journal of Environmental Psychology is affiliated with the Division of Environmental Psychology of the International Association of Applied Psychology and is one of the leading scientific journals on topics related to transactions and interrelationships between humans and their physical surroundings.