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Ethics and Sustainability in Accounting and Finance, Volume I pp 69–82Cite as

Understanding Pro-environmental Behaviour of Accounting and Business Students: Development of a Conceptual Framework

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Abstract

In recent years, many environmental and ecological problems have been witnessed in the globe that calls for increasing attention. Educating both mature and young students together with understanding their behaviours with respect to environmental and sustainability theme and taking appropriate course of actions is perceived important as part of the answering such problems. Given that considerable investment in environmental and sustainability education have been made in educational institutions such as school, colleges and the universities level, the idea of enlightening and encouraging students to initiate and promote environmental behaviours involve many antecedents, moderating and mediating factors, which necessitate further investigation. Against the backdrop, the current study reviews education , social science and sustainability literature and identify different factors that could influence of pro-environmental behaviours for universities students. Triangulating the views based on four established psychological theories such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Social Cognitive Theory, Schwart’s Norm Activation Theory and Values-Beliefs-Norms Theory, a theoretical framework has been outlined in the current study to guide future research efforts aimed at exploring sustainability and pro-environmental actions of tertiary students. The framework is also beneficial for the academic community for future empirical investigation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Previous researchers used various terms to describe ecological behaviours that tend to protect the environment. Among others, environmentally concerned behaviours, environmentally acceptable behaviours, environmentally responsible behaviours and pro-environmental behaviours are most noteworthy. In the current study, these terms have been used interchangeably to denote individual people (e.g., students’) caring and behaviour to protect natural environment (for details, see Lee et al. 2013).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia

    Habib Zaman Khan & Johra Kayeser Fatima

  2. The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia

    Sudipta Bose

Authors
  1. Habib Zaman Khan
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  2. Johra Kayeser Fatima
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  3. Sudipta Bose
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Correspondence to Habib Zaman Khan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Trakya University, Balkan Yerleşkesi, Edirne, Turkey

    Kıymet Tunca Çalıyurt

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Khan, H.Z., Fatima, J.K., Bose, S. (2019). Understanding Pro-environmental Behaviour of Accounting and Business Students: Development of a Conceptual Framework. In: Çalıyurt, K. (eds) Ethics and Sustainability in Accounting and Finance, Volume I. Accounting, Finance, Sustainability, Governance & Fraud: Theory and Application. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3203-6_5

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