How are students' pro-environmental behaviours Formed? A Qualitative Content Analysis

Abstract

Universities play an undeniable role in directing and explaining behaviour patterns. This raises expectations from universities to institutionalize pro-environmental behaviours in their structure. It is so of crucial importance to identify factors affecting students’ pro-environmental pro-environmental behaviours as the most important human resources at universities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting students’ pro-environmental behaviors. The statistical population of this qualitative study was composed of agricultural students at Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. According to the research aim, the PRISMA flow‐chart chart was used to refine and select the appropriate data. Data were analyzed by using NVivo 10 software. Results show that students’ pro-environmental behaviour is affected by 10 factors, the most important being values and norms, experiences, social capital, knowledge and awareness, university infrastructure, organizational culture, curriculum contents, self-efficacy, and concerns over environmental degradation. Cluster analysis shows that organizational culture and individual values influence all other factors that underpin students’ pro-environmental behaviours.