THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION BEHAVIOR STATUS AMONG

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA

Arbaat HassanNorshariani Abd. Rahman

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM-Previous research findings showed that knowledge, attitudes and awareness among students in Malaysia were at “good” level(Fadzilah 1999; Ruhaya 2001; Ramli 2003; Zurina dan Norjan 2003; Mohd Yusop et al. 2003; Ismail 2005; Seow Ta Wee & Nor Wariza Jufri 2004; Norjan et al. 2005 dan Norlila 2007).

-However, the results of the studies from the aspects of behavior dealing with environmental problems, were found that the level of involvement among students were “moderate” and low (Zurina & Norjan 2003; Mohd Yusop et al. 2003)

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM- The students have a good awareness about

environmental problems but awareness was not changed to a “more” practical (Azizan 2008).

- Individual involvement in the activities of environment protection was still in a “low” (Wahida et al. 2004).

- The final goal of environmental education was to form human behaviour (Hungerford & Volk 1990).

AIMS OF THE STUDY

• Examine the intention and environmental behaviour and it associated with gender, disciplines and year of study

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Attitudes

Personal norms

Locus of control

Practices of environmental conservation

Conceptual framework Adaption from: Planned Behaviour Theory (Ajzen 2005) and

Responsible Environmental Behaviour Model (Hines et al. 1986).

Intention Behaviour

RESEARCH METODOLOGY• Research method: survey (quantitative)• Instrument: questionnaire• Location of study:Universiti Kebangsaan

Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor• Size sample: 377• Sampling: stratified and simple random• Statistical descriptive analysis: mean,

standard deviation and percentage• Statistical inferential analysis : t-test, one way

ANOVA and Pearson correlation

RESEARCH FINDINGS

POINT:< 2.50 low>2.50 < 3.50 moderate>3.50 high ( Mohd. Yusop et al. (2003)

Table 1.1 Level of Intention, Attitudes, Personal norms, locus of control and behaviour

INTENTION ATTITUDES PERSONAL NORMS

LOCUS OF CONTROL

BEHAVIOUR

N 377 377 377 377 377

MEAN 3.572 4.303 3.947 3.191 3.018

S.DEVIATION 0.370 0.395 0.497 0.430 0.691

PERCENTAGE 71.44% 86.06% 78.94% 63.82% 60.36%

INTERPRETATION

HIGH HIGH HIGH MODERATE MODERATE

Table 1.2 Level of Intention, Attitude, Personal Norms, Locus of control and behavior based on Gender

CONSTRUCT GENDER MEAN T-TEST SIGN. LEVELINTENTION MALE 3.620 1.856 0.064

FEMALE 3.546

ATTITUDES MALE 4.278 -0.916 0.360

FEMALE 4.317

PERSONAL NORMS

MALE 3.965 0.532 0.595

FEMALE 3.937

LOCUS OF CONTROL

MALE 3.174 -0.571 0.568

FEMALE 3.201

BEHAVIOR MALE 3.206 3.966 0.000

FEMALE 2.916

* Significant at level 0.05

Table 1.3: Level of Intention, Attitudes, Personal Norms, Locus of Control and Behaviour Based on Diciplines

CONTRUCT DISCIPLINES MEAN F VALUE

SIGNIFICANT SCHEEFETEST

INTENTION PURE SCIENCE (PS) 3.589 3.321 0.020 (√) SS - P

SOCIAL SCIENCE (SS) 3.636

PROFESSIONAL (P) 3.485

ISLAMIC STUDIES (IS) 3.598

ATTITUDES PURE SCIENCE (PS) 4.338 12.299 0.000 (√) P - PS

SOCIAL SCIENCE (SS) 4.358 P - SS

PROFESSIONAL (P) 4.129 P -IS

ISLAMIC STUDIES (IS) 4.439

* Signifikan pada aras 0.05

CONSTRUCT DISCIPLINES MEAN F VALUE

SIGNIFICANT SCHEEFETEST

PERSONAL NORMS

PURE SCIENCE (PS) 4.043 9.294 0.000 (√) P - PS

SOCIAL SCIENCE (SS) 4.107 - - P - SS

PROFESSIONAL (P) 3.799 - - SS - IS

ISLAMIC STUDIES (IS) 3.854 - - -

LOCUS OF CONTROL

PURE SCIENCE (PS) - 2.327 0.074 (X) -

SOCIAL SCIENCE (SS) - - - -

PROFESSIONAL (P) - - - -

ISLAMIC STUDIES (IS) - - - -

BEHAVIOUR PURE SCIENCE (PS) - 0.288 0.834 (X) -

SOCIAL SCIENCE (SS) - - - -

PROFESSIONAL (P) - - - -

ISLAMIC STUDIES (IS) - - - -

Table 1.4: Level of Intention, Attitudes, Personal Norms, Locus of Control and Behaviour Based on Years of Study

CONSTRUCT YEARS OF STUDY MEAN F VALUE

SIGNIFICANT SCHEEFETEST

INTENTION FIRST (1) - 1.515 0.210 (X) -

SECOND (2) - - - -

THIRD (3) - - - -

FOURTH (4) - - - -

ATTITUDES FIRST (1) 4.273 5.530 0.001 (√) 2 - 1

SECOND (2) 4.465 - - 2 - 4

THIRD (3) 4.316 - - -

FOURTH (4) 4.199 - - -

* Signifikan pada aras 0.05

CONTRUCT YEARS OF STUDY MEAN F VALUE

SIGNIFICANT SCHEEFETEST

PERSONAL NORMS

FIRST (1) 3.8594 3.187 0.024 (√) 1 - 2

SECOND (2) 4.0761 - - -

THIRD (3) 3.9945 - - -

FOURTH (4) 3.9219 - - -

LOCUS OF CONTROL

FIRST (1) - 0.696 0.555 (X) -

SECOND (2) - - - -

THIRD (3) - - - -

FOURTH (4) - - - -

BEHAVIOUR FIRST (1) - 1.267 0.285 (X) -

SECOND (2) - - - -

THIRD (3) - - - -

FOURTH (4) - - - -

Table 1.5: Correlation Betweeen the Intention, Attitudes, Personal Norms, Locus of Control and Environmental Behaviour

INTENTION ATTITUDES PERSONAL NORMS

LOCUS OF CONTROL

BEHAVIOUR r = 0.808**Sig = 0.000

r 0.262**Sig = 0.000

r = 0.391**Sig = 0.000

r = 0.288**Sig = 0.000

CONCLUSION VERY HIGH LOW LOW LOW

** Significant at level 0.01Point:0.00 – 0.20 Be neglected0.20 – 0.40 Low0.40 – 0.60 moderate0.60 – 0.80 High0.80 – 1.00 Very high (Alias Baba 1999)

CONCLUSION• Intention was closed related to environmental

behaviour.• Therefore, other than to increase knowledge and

skills to protect environment, students should be given skill of awareness through psychological methods such as increasing student motivation, commitment and responsible attitudes towards the environment

• Teaching and learning also had to be more focus on the methods for field work such as issue investigation and case study research to solve environmental issues

CONCLUSION• Teaching and learning approaches in environmental

education “in” and “to” more appropriate used at the university level because at the primary and secondary school, learning use more approach on “about” the environment.

• Assessment of learning achievement for the objectives of environmental education should be done systematically to improve teaching and learning methods in the future.

• The most important thing to improve the practices of environmental behaviour is to change in lifestyle of individuals themselves.

THANK YOU