Ecological Worldview Among University Staff

Abstract

Abstract: University staff play an important role in the development of a more sustainable world. Their attitudes towards pro-environmental behavior and environmental values likely have an influence on ethics, the current society and future generations. Therefore, this study aims to measure and interpret the ecological worldview among university staff using the validated New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) survey. The mean NEP-score was 3.68. This overall value is of the same magnitude as many samples from diverse geographical areas with representatives and students, but it is considerably lower than for environmentalists. The facet Balance of nature reported the highest score whereas Limits to growth the lowest score. Women had higher mean score, mainly explained by the higher score in the facet Human domination over nature . There is a potential for improving the ecological world-view scores of University staff, who are an unstudied and important group. Values in higher education may influence sustainable development, environmental ethics and society.