Comparing Undergraduates' Connection with Nature and New Ecological Paradigm in Relation to Intention of Environmental Behaviors in Taiwan and Japan

Abstract

Connection with nature (CWN) is a promising research focus in environmental education. Previous research has repeatedly indicated that CWN was an important predictor of proenvironmental behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to understand the difference of Taiwanese and Japanese undergraduates’ CWN and most importantly to compare the predictive power of CWN and the new ecological paradigm (NEP) in terms of explaining the intention of environmental behaviors (IEB) in both countries. This survey adopted one Taiwanese CWN scale to avoid possible measurement bias caused by eastern-western cultural contexts. A total of 302 undergraduates participated in this survey: 178 students were from 3 Taiwanese universities, and 124 were from 2 Japanese universities. The independent sample t-test showed that Taiwanese undergraduates significantly performed more actively in CWN, NEP, and IEB than Japanese undergraduates. The overall findings of multiple regression analysis indicated that CWN was a more powerful predictor than the NEP to predict the IEBs in both countries, and the regression coefficient of CWN in Taiwan was higher than in Japan. Although the NEP can significantly predict some IEB constructs in Taiwan, it was not a significant predictor in Japan. Based on those findings, this research also proposed possible directions for future research.