Educating for Environmental Practices: An Assessment from Bachelor of Commerce (B. Com) Undergraduates in Sri Lankan State Universities

Scholarly attention on environmental literacy has been increased in recent years since the knowledge level and interest in environmental issues are decisive to engage in environmental protection functions. The study aims to investigate the environmental literacy level believing that understanding the level of environmental literacy will lead to influence attitudinal changes and actions of undergraduates towards environment. Total number of 650 Bachelor of Commerce undergraduates in state universities of Sri Lanka were selected as the sample of the study. A self-administered structured questionnaire was administered to collect data on the environmental literacy level, the interest and the activity engagement in environmental activities of the respondents. The regression-based path analysis was performed to examine the relationships among the constructs. Based on the descriptive analysis, there was low level of environmental literacy of the selected undergraduates in this study. The overall level of interest in environmental issues and the level of engagement in environmental activities were moderate. The regression-based path analysis indicated that environmental literacy as well as the environmental interest were significant predictors for environmental engagement. Further, interest in environmental issues mediated the relationship between the environmental literacy and the actual engagement in environmental activities. The study exclusively examined the relationship between the undergraduates' knowledge level of the environment and the interest in environmental issues and also examined the factors that influence undergraduates' participation in activities that promote sustainability of the environment, which has been neglected by prior studies. The results facilitate to recommend that the degree programmes should be integrated with environmental areas where such knowledge could lead to promote the interest and the action towards the environmental activities. Keywords Bachelor of Commerce undergraduates, Comparative study, Environmental literacy, Sustainability