Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 9.10
Partial correlation coefficient matrix among consumerism, environmen-
talism, and environmental behavior
Environmental
behavior
Consumerism
Environmentalism
Consumerism
1.000
−0.369**
−0.414**
Environmentalism
1.000
0.202*
Environmental
behavior
1.000
*
P
<0.05
**
P
<0.01
extent values and behavior are consistent. The second-order partial correlation
technique (Jeong
2004
: 319-328) was employed to identify pure relationships by
controlling the indirect impacts of other variables on the relationship between two
variables. The mutual relationships among the three are presented in Table
9.10
.
As expected from the theoretical background of this study, consumerism is
negatively correlated with both environmentalism and environmental behavior,
while environmentalism and environmental behavior are positively correlated. The
findings from Table
9.10
moreover suggest the following two implications.
First, it would seem likely that those most committed to consumerism would be
different from those most committed to environmentalism. The division between
those most strongly committed to consumerism and those most committed to
environmentalism is not so emphatic, however, and the relatively low negative
correlation between the two suggests that these contradictory values can co-exist to
varying degrees within the same person.
Second, major consumerists are different from those who exhibit environmen-
tally friendly behavior, and only a small group were heavily involved in both types
of activity as contradictionists in Table
9.9
. This sharp demarcation between major
consumerists and those involved in environmentally friendly behavior seems to have
been influenced by the large number of low-income households in this study, who
are, by necessity, involved in environmentally friendly behavior because their low
income is a clear deterrent to widespread consumption. Overall, therefore, there is a
considerable degree of behavioral consistency with regard to consumption and envi-
ronmentally friendly behavior. Major consumerists are essentially a different group
of people from those most involved in environmentally friendly behavior.
Conclusion
The results of this research of a sample of people living on Jeju should not be inter-
preted as being representative of global values and behavior. However, no previous
empirical or theoretical research has been done on this issue, and the results may
be useful in capturing an overall trend.
Consumerism and environmentalism are likely to be global values since the
sampled Jeju islanders had high mean scores for both, even though the profiles of
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