JOBNAME: No Job Name PAGE: 1 SESS: 16 OUTPUT: Wed Jan 23 16:37:08 2013 SUM: 9C90B056 /v2503/blackwell/journals/jasp_v0_i0/jasp_1038 Attitude toward environmental policy measures related to value orientation André Hansla, Tommy Gärling, Anders Biel University of Gothenburg Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to André Hansla, Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, PO Box 500, SE-40530 Göteborg, Sweden. E-mail: Andre.Hansla@psy.gu.se This research was financially supported by grant #211-2006-1944 from The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agriculture Sciences, and Spatial Planning. doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2013.01038.x Abstract Moderated mediation effects on attitude toward environmental policy measures of a self-enhancement vs. self-transcendence value orientation were examined in two studies. Study 1 (n = 91) showed that for policy measures incurring nontransparent personal costs, influence of value orientation on attitude is fully mediated by envi- ronmental concern, whereas for measures incurring transparent personal costs, influence is partially mediated by environmental concern. Study 2 (n = 71) showed that while influence of value orientation on attitude toward eco-labeled electricity is not mediated by environmental concern,it is fully mediated by reluctance to pay sur- charges for eco-labeled electricity. Value orientation was also shown to moderate influence of reluctance to pay on attitude in that reluctance had an effect only for a self-enhancement value orientation. People are worldwide concerned about the deterioration of the environment caused by air and water pollution, deforesta- tion, and global warming. Previous research suggests that dif- ferent motives for this concern exist, either egoistic (concern about threats to own health), altruistic (concern about threats to peoples’ health), or biospheric (concern about threats to animals and nature). A central finding in previous research is that different weights are placed on these different conse- quences depending on people’s value orientation (Hansla, Gamble, Juliusson, & Gärling, 2008; Schultz, 2001; Stern, Dietz, & Kalof, 1993). Individuals with a self-transcendence value orientation express concern for altruistic and biospheric consequences (De Groot & Steg, 2007; Hansla, Gamble, Juliusson, & Gärling, 2008; Schultz, 2001; Stern, Dietz, Kalof, & Guagnano, 1995) as well as for egoistic conse- quences (Stern et al., 1995). Yet, for individuals with a self- enhancement value orientation, concern tends to be limited to egoistic consequences (Schultz, 2001; Schultz et al., 2005). Since environmental problems in general have both egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric consequences, it follows that indi- viduals with a self-transcendent value orientation should be more concerned about environmental problems than are individuals with a self-enhancing value orientation. Previous research has shown that a positive attitude toward policy measures to mitigate environmental problems increases with both environmental concern and a self- transcendent value orientation (e.g., De Groot & Steg, 2006; Dunlap & Van Liere, 2008; Poortinga, Steg, & Vlek, 2004; Steg, Dreijerink, & Abrahamse, 2005; Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guag- nano, & Kalof, 1999; Stern, Dietz, & Guagnano, 1998; Xiao & Dunlap, 2007), and in some studies environmental concern mediated the relationship between value orientation and attitude (e.g., Steg et al., 2005). Mediation by environmental concern is moreover the central process posited in the value- belief-norm theory (Stern, 2000), whereby value orientation is assumed to influence specific environmental behaviors and attitudes. Simple mediation may however fail to completely capture the relationship between value orientation and atti- tude toward environmental policy measures. A first aim of the present study is therefore to investigate whether and in which way the relationship between self-transcendence vs. self-enhancement value orientation and attitude toward policy measures is mediated by environmental concern. The specific question that will be asked is whether attitude toward environmental policy measures is even more strongly related to environmental concern for people with a self- transcendence value orientation than for people with a self- enhancement value orientation. Previous research has shown that biospheric environmen- tal concern has a stronger relationship to general environ- mental concern and self-reported pro-environmental behavior than has egoistic environmental concern (e.g., Milfont, Duckitt, & Cameron, 2005; Schultz, 2001; Schultz, Shriver, Tabanico, & Khazian, 2004). In fact, egoistic environ- Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited Journal Code: JASP Proofreader: Mony Article No: JASP1038 Delivery date: 23 Jan 2013 Page Extent: 9 Journal of Applied Social Psychology 2013, ••, pp. ••–•• © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 2013, ••, pp. ••–•• 2 3