Measuring the level of endorsement of the New Environmental Paradigm: a transnational study

Abstract

This study seeks to test the dimensionality and reliability of the revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale and explores the degree of endorsement of the NEP among the population of Arad, Romania and Faro, Portugal. Socio-demographic variables were used along the NEP Scale in surveys conducted with face-to-face interviews, in both countries. Results show that people endorse the NEP only partially, with technological optimism and belief in unlimited resources still strongly influencing current thought. The NEP scale showed low levels of consistency among the two samples. Five latent factors were found, via principal component analysis estimation method, in both samples. Thus, the NEP scale should be considered carefully when treated as a measure of a single internally consistent construct.

Keywords

• commitment to environment
• environmental attitudes
• NEP scale
• socio-economic impact