Frontiers in Psychology (Jan 2022)

German Laypeople’s Willingness to Donate Toward Insect Conservation: Application of an Extended Protection Motivation Theory

  • Lara Dörge,
  • Milan Büscher,
  • Jasmin Drews,
  • Annike Eylering,
  • Florian Fiebelkorn

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.773913
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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It is essential to engage the public in conservation measures to conserve insects. We investigate the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), as well as knowledge, attitudes, and sociodemographic variables (gender, age, education level, and income) as predictors of willingness to donate (WTD) and actual donations to insect conservation for a representative German sample (N = 515; MAge = 49.36, SD = 16.73; female = 50.1%). The PMT subcomponents severity, self-efficacy, and response efficacy, as well as attitudes toward insects, income, and education level, significantly predicted WTD. In contrast, severity, response barriers, age, gender, and the WTD significantly influenced actual donations. Overall, components of the PMT have high predictive power for both dependent variables. Our results suggest that an intention-behavior gap exists between the intention to donate and the actual donation toward insect conservation. Measures to increase WTD and actual donations for insect conservation are discussed.

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