This paper introduces a single‐item social identification measure (SISI) that involves rating one's agreement with the statement ‘I identify with my group (or category)’ followed by a 7‐point scale. ...Three studies provide evidence of the validity (convergent, divergent, and test–retest) of SISI with a broad range of social groups. Overall, the estimated reliability of SISI is good. To address the broader issue of single‐item measure reliability, a meta‐analysis of 16 widely used single‐item measures is reported. The reliability of single‐item scales ranges from low to reasonably high. Compared with this field, reliability of the SISI is high. In general, short measures struggle to achieve acceptable reliability because the constructs they assess are broad and heterogeneous. In the case of social identification, however, the construct appears to be sufficiently homogeneous to be adequately operationalized with a single item.
Increasingly initiatives are formed from the bottom-up, by for example community members themselves, to stimulate pro-environmental behaviour in their overarching group. But can such bottom-up ...initiatives motivate pro-environmental behaviour, and why? I propose that perceiving a pro-environmental initiative as formed by regular group members themselves (i.e. from the bottom up) enables pro-environmental social identity formation, motivating behaviour accordingly. Three field studies around different initiatives supported this. Perceived bottom-up formation is positively associated with pro-environmental social identity (in content and strength), for members of the initiative (Study 1) and the overarching group (Study 2), and bottom-up pro-environmental initiative salience strengthens pro-environmental social identity in the overarching group (Study 3). Perceived bottom-up formation partly relates to self-reported pro-environmental behaviour (Study 2) and intentions (Studies 1 and 3) via pro-environmental social identity. Bottom-up pro-environmental initiatives may thus accelerate the transition towards pro-environmental practices; theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
•Bottom-up pro-environmental initiatives can influence members of the broader group.•Perceived bottom-up formation relates to pro-environmental intentions.•Perceived bottom-up formation relates to pro-environmental social identity.•Bottom-up initiative salience strengthens pro-environmental social identity.•Pro-environmental initiatives can be perceived as bottom-up and top-down.
Inclusion: Conceptualization and measurement Jansen, Wiebren S.; Otten, Sabine; van der Zee, Karen I. ...
European journal of social psychology,
June 2014, Volume:
44, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Exploratory analyses are an important first step in psychological research, particularly in problem-based research where various variables are often included from multiple theoretical perspectives ...not studied together in combination before. Notably, exploratory analyses aim to give first insights into how items and variables included in a study relate to each other. Typically, exploratory analyses involve computing bivariate correlations between items and variables and presenting them in a table. While this is suitable for relatively small data sets, such tables can easily become overwhelming when datasets contain a broad set of variables from multiple theories. We propose the Gaussian graphical model as a novel exploratory analyses tool and present a systematic roadmap to apply this model to explore relationships between items and variables in environmental psychology research. We demonstrate the use and value of the Gaussian graphical model to study relationships between a broad set of items and variables that are expected to explain the effectiveness of community energy initiatives in promoting sustainable energy behaviors.
Community energy initiatives are set up by volunteers in local communities to promote sustainable energy behaviors and help to facilitate a sustainable energy transition. A key question is what ...motivates people to be involved in such initiatives. We propose that next to a stronger personal motivation for sustainable energy, people's perception that their community is motivated to engage in sustainable energy and their involvement in the community (i.e., community identification and interpersonal contact) may affect their initiative involvement. We tested this proposition with a questionnaire study among inhabitants of seven local communities (
= 439). Results suggested that community factors are uniquely related to initiative involvement (willingness to actively participate and attendance of an initiative meeting) next to personal sustainable energy motivations. In particular, stronger community identification and more interpersonal contact with other community members increased the likelihood that people become involved in a community initiative, but the perception of the sustainable energy motivation of one's community was not uniquely related to initiative involvement. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
•We compared the effects of three different motives on initiative involvement.•Financial and environmental motives are rated more important than communal motives.•Financial motives are not related to ...indicators of initiative involvement.•Environmental and communal motives are positively related to initiative involvement.•Financial motives seem overrated and communal motives underrated for involvement.
Community energy initiatives can foster a sustainable energy transition by promoting sustainable energy behaviour in the communities in which they are embedded. This raises the question of what motivates people to become involved in these initiatives. We investigated the importance of financial, environmental, and communal motives for initiative involvement. We propose that communal motives (i.e., being involved in one’s local community) may be related to initiative involvement, as community energy initiatives not only aim to promote sustainable energy behaviour but also enable people to be involved in their community. Across three studies, respondents rated financial and environmental motives as more important than communal motives for their involvement in community energy initiatives. Yet, environmental and communal motives were uniquely related to initiative involvement, while financial motives were not. The discrepancy between which motives people rate as important and which motives actually relate to their initiative involvement suggests that financial motives are an overrated motive, while communal motives are an underrated motive for involvement in community energy initiatives. Our results suggest that targeting communal motives may be an additional way to enhance involvement in community energy initiatives and foster sustainable behaviour among people, who may not otherwise be interested in environmental protection.
Community energy initiatives aim to promote sustainable energy behaviours. Personal pro-environmental motivation may influence involvement in these initiatives as well as sustainable energy ...behaviours. This raises the question whether initiative involvement is uniquely associated with sustainable energy behaviours when accounting for personal pro-environmental motivation. A large-scale questionnaire study among members and non-members of 29 community energy initiatives revealed that different types of personal pro-environmental motivation were indeed related to initiative involvement and sustainable energy intentions and behaviours. Yet, initiative involvement—membership and identification—was generally also uniquely related to sustainable energy intentions and behaviours. Besides, personal pro-environmental motivation and initiative involvement were both uniquely related to broader pro-environmental and communal intentions.
•Community energy initiative involvement relates to sustainable energy behaviours.•Personal pro-environmental motivation relates to initiative involvement.•Personal pro-environmental motivation relates to sustainable energy behaviours.•Initiative membership and identification relate to sustainable energy behaviours.•These relationships extend to communal and partly to pro-environmental intentions.
While the majority of people care about environmental quality, they keep engaging in carbon-intensive practices that exacerbate climate change. Can we expect humans to collectively change by ...themselves, from the bottom up? Social change is often initiated by minorities – individuals who challenge the status quo. The dominant literature paints a rather pessimistic picture about the ability of minorities to instigate change in the environmental domain: environmental activists, vegans, and other minority members often elicit social sanctions, thereby ironically reinforcing the majority’s commitment to current, environmentally harmful norms. Recent findings, however, point towards more optimism: pro-environmental minorities can pave the way towards ‘tipping points’ and spontaneous social change. Policymakers can speed up this process by offering top-down support for minorities – by giving them ‘voice’.
•Recent literature implies pro-environmental minority members get socially sanctioned.•Other literature, however, suggests that pro-environmental minorities can pave the way for social change.•Policymakers can accelerate bottom-up social change by offering top-down support for minorities.
Deviants are pivotal to sparking social change but their influence is often hindered by group dynamics that serve to maintain the status quo. This paper examines the influence of a group's value in ...diversity in deviant's ability to spark social change, with a unique focus on the experience and anticipation of group dynamics that enable minority influence. Hypotheses were tested in three studies (
N
Total
= 674), which varied in their use of
ad-hoc
conversation groups or existing friend groups, and whether deviants were newcomers, or existing group members. We demonstrated social influence of a vegan deviant increased to the extent that participants perceived their group to value diversity. Furthermore, group value in diversity related to experienced and anticipated group dynamics that enabled minority influence: decreased conformity pressure, increased attentive listening, and, importantly, an increased search for agreement with the deviant. We discuss the importance of studying group dynamics for understanding what valuing diversity entails.