What’s the problem? River management, education and public beliefs.

This paper invokes the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a diagnostic tool to explain an existing public education program’s limited success at improving river water quality in the City of Perth, Western Australia. A reflective, client-driven research approach was used. A facilitated expert worksh...

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Main Authors: Hughes, Michael, Weiler, B., Curtis, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32623
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author Hughes, Michael
Weiler, B.
Curtis, J.
author_facet Hughes, Michael
Weiler, B.
Curtis, J.
author_sort Hughes, Michael
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper invokes the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a diagnostic tool to explain an existing public education program’s limited success at improving river water quality in the City of Perth, Western Australia. A reflective, client-driven research approach was used. A facilitated expert workshop defined an environmental problem (excess nutrients leaving gardens and entering waterways) and a desired behavior (residents purchasing environmentally sensitive fertilizer) to address the problem. A TPB-based belief elicitation survey captured respondents’ beliefs regarding the desired behavior. The findings suggest respondents were aware of the links between purchasing environmentally sensitive fertilizer and river water quality. However, this behavior is compromised by the challenges in identifying appropriate products, product quality concerns and cost. Viewing the content of a public education program through the lens of the TPB reveals insights into how and why the program fell short in achieving one of its key behavioral change goals.
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publishDate 2012
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-326232017-09-13T15:56:20Z What’s the problem? River management, education and public beliefs. Hughes, Michael Weiler, B. Curtis, J. river management water quality human behavior in the environment urban water catchment theory of planned behavior This paper invokes the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a diagnostic tool to explain an existing public education program’s limited success at improving river water quality in the City of Perth, Western Australia. A reflective, client-driven research approach was used. A facilitated expert workshop defined an environmental problem (excess nutrients leaving gardens and entering waterways) and a desired behavior (residents purchasing environmentally sensitive fertilizer) to address the problem. A TPB-based belief elicitation survey captured respondents’ beliefs regarding the desired behavior. The findings suggest respondents were aware of the links between purchasing environmentally sensitive fertilizer and river water quality. However, this behavior is compromised by the challenges in identifying appropriate products, product quality concerns and cost. Viewing the content of a public education program through the lens of the TPB reveals insights into how and why the program fell short in achieving one of its key behavioral change goals. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32623 10.1007/s13280-012-0282-5 Springer fulltext
spellingShingle river management
water quality
human behavior in the environment
urban water catchment
theory of planned behavior
Hughes, Michael
Weiler, B.
Curtis, J.
What’s the problem? River management, education and public beliefs.
title What’s the problem? River management, education and public beliefs.
title_full What’s the problem? River management, education and public beliefs.
title_fullStr What’s the problem? River management, education and public beliefs.
title_full_unstemmed What’s the problem? River management, education and public beliefs.
title_short What’s the problem? River management, education and public beliefs.
title_sort what’s the problem? river management, education and public beliefs.
topic river management
water quality
human behavior in the environment
urban water catchment
theory of planned behavior
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/32623