VALUES, ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND WHAT
THAT MEANS FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE
BEHAVIOR IN VIETNAM
Duong Trong Hue* - Lukas Parker

- Linda Brennan

In tro d u ctio n
Concern for environmental issues has been increasingly salient in the public
agenda regarding sustainable development(Lima & Castro, 2005). Although no
common philosophy was agreed in the debates about sustainable development
because o f the different underlying world views in prioritizing policies and actions,
it was

often

conceptualized

as

a balanced

integration

between

economy,

environment and society(Giddings, Hopwood. & O'Brien, 2002). The recent
anomalous climate extremes and disasters were claimed to impede advancements in
sustainable development; hence making the connection between environment and

health concerns, quality o f life as well as concern for the planet in general, it is
possible that the change in environmental awareness and behaviours is taking place
toward a more positive end o f the continuum.
The purpose o f this studv is to provide a baseline indication o f general
public’s environmental attitudes with the aim o f providing the initial findings to
NGOs, public-health practitioners, social marketers, related governmental aeencies
and interested scholars delvina into the field of environment and social marketing.
The significance o f this study, in addition, lies in the fact that it concentrated on a
practical and day-to-day matter of the public-individuals and households’ practices
that are integrated in the triangle o f culture, market and sustainable development.
The outcomes o f this study are also expected to inform stakeholders of the
relationship between cultural belief and environmental behaviours.
Environmental Change in Vietnam
As pointed out by the governmental report (MNRE, 2011), the lack of
community participation in environmental

initiatives can

be detrimental to

government and civil society agencies’ efforts in promoting pro-environmental
ideas. Measures to engage and increase public participation in environmental
programs have been documented into two complementary ways, by focussing on
supply-side and/or demand-side responses. That is, social marketing and anti­
consumption efforts to decrease consumer demand allied with ‘upstream’ activities
designed to improve the environmental responsibility o f organisations (Brennan,
Binney, McCrohan, & Lancaster, 201 l).The supply side is often discussed in terms
o f the provision or availability o f environmental-sound solutions for day-to-day
activities. In Rothschild’s (1999) motivation-opportunity-ability framework, this is
the opportunity dimension. For instance, a functional and convenient public


No

ABILITY

1

2

"Ì

j

4

Yes

prone to
behave

unable to
behave

resistant to
behave

resistant to
behave

education

education

education

education

education

marketing

marketing

marketing

marketing

law

law

In order to understand the change o f public awareness and practices related to
environmental issues, and in the condition o f scarce empirical literature, it is
necessary to set up a baseline measuring level to record the longitudinal change
overtime.The literature to understand Vietnamese’s environmental attitude so far
has been based on the combination o f information from three main sources:
responsible governmental offices, news agencies’ reports and private companies
doing research on related environmental behaviours mostly in order to understand
their target markets.
Some desirable environmentally friendly behaviours undertaken by Vietnamese,
such as careful use o f energy and water, and reuse o f packaging such as bottles, jars

organizations such as the W om en’s Union, Youth Union and others have been
increasing their focus on promoting environmental awareness activities, such as
Green Summer (Mùa hè xanh), Scouts (Hướng đạo sinh). Recently, interesting
initiatives has been prompted by youths around the country such as the innovations
related to Earth Hour. Many commercial organizations have had organised
communities events to promote good environmental behaviour as part of their
corporate social responsibilities (CSR).
However, despite the above findings and development, the literature is very
scant in terms o f understanding the knowledge, attitude and practices o f people
regarding environment. Thus, it remains to be seen by and large whether the
activities mentioned as examples above are undertaken with a genuine regard for
the environment or simply due toother non-related reasons such as economic
necessity (saving cans to sell), or adherence to cultural values(frugality), etc.
Farmers, for instance, are known to reuse and recycling behaviour for efficient use
o f resources rather than for pro-environmental reasons. In other words, it is very
possible that these positive pro-environment behaviours embedded in the way
people live remains different from what scholars in environment would define as a
genuine concern for the environment. Behavioural economists and in some cases
social marketers would point to this as an opportunity: artificially increasing the
economic cost o f the ‘b a d ’ products, reduces the consumption o f the product and
hopefully makes ‘green’ alternatives more economically attractive. However, in
order to gain consumer-driven change communication and education is required to

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VIỆT NAM HỌC - KỶ YÉU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TÉ LẦN TH Ứ T ư

increase motivation. Apart from this, all supply and demand-side responses should
be supported with the requisite legislation, enforcement and advertising in order to

by adding three more items to the original 12-point New Environment Paradigm
scale to give more balance to the scale, to incorporate a broader ecological


VALUES, ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES.

worldview to the scale and to update terminology (Riley E Dunlap, et al., 2000).
This revision is also more ‘balanced' than the original and the language and
terminology use is less dated (Hawcroft&Milfont, 2010). Although the New
Ecological Paradigm is an update o f the original New Environmental Paradigm, the
abbreviation o f both tends to be used interchangeably - NEP = NEP.
Both versions o f the scale have been used in hundreds o f countries (Dunlap,
2008; Hawcroft&Milfront, 2010), and have increasingly been employed in different
contexts within Asia, including some Vietnam’s neighbours, China (Chung & Poon,
1998, 2001)and Indonesia(Watson & Halse, 2005). To this day there has been no
widely circulated study using this scale in the Vietnamese context.
In addition to attitudes, values and social norms need to be understood
(Shalom H. Schwartz, 1992; S.H. Schwartz, 1994; Shalom H. Schwartz et al., 2001;
Thogersen & Olander, 2003). Thogersen(2004, 2006)and Thogersen and Olander
(2003) found limited evidence that environmentally friendly consumption patterns
spread through social groups; however, others have found that group norms are
powerful motivators for specific behaviors (Kallgren, Reno, & Cialdini, 2000;
Lapinski & Rimal, 2005; Nordlund & Garvill, 2002; Widegren, 1998). However,
while norms may be the impetus for action, according to Stern, Dietz and Kalhof
(1993), the value orientation o f the individual is potentially more important with
regards to propensity to pay more or perception o f the severity o f the threat to their
environment.
In light o f the discussion above, this study utilized the NEP scale to discover
the environmental attitude and value orientations o f Vietnamese based on the
following question:

Vietnam’s environment released by the Ministry o f Natural Resources and
Environment in 2011 was the lack of community participation. The report also
pointed out that in order to mobilize the public participation effectively, attention to
information dissemination initiatives must be particularly paid. It is in this very
point that social marketing comes into the discussion in order to help respond to the
need of increasing public participation.
Method
An online self-administered survey o f university students was undertaken in
Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City. The survey was conducted English, because the
student surveyed had high proficiency in the language, also it was to maintain the
reliability o f the scale. The NEP was used within the survey as were measurements
o f various environmentally friendly behaviours.
Furthermore, some o f Schwartz’s (1992) values were correlated with the NEP
scale. Schwartz’s (values were chosen to be correlated because they represent the
three universal requirements o f human existence: biological needs, social
interaction and demands o f group functioning (Shaỉom H. Schwartz, 1992; S.H.
Schwartz, 1994; Shalom H. Schwartz, et a l , 2001;

s. J. Schwartz et a l 2010).

Values can also help explain the attitudes and behaviour o f individuals, and the
characteristics and operation o f organisations, institutions and societies (de Mooij &
Hofstede, 2002; Hofstede, 1998).
The majority o f respondents, almost 87 percent, were from Ho Chi Minh City,
all others were residing in Ha Noi. Sixty point four percent o f the respondents were
female and 97.7 percent were 18 and 25 years o f age. It should be noted that the

158



H um ans are severely abusing the environment
Human ingenuity will ensure that we do NOT
m ake the earth unlivable
W hen hum ans interfere with nature it often
produces disastrous consequences
Humans have the right to modify the natural
environm ent to suit their needs
We are approaching the lim it of the number of
people the earth can support
0% 10 20

30 40

50

60 70

■ Strongly Agree ■ 2 ■ 3 ■ 4 ■ % tf/6 ^ S tr^ íg ly ^ isa lÉ e e %

80 90 100
%

%

%

Figure 2: NEP Frequencies: The relationship between humans and
the environment
159


LOO

4. V A L H edonism

44* *

.36**

.35**

1.00

5. V A L Order

40**

.50**

38**

.18**

1.00

6. VA L Variety

32**

.21**


6

7

1.00

*p< .05, **p< .01

Discussion and conclusion
The items in the NEP (Figure 2) provide some understanding o f the level of
perceived urgency regarding the state o f the environment. A relatively large
proportion agree with the idea that an environmental catastrophe is about to occur;
with an equal number disagreeing with the statement that the crisis is exaggerated.
A generalised respect for the balance o f nature is indicated in the responses to
questions such as 'the balance o f nature is strong enough to c o p e ../ - with a
proportion indicating they did not think that the earth is able to cope with much
more strain.
An important insight is to be gained from the answer to the question regarding
the ability o f humans to control nature with no clear agree or disagree responses.
This indicates that young people are not necessarily optimistic about the future and
the potential for technological interventions to ‘save' them from ecological disaster.
This response is also echoed in the responses to the question regarding humans'
abuse of the environment and humans still being subject to the laws o f nature. To a
certain extent this may be a form o f ‘fatalism’, but it may also be that young people
are not feeling empowered when it comes to others addressing their environmental
concerns.
160


VALUES, ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES.

especially in those locations where there may be no self-perceived ability to act.
The tri-partite model (Brennan and Snitow, 2005) also has potential to make a
contribution in this regard.
However, as Figure 2 suggests, opportunity remains problematic in a rapidly
developing country where youns people feel they may have limited control over
environmental issues. An ability to act must be accompanied by an opportunity.
This is where some impactful public policy initiatives might be useful. A proviso
here is that Rothschilds’ original model recommended law as a platform for change.
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VIỆT NAM HỌC - KỶ YÉU HỘI THẢO QUÓC TẾ LÀN THÚ T ư

However, as Brennan and Snitow have demonstrated, law in the absence o f a
mechanism for enforcement is actually rather pointless. It is the enforcement that
encourages behaviour change, not the law itself. Therefore, education plus
enforcement will be necessary in order for action to take place.

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