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Exploring worldviews and their relationships to sustainable lifestyles: Towards a new conceptual and methodological approach

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  • Hedlund-de Witt, Annick

Abstract

In the global debate on sustainable development, there appears to be a growing recognition of the crucial importance of worldviews vis-à-vis the urgently needed transition to an ecological economy and society. This study therefore aims to support (survey) research exploring worldviews and their complex relationships to sustainable lifestyles. I do this by analyzing and critically challenging existing measures such as the New Environmental Paradigm, and by developing a new conceptual and methodological approach. First, a review of multiple survey-approaches, stemming from different disciplinary and theoretical traditions, is conducted. This results in a meta-analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. On this basis it is concluded that a more optimal approach should be comprehensive and systematic, measure structural worldview-beliefs, and be able to account for human and cultural development. Then, the Integrative Worldview Framework (IWF) is proposed in order to support such a systematic, comprehensive, structural, and dynamic operationalization of the worldview-construct. In this way, a conceptually and methodologically innovative approach to exploring worldviews and their relationship to sustainable behaviors is developed.

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  • Hedlund-de Witt, Annick, 2012. "Exploring worldviews and their relationships to sustainable lifestyles: Towards a new conceptual and methodological approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 74-83.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:84:y:2012:i:c:p:74-83
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.09.009
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    1. Buenstorf, Guido & Cordes, Christian, 2008. "Can sustainable consumption be learned? A model of cultural evolution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 646-657, November.
    2. Hedlund-de Witt, Annick, 2011. "The rising culture and worldview of contemporary spirituality: A sociological study of potentials and pitfalls for sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 1057-1065, April.
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    7. N. P. Hariram & K. B. Mekha & Vipinraj Suganthan & K. Sudhakar, 2023. "Sustainalism: An Integrated Socio-Economic-Environmental Model to Address Sustainable Development and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-37, July.
    8. Goran Ćeranić & Nataša Krivokapić & Rade Šarović & Predrag Živković, 2023. "Perception of Climate Change and Assessment of the Importance of Sustainable Behavior for Their Mitigation: The Example of Montenegro," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-19, June.
    9. Kate Elizabeth Gannon, Mike Hulme, 2017. "Geoengineering at the ‘edge of the world’: exploring perceptions of ocean fertilization through the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation," GRI Working Papers 280, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    10. Joachim H. Spangenberg, 2018. "Behind the Scenarios: World View, Ideologies, Philosophies. An Analysis of Hidden Determinants and Acceptance Obstacles Illustrated by the ALARM Scenarios," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, July.
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    13. Király, Gábor & Köves, Alexandra, 2023. "Facing finitude: Death-awareness and sustainable transitions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    14. Hoffmann, Roman & Kanitsar, Georg & Seifert, Marcel, 2024. "Behavioral barriers impede pro-environmental decision-making: Experimental evidence from incentivized laboratory and vignette studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    15. Edna C. Figueroa-García & Juan J. García-Machado & Diana C. Pérez-Bustamante Yábar, 2018. "Modeling the Social Factors That Determine Sustainable Consumption Behavior in the Community of Madrid," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, August.
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