Impact of Environmental Moral Education on Pro-Environmental Behaviour: Do Psychological Empowerment and Islamic Religiosity Matter?

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-02, Vol.18 (4), p.1604
• Main Authors: Begum, Abida, Jingwei, Liu, Haider, Maqsood, Ajmal, Muhammad Maroof, Khan, Salim, Han, Heesup
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Behavior; Biodiversity; Cross-Sectional Studies; Curricula; Education; Electricity; Empowerment; Environmental behavior; Environmental conditions; Environmental education; Environmental impact; Humans; Hypotheses; Islam; Job enrichment; Moral education; Morals; Multivariate statistical analysis; Resource conservation; Students; Sustainability; Sustainable development
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18041604

In light of increasing concerns about global environmental problems, environmental moral education is assumed to have a significant influence on the pro-environmental behaviour of students. Within the past decade, several higher education institutes have acknowledged the importance of integrating sustainability into the educational curriculum to have a focused and explicit impact on society. The current study investigated the relationship between environmental moral education and pro-environmental behaviour while drawing upon insights from the conservation of resource theory. The relationship among the aforementioned variables was studied for the mediating role of psychological empowerment and the moderating effect of Islamic religiosity. Data were collected from 429 university students with a cross-sectional approach. The data were analysed using "structural equation modelling" and "PROCESS" analytical techniques. The results of the study followed the predicted conceptual model, that is, environmental moral education was positively related to pro-environmental behaviour. Furthermore, psychological empowerment partially mediated the aforementioned relationship, while Islamic religiosity moderated the relationships between environmental moral education and pro-environmental behaviour as well as between environmental moral education and psychological empowerment. These findings reinforce the importance of environmental moral education and Islamic religiosity in understanding the Muslim student's ecological behaviours.