The effects of attitudinal ambivalence on pro-environmental behavioural intentions

The present article traces the influence of attitudinal ambivalence on the environmentally friendly behavioural intention. Attitudinal ambivalence reflects the simultaneous existence of positive and negative dispositions toward an attitude object. In a survey study of 134 undergraduate students, we tested our hypotheses with multiple regression and mediation analyses. Results reveal that ambivalence is a strong predictor of behavioural intentions. Previous research on environmental attitudes has found inconsistencies with following behaviour. Insofar, the current study defends the view that the scarce predictive power of environmental attitudes may be rooted in deficiencies in the study of their structure. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.