Investigating the Impact of Social Capital on Citizens' Environmental Behaviors (Case Study: City Bushehr

Subject Areas : Regional Planning

gholamreza jafarinia ¹

1 - departemanet

Received: 2019-10-26 Accepted : 2019-12-28 Published : 2020-04-20

Keywords: Social Capital, environment, trust, Participation,

Abstract :

          The environment refers to any environment in which humans are directly or indirectly dependent and a process that supports life. Healthy environment guarantees the health of all biologists and environmental protection is one of the most important concerns of contemporary humans. This cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted on all citizens over 18 years of age in Bushehr. The sample size was selected based on Morgan table. Finally, 397 correct questionnaires were used for final analysis. The sampling method was also randomly selected. SPSS 22 and Smart PLS 2 statistical software were used for data analysis. The results of the research findings for the moderating role hypothesis of path coefficient 0.163 and statistical t 2/938 (greater than 1.96) and the effect intensity of 0.05, for social interaction hypothesis path coefficient 0.408 and statistical t 34/000 (more For social trust hypothesis path coefficient 0.405 and statistical t 3232/717 (greater than 1.96) and for social participation hypothesis path coefficient 0.288 and statistical t 20/86/16 (greater than 1.96) So, there is a significant relationship between the hypothesis of moderation, social interaction, social trust and social participation, and the environmental behaviors of the citizens of Bushehr and this type of relationship is direct and positive.       Extended Abstract Introduction:
        What is certain is that today the growing danger of environmental degradation and its destruction threatens the people of the developing world. Because of the adverse domestic conditions such as irregular population growth, increasing urbanization and urban disruption, these countries prevent serious action and comprehensive confrontation with environmental problems. Development is no exception. Unfortunately, in keeping with the environmental indicators of sustainable development, sustainable development and quality of life have always been at the bottom of the global rankings. Our country was ranked # 1 out of 5 in the list of environmental sustainability indicators Methodology:        The purpose of this study is an applied research and is a descriptive survey based on theoretical principles. Survey method was used to collect the required information and a questionnaire was used to collect the required data. The population of this study was 2997 945/298 persons. Cochran's formula was used in this study to determine the appropriate sample size. Our sample size is 383 based on calculations. The sampling method in this study is multi-stage cluster sampling Results and discussion:        First sub-hypothesis: There is a relationship between social interaction and environmental behaviors of the citizens of Bushehr.The social interaction of individuals with institutions and groups in society as well as their supportive actions aimed at achieving individual and collective goals can play an important role in the emergence of environmental behaviors. Also, environmental behavior has been a positive behavior towards the environment, in which people, if not even protecting the environment, at least do no harm. Significant coefficient and path coefficient obtained for this hypothesis indicate its validation. As mentioned, social interaction is one of the dimensions of social capital that is directly related to environmental behavior in this research. That is, the higher the social interaction of individuals in a community, the greater their environmental behavior. The results obtained for this hypothesis are in agreement with Taijbakhshi et al. (2016) and Sharifi and Nouripour (2016).Second sub-hypothesis: There is a relationship between social trust and environmental behaviors of Bushehr citizens.Because trust is essential for the formation of social bonds and treaties, and one of the key dimensions of social capital, it shows the potential of citizens to cooperate and interact with one another, as well as their readiness to engage in social activities. Therefore, at the micro level, members of the community trust each other and build on these trusts to form new groups and organizations and to work together within them. Significant coefficient and path coefficient obtained for this hypothesis indicate its validation. Therefore, the discussion of social trust, which is one of the main aspects of social capital, has an impact on environmental behaviors and has a direct relationship, that is, the higher the social trust in a society, the higher the environmental behaviors that occur. The results for this hypothesis are in line with the results of Jones et al. (2009) and Sharifi and Nouripour (2016).Third sub-hypothesis: There is a relation between social participation and environmental behavior of the citizens of BushehrSocial participation is the active participation of human beings in political, economic and cultural life and in general all aspects of life. Social participation refers to those voluntary activities through which members of a community cooperate in various matters (Aghababai & Rahimi, 2013). Social participation is an important topic these days. Significant coefficient and path coefficient obtained for this hypothesis indicate its validation. Therefore, the higher the social participation of individuals, the greater their environmental behavior. Or, in other words, there is a direct relationship between social participation and environmental behavior. The higher the social participation of individuals, the greater their environmental behavior. The results obtained for this hypothesis are in line with the results of Bakhshi et al. (2016) and Sharifi and Nouripour (2016). Conclusion:          The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of social capital on the environmental behavior of the citizens of Bushehr. This study was a cross-sectional and correlational study and the statistical population was all citizens over 18 years of age in Bushehr. The sample was selected based on Morgan table and finally 397 correct questionnaires were used for final analysis. The measuring tools in this research were the social capital questionnaires of Georgia Korsami (2011) and environmental behaviors of Zare Shahabadi et al. (1396). The data were then entered into Spss22 statistical software to obtain descriptive statistics. Finally, Smart PLS2 statistical software was used to perform the final analysis, the results of which are analyzed in this section. Past research has examined the effects of knowledge, attitude, social capital, income, gender, and marital status variables and confirmed their impact. As a result, we can say that people's behavior towards the environment is an important issue. A behavior follows a chain of factors whose pre-occurrence is the intention or intention of the behavior. The significant coefficients and path coefficients obtained for this hypothesis indicate its validation. As the results of the study show and confirm, individual variables such as gender, education, and occupation play a moderating role, namely enhancing or reducing the relationship between serum social participation and environmental behaviors. . The results of social capital and environmental behaviors of the citizens of Bushehr are in line with the results of the Saleki research (1977).

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