The influence of ethnicity and other socio-demographic characteristics on pro-environmental attitudes: a Malaysian perspective

Alarming global environmental problems have created urgency for educating the general public on pro-environmental attitudes. Previous studies indicated that the formation of pro-environmental attitudes significantly depended on society's cultural background and socio-demographic characteristics. Malaysia is a multicultural country with multi-ethnic groups residing in the country. Malaysian multicultural society is typified by three major ethnic groups, namely Malays, Chinese, and Indians. The study investigated how pro-environmental attitudes, using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, change with cultural background and socio-demographic characteristics. The NEP scale provided one reliable dimension (Cronbach's α = 0.73). The Malay, in general, appeared to exhibit more favourable pro-environmental attitudes as measured by the NEP than what has been reported. Malays with post-secondary education exhibited lower pro-environmental attitudes than most other ethnicities, ages, and levels of education subgroups. Females and males did not significantly differ in their pro-environmental attitudes. Findings from this study would be useful for designing environmental education programmes.