Consumers' environmental behavior - Generalized, sector-based, or compensatory?

The means applied to promote environmentally friendly behavior need to be e valuated. This study investigates the possibility that actions meant to imp rove recycling may have unintended consequences in fields other than the ta rget behavior. The relation between self-reported environmental behaviors i n several sectors is studied, with particular attention given to the questi on of whether increased recycling may develop into a compensatory behavior for less environmentally friendly behavior elsewhere. Results from a survey , including approximately 1,500 Norwegian consumers, are presented. No tend encies toward compensatory behavior are detected. Furthermore, the survey d oes not indicate that the introduction of measures meant to increase recycl ing brings increased attitudinal support for compensatory behavior. At the same time, the survey supports the view that there is no "general" environm ental behavior among consumers. On the other hand, the correlations between different behaviors increase when the behaviors in question become more si milar.