Factors Determining the Pro-Environmental Behaviours in the Rural Regions of Tabriz County

Today, environmental problems have created a serious threat to the sustainability of rural communities. Many scholars maintain that a significant part of these problems is primarily caused by human’s environmentally irresponsible Behaviours. Therefore, investigation and recognition of individuals’ environmental Behaviours are a key prerequisite to resolve the environmental problems. Regarding the importance of the issue, the main objective of this descriptive- correlation research was to study factors determining the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in the rural regions of Tabriz County. The statistical population of the research consisted of all villagers’ heads of households in Tabriz County (N= 34308). According to the Bartlett et al. (2001) formula, 380 of them were selected by a multi-stage sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire which its content validity confirmed by a panel of experts. A pilot study conducted to establish the reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the main scales of the questionnaire were at appropriate levels (ranged from 0.689 to 0.867). The results indicated that the surveyed villagers showed pro-environmental Behaviours at a relatively low level. According to results, variables of the awareness of the consequences of non-compliance of pro-environmental Behaviours, the use of information and communication resources in the field of environmental issues, agricultural experience and attitudes towards doing pro-environmental Behaviours were the main factors determining the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in the rural regions of Tabriz County. The statistical population of the research consisted of all villagers’ heads of households in Tabriz County. Furthermore, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in terms of the existence/absence of environmental organizations so that the villagers behaved more pro-environmentally in the regions with the organization