Sociological Explanation of Littering by Tourists (Case Study:Province of Mazandaran)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Extended Abstract
Abstract
Nowadays, Littering is considered as one of the most important environmental, social as well as aesthetic problem throughout the world. Littering is evidence of citizens' social disorder in environmental citizenship that in public and urban areas tends to exacerbate the problems of waste. The main purpose of this study is providing a sociological explanation of the act of littering among tourists of Mazandaran province and its affective factors. The method of the research is survey and data is collected from 385 tourists of Mazandaran province by questionnaires with multi-stage cluster sampling. After gathering information, Research hypotheses were analyzed by using SPSS and Amos. Theoretical Framework in the research is Theory interpersonal behavior (TIB). The data present that % 50/4 respondents are female and %49/6 male and the average age is 30 years. This study has shown that tourists littering scale is average level to upward. The results of the Pearson correlation there is significant relation between environmental attitudes, Weakness of social norms, responsibility, littering by others, the habit, anonymity, Absence of services with littering. All of the main variables in this research can explain percent 37 from changing in dependent variable (littering).
Introduction
Nowadays, with the increasing population, urbanization and growing consumerism, has increased the amount of produced waste. Moreover, littering in Urban and public spaces have been exacerbated the problems related to waste. Littering poses as one of most important problems of environmental, social, and aesthetics in throughout the world. Littering is evidence of citizens' social disorder in environmental citizenship that in public and urban areas have been exacerbated the problems of waste. The main purpose of this study is Sociological explanation of littering among Tourists of Mazandaran province and the affective factors on it.
What is littering?
Whilst there is no official definition of litter, the broadly accepted definition of litter (as used by ENCAMS and Keep Britain Tidy) is ‘waste in the wrong place caused by human agency’. This means that littering behaviors are more complex than might be expected; in addition to simply ‘dropping’ litter, it includes other sub-behaviors such as folding Rapid Evidence Review of Littering Behavior and Anti-Litter Policies litter up and tucking it into small spaces, placing litter down carefully in a chosen location, and leaving litter nearby for a length of time before abandoning it.
 
Materials and Methods
The method of the research is survey and data is collected from 385 tourists of Mazandaran province by questionnaires with multi-stage cluster sampling. After gathering information, Research hypotheses were analyzed by using SPSS and Amos.
Dependent variable in the research is littering and independent variables include: environmental attitudes, Weakness of social norms, responsibility, littering by others, the habit, anonymity, Absence of services.
 
Discussion and Results
This study has shown that tourists littering scale is average level to upward. The data in this study were collected between 385 tourists of Mazandaran province. The data present that % 50/4 respondents are female and %49/6 male and the average age is 30 years. It was determined on the basis of data obtained from independent variables; about 47 percent of respondents in the average are their environmental attitudes. About 70 percent of respondents have Weak social norms in the littering context. Responsible feel is for half of the respondents in the average. Over 35% of respondents are habit to littering. More than half the respondents, 74% agree with the loss of services. 
The results of the pearsonian correlation there is significant relation between environmental attitudes, Weakness of social norms, responsibility, littering by others, the habit, anonymity, Absence of services with littering. All of the main variables in this research can explain percent 37 from changing in dependent variable (littering).
 
Conclusions
Littering is one of the important problems in our society.it has imposed much costs to society. A key to the success of any litter prevention activity is to clean up and remove existing litter. Reducing the amount of existing litter in a location is a surefire way to reduce the rate of littering behavior.so it is necessary that change attitude of people toward environment and increase knowledge about pollution risks. One way to promote individual-level motivations is through outreach and media messages.


References:

Arafat, H.A., Al-Kathhib, I.A., Daoud, R. and Shwahneh, H. (2007). Influence of socio-economic factors on street litter generation in the Middle East: Effects of education level, age, and type of residence, Waste Management Resource, 25: 363–370.
Armitage, N. and Rooseboom, A. (2000). The removal of urban litter from storm water conduits and streams: Paper 1ـthe quantities involved and catchment litter management options, Water SA, 26:181–188.
Blaikie, N. H. (1933). Designing social research, translated by Hasan chavoshian, Tehran: Ney Emission. (In Persian)
Burgess, R.L., Clark, R.N. and Hendee, J.C. (1971). An experimental analysis of antilittering procedures, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 4: 71-74.
Cadena, C.E., Manjarrez, P.L., Izquierdo, I.E. and Gallegos, E.R. (2012). An approach to litter generation and littering practices in a Mexico City neighborhood, Sustainability, 4: 1733-1754.
Clark, R.N., Burgess, R.L., and Hendee, J.C. (1972). The development of anti-litter behavior in a forest campground, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 5: 1-5.
Cialdini, R.B., Reno, R.R. and Kallgren, C.A. (1990). A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places, Journal of personality and social psychology, 58: 1015-1026.
Chen, X.P. and Li, Sh. (2005). Cross-national differences in cooperative decision-making in mixed-motive business contexts: The mediating effect of vertical and horizontal individualism, Journal of International Business Studies, 15.
Darnton, A. (2008). Reference report: An overview of behavior change models and their uses, Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Westminster.
Fayaz, M. (2013). Environment new sletter, environmental news Iran. (In Persian)
Finnie, W.C. (1973). Field experiments in litter control, Environment and Behavior, 5: 123-144.
Geller, E.S. (1980). Applications of behavioral analysis for litter control, In D. Glenwick and L. Jason (Eds.). Behavioral community psychology: Progress and prospects, New York, NY, 254-283.
Green, C.A. (2001). The effect of prior litter on sewing class students` clean-up behavior, http://www.clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/de fault.asp. from the Internet on 14th Dec, 2007.
Jackson, T. (2005). Motivating sustainable consumption: A review of evidence on consumer behavior and behavioral change, a report to the sustainable development research network. London: SDRN.
Kymlicka, W. (1995) .Multicultural citizenship, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kayhanian, M., Stransky, C., Bay, S., Lau, S.L. and Stenstorm, M.K. (2008). Toxicity of urban highway runoff with respect to storm duration, Sci. Total Environ, 38: 386–406.
Lyndhurst, B. (2012). Rapid evidence review of littering behavior and anti-litter policies, www.zerowastescotland.org.uk.
MacGregor, S. (2006). Beyond mothering earth: Ecological citizenship and the politics of care, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Oladzadeh, S. (2014). Environmental news, News Health The News. (In Persian)
Oluyinka, O. and Balogun, S.K. (2011). Psycho-sociocultural analysis of attitude towards littering in a Nigerian urban city, Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management, 4 (1): 68-80.
Schultz, P.W., Bator, R.J., Large, L.B., Bruni, C.M. and Tabanico, J.J. (2013). Littering in context: Personal and environment predictors of littering behavior, Environment and Behavior, 45(1): 35–59.
Smout, P., Sheehy, B., Hassell, T. and Cary, J. (2007). Promoting behavioral change in household water consumption: Literature review, Prepared for Smart Water, URS.
Steward, F. (1991). Citizens of planet earth, in G. Andrrews (Ed) Citizenship, London: Lawrence and Wishart, 65-75.
Stokols, D. and Altman, I. (Eds.), (1987). Handbook of environmental psychology, Vols.1– 2. John Wiley, NY.
Triandis, H.C. (1977). Interpersonal behaviors, Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Triandis, H.C. (1980). Values, attitudes and interpret­ social behavior, In H. Howe and M. Page {Eds), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1979, 27, 195-260. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Triandis, H.C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural context, Psychological Review, 96: 506-520.
Triandis, H.C. (1995). Individualism and collectivism boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Triandis, H.C. (2009a). Ecological determinants of cultural variations, In R.W. Wyer, C.-Y. Chiu and Y.Y. Hong (Eds), Understanding Culture: Theory, Research and Applications, pp. 189-210. New York: Psychology Press.
Triandis, H.C. (2009b). Fooling ourselves: Self-deception in politics, religion, and terrorism, Westport, CT: Praeger.
White, K.M., Smith, J.K., Terry, D.J., Greenslade, J.H. and McKimmie, B.M. (2009). Social influence in the theory of planned behavior: The role of descriptive, injunctive, and in group norms, British Journal of Social Psychology, 48(1): 135-158.

Keywords