Environmental Attitudes and Knowledge: An International Comparison Among Business Students

This article investigates international differences in environmental knowledge and attitudes among business administration students. The Environmental Knowledge and Attitude Scale, developed by Maloney, Ward, and Braucht (1975) and used by Synodinos (1990), was administered to 85 upperdivision business administration students at Loyola University Chicago and 111 upperdivision business students at the National University of Singapore. No significant differences were found between the two samples on the Knowledge, Concern, or Willingness to Act subscales. The United States students' higher mean score on the Actual Behavior subscale was significant but may only reflect relative possibilities for participation in environmental activities. Overall, the United States sample falls short of what could be hoped for given the age of America's conservation movement and recent intensity of its environmental movement. The results underscore the importance of increasing the environmental/ecological component in business curricula.