PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Environmentally friendly behavior has become increasingly important in recent yearsto reduce the speed of climate change and its negative impacts. Individual behavior,including environmentally friendly behavior, is largely formed by behavioral intentions.This study draws on the theory of planned behavior to examinethe effects of attitudestoward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on intentions ofenvironmentally friendly behavior. It also investigates differences between genders andamong sports. The study is based on data from a nationwide online survey of communitysports club members in Germany in five team/racket sports (n=3,036). Existingmeasures to operationalize the constructs were adapted to the present research context.The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.The results show that thetheoretical assumptions of the theory of planned behavior were largely supported bythe data, implying that the antecedents of environmentallyfriendly behavioral intentionscan be applied to club members. Furthermore, gender- and sports-specific differencesin the antecedents–intention relationship were detected.This study is among the first toexamine environmentally friendly behavioral intentions in community sports clubs. It addsto an increasing body of research investigating environmental sustainability in sports.