FROM GREEN CAMPUS TO CLIMATE ACTION: THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES, CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION AND GREEN SELF-EFFICACY IN SHAPING STUDENTS’ PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR IN LAHORE’S HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

Sustainability has been transformed from a secondary concern to a top  priority and strategic focus by global climate change for higher education institutions around the globe. Educational institutions are not merely the users of land, energy, water, and other resources but are also considered vital social institutions for sparking the curiosity for knowledge, behavior, skills, and attitudes in students necessary to understand and take necessary actions for climate change. In Pakistan environmental challenges are increasingly impacting education, social and economic systems; therefore, HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) of Pakistan play an important role in preparing the young generation to promptly respond to climate-related risks. Existing Pakistan research has paid much attention to students’ sustainable development education, climate change thinking processes, and sustainability awareness, but it has been limited in focus on psychological mechanisms of educational institutions through which HEIs’ sustainability practices can transform into real pro-environmental attitudes. This study presents an integrated framework to evaluate whether sustainability practices and climate change education in higher education institutions of Lahore affect students’ pro-environmental attitudes through green self-efficacy. By employing Social Cognitive Theory and utilizing the attitudinal logic of environmental and climate change education, this study uses green self-efficacy as a psychological mechanism through which students translate environment-related learning and their institutional sustainability exposure into responsible sustainability actions. By conceptualizing a quantitative cross-sectional 5-point Likert scale questionnaire research design, the study collected data from 600 undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in seven (7) public and eight (8) private HEIs in Lahore. The study employed PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling) to examine structural and measurement models, including direct and indirect relations among study variables. This study will contribute to the existing higher education literature and improved sustainability practices by stepping ahead from sustainability awareness approaches and elaborating on how climate education and institutions’ sustainability practices can translate students’ perceived knowledge into actual environmental and climate actions. The empirical results also provide practical insight to Pakistani HEIs to translate their green campus strategies and climate education into measurable and real students’ action behavior.