title: What's the problem? River management, education, and public beliefs.
abstract: This paper invokes the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a diagnostic tool to explain an existing public education program's limited success at improving river water quality in the City of Perth, Western Australia. A reflective, client-driven research approach was used. A facilitated expert workshop defined an environmental problem (excess nutrients leaving gardens and entering waterways) and a desired behavior (residents purchasing environmentally sensitive fertilizer) to address the problem. A TPB-based belief elicitation survey captured respondents' beliefs regarding the desired behavior. The findings suggest respondents were aware of the links between purchasing environmentally sensitive fertilizer and river water quality. However, this behavior is compromised by the challenges in identifying appropriate products, product quality concerns, and cost. Viewing the content of a public education program through the lens of the TPB reveals insights into how and why the program fell short in achieving one of its key behavioral change goals.
authors.affiliation: Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia. m.hughes@curtin.edu.au
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weiler
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Curtis
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D045483:Rivers; D060753:Water Quality; D014904:Western Australia