title: Government employees' perception of urban air pollution and willingness to pay for improved quality: a cross-sectional survey study in Nanchang, China.
abstract: To improve the public's awareness of urban air pollution and promote establishment of more efficient policy toward urban air pollution, we investigated the government employees' perceptions of current urban air pollution and their willingness to pay (WTP) taxes for improved quality in Nanchang, China. Stratified cluster sampling strategy was used to distribute 629 questionnaires, and 608 were completed anonymously, yielding a 96.7 % response rate. Descriptive statistics frequencies and proportions were used to summarize the sample characteristics, and logistic regression models were performed to assess the associations of perception of urban air quality and WTP versus demographic variables. We found low awareness of urban air pollution (34.5 %) as well as low WTP (44.9 %), especially among the middle aged people (age 30-39 and age 40-49). Our study shows that female employees have better awareness of urban air pollution but much less willingness to pay for air quality improvement. Majority of the government employees showed their support to the government for more effective policies toward environmental protection, indicating more enhanced public education and environmental protection campaigns to improve the public's awareness of air pollution and work with every citizen to improve air quality. This study also obtained baseline information useful to the local regional and even national government in developing nations in their attempt to control urban air pollution in future.
authors: School of Public Health, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xiaojun
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolu, HI, 96822, USA.
authors: Yanyan
authors: Y
authors: Wu
authors: School of Public Health, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China.
authors: Yongxin
authors: Y
authors: Hu
authors: School of Public Health, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China.
authors: Denglai
authors: D
authors: Liu
authors: School of Public Health, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China.
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: School of Public Health, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China.
authors: Cheng
authors: C
authors: Chen
authors: School of Public Health, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China. yuanzhaokang@ncu.edu.cn.
authors: Zhaokang
authors: Z
authors: Yuan
authors: School of Public Health, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People's Republic of China. yuanan@hawaii.edu.|Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolu, HI, 96822, USA. yuanan@hawaii.edu.
authors: Yuanan
authors: Y
authors: Lu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000397:Air Pollution; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D000071296:Government Employees / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Government employees; Perception; Urban air pollution; Willingness to pay (WTP)