Promoting pro-environmental printing behavior: The role of ICT barriers and sustainable values

Suleri, Javed; Cavagnaro, Elena Article Promoting pro-environmental printing behavior: The role of ICT barriers and sustainable values Dutch Journal of Finance and Management Provided in Cooperation with: Veritas Publications, London Suggested Citation: Suleri, Javed; Cavagnaro, Elena (2016) : Promoting pro-environmental printing behavior: The role of ICT barriers and sustainable values, Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, ISSN 2542-4750, Lectito Journals, The Hague, Vol. 1, Iss. 1, pp. 1-12, https://doi.org/10.20897/lectito.201638 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308659 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ *Correspondence to: [email protected] Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 1:1 (2016), 38 ISSN: 2468-211X Promoting Pro-environmental Printing Behavior: The Role of ICT Barriers and Sustainable Values Javed Suleri*, Dr. Elena Cavagnaro, Stenden University of Applied Sciences, NETHERLANDS ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION This study aims to explore how to reduce printing at elementary schools through strengthening both the effective use of ICT and proenvironmental values. Literature review is presented in themes – ICT barriers (fears, knowledge, skills and time), demographic, printing behavior and sustainable values (egoistic, hedonic, prosocial & biospheric). A quantitative method is applied in this study, data is obtained from 108 teachers from seven elementary schools at three different regions in Northwest Friesland, The Netherlands by using a questionnaire. The value scale by De Groot and Steg (2008) is applied for sustainable values while for ICT barriers and printing behavior, questions are developed by the author and validated by Cronbach. The main findings illustrate that lower ICT fears and higher biospheric values have a positive effect on the pro-environmental printing behavior. To minimize teachers’ ICT fears and printing, directors of the schools should train teachers in the use of ICT and enhance their biospheric values. This study is one of the first to explore ICT barriers with the combination of pro-environmental values orientation contributing pragmatic evidence to reducing financial and environmental costs. Keywords ------------------------------ ICT integration, onscreen reading, green printing, pro-environmental behavior, Sustainability and ICT ------------------------------------- Received: 17 May 2016 Accepted: 24 June 2016 Published Online: 8 August 16 ------------------------------------- DOI: 10.20897/lectito.201638 The omnipresent nature of Information Communication Technology (ICT) has altered almost every feature of life and radically changed how people live, work and play (Kozma, 2005). As a chunk of that makeover, it has become indispensable to extensively use ICT in elementary schools’ classrooms, as elementary schools prepare students for living in contemporary society. To accomplish this provision, schools need to integrate ICT in classrooms. Although, there is numerous research about ICT at schools (Korte & Husing, 2007; Lim & Khine, 2006; Watt, 1980; Yelland, 2001), there are very limited studies focusing on pro-environmental printing behavior with the combination of effective use of ICT and hence, the intention of this study to explore ICT and teachers’ sustainable values from this angle in the elementary schools. Previous studies prove that onscreen reading can reduce 45% paper use (Kutami, 2009) there is a lack of research on using ICT to lower printing in combination with enhancing teachers’ pro-environmental values. This paper emphasizes that deficit and uses De Groot and Steg’s (2008) value scale to find out teachers’ pro-environmental values orientation such as egoistic, hedonic, prosocial and biospheric. This study is under taken at seven different elementary schools in Northwest Friesland, The Netherlands. ICT is regularly operated within the schools, but it is not often completely exploited. One possible reason for this is the lack of ICT integration in general and as a substitute for printing in particular. The schools are well-equipped with modern equipment that is updated on a fairly regular basis. Nevertheless, this does not, in itself, guarantee ICT integration in education. Other features, such as fears, knowledge, time, skills and pro-environmental values of teachers also play a vital role. Furthermore, the value and benefits of ICT integration need to be understood by teachers and thus, there is no point in showing teachers in what way to integrate ICT in their work if the reason for doing so is not understood by them (Veen, 1993). There have been limited chances for teachers for professional development in relation to ICT. Hence, it can be concluded that their knowledge of ICT is limited and this may cause fear and avoidance of use of ICT (Tsai, 2012; Andoh, 2012). Furthermore, several studies also emphasize that there are a number of factors or barriers Copyright © 2016 by Author/s and Licensed by Lectito BV, Netherlands. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 1:1 (2016), 38 © 2016 Suleri & Cavagnaro 2 such as fear of making mistakes, reluctance, personal fundamental, pedagogics and technology beliefs, ICT integration, frustration, ICT skills, ICT Knowledge, lack of competence, insufficient time and outdated computers that hinder the successful integration of ICT in education. Research Questions Considering the aforementioned facts the central questions of this study follows: Q1: What are the barriers of using ICT by elementary school teachers in general and as an alternative for printing in particular? Q2: What is the influence of barriers on the effective use of ICT in the context of reducing printing? Q3: What are the effects of pro-environmental values in reducing printing? To test this notion, the following hypotheses are used: H1: The higher teachers’ pro-environmental values, the higher the reduction of environmental and financial costs at elementary schools measured as use of paper. H2: The lower teachers’ barriers towards ICT, the lower the use of paper. H3: The lower ICT barriers and the higher pro-environmental values, the lower the environmental and financial costs at school measured in use of paper. Review of Literature The focus of this literature review is on the main themes of this study ICT barriers (fears, skills, knowledge and time) and pro-environmental values (egoistic, hedonic, prosocial and biospheric). Fears Anxiety, lack of confidence and fear often indicates that ICT takes a back seat to conventional learning mechanisms (Russell & Bradley, 1997). ICT is significantly under-used by teachers and the problem is worldwide (Murphy & Greenwood, 2006). Many explanations are offered such as fear of making mistakes, lack of resources or lack of access to resources in schools, outdated computers and reluctance to use ICT (Lim & Khine, 2006). In other studies where teachers have been surveyed, similar fears have been articulated (Daugherty & Funke, 1998; Hare & McCarten, 1996; James & Beattie, 1996; Mudge, 1999; Schifter, 2000; Thompson & Holt, 1996; Wolcott & Betts, 1999). This paper discovers the fears the teachers have towards ICT. In addition, do these fears have an influence on printing behavior? Skills A series of statements that identified potential teachers’ barriers to the use of technology is shown in Table 3 (Pajo & Wallace, 2001). Likewise, other significant barriers included lack of skills, technical support, short training, insufficient funds and insufficient teaching support. The perception of the institution not recognizing nor rewarding efforts to integrate ICT into teaching were all acknowledged as main barriers. Additionally, a personal dislike of computers was specified by a few (Pajo & Wallace, 2001). In view of this literature review, this study explores – the influence of ICT skills on printing behavior. Knowledge Teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning with ICT are central to integration (Mumtaz, 2000). Above all, if the software matched the teacher’s pedagogy, it will be used by them (Veen, 1993). Dealing effectively with ICT relates not only to the knowledge of the capability, limitations, applications and implications of ICT, but also to individuals’ personal and fundamental belief (pedagogics and technology belief). Additionally, “Technology integration in education is not simply as a state of “technology”, rather, it becomes a state of “art” (Tsai (2012, p.1059), meaning teachers’ need to redesign their thinking, learning material and activities since in classroom context students are quite dynamic (Tsai, 2012). Therefore, this study explores whether ICT knowledge influences printing behavior. Time The time issue plays a vital role and is, thus, a significant barrier. It was acknowledged by Pajo and Wallace (2001) that learning technology consumes time. Similarly, it was also felt by a large number of respondents that the time connected with emerging and applying courses posed a real disorder to their use of ICT in teaching (Pajo & Wallace, 2001). For that reason, this study finds out - do teachers get sufficient time to use the computer during lessons? Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 1:1 (2016), 38 3 © 2016 Suleri & Cavagnaro In conclusion, keeping abovementioned literature review in view, teachers’ fear, skills, knowledge and time are important factors for ICT integration and are the focus of this paper as well. Role of sustainable values As emphasized by De Groot and Steg (2008), values are desirable goals that serve as guiding principles in people’s life. The aim of the research is to measure and enhance both the teachers’ pro-environmental values and pro-environmental approach towards ICT (Cuban, 2000; Andoh, 2012; Korte & Husing, 2007; Watt, 1980 & Kutami, 2009); as the teachers’ approach has an impact on the environment. Behavioral interventions as generally being more effective when they are steadily planned, applied and evaluated (Steg & Vlek, 2008). Values determines what people attend to and how people evaluate various aspects of the situation and what alternatives are being considered (De Groot & Steg, 2008). There are four types of values - hedonic, egoistic, prosocial, and biospheric values (De Groot & Steg, 2008). In this study De Groot and Steg’s (2008) value scale is used to measure these four values. Egoistic As maintained by De Groot and Steg (2008), individuals who have a predominant approach from egoistic values, will think over costs and benefits of environmentally substantial personal behavior: Once the apparent compensations surpass the apparent expenses, they will have an ecologically friendly goal (De Groot & Steg, 2008). Hedonic The individual with hedonic values acts spontaneously to fulfill the pleasurable feeling of that moment. It appeared to be more strongly and negatively related to environmental beliefs, preferences, norms, and actions (De Groot & Steg, 2008). Prosocial Prosocial individuals are those with altruistic value approach who will form their choice to behave proenvironmentally or not, on apparent costs and benefits for other individuals (De Groot & Steg, 2008). Biospheric Individuals with a biospheric value approach will primarily form their choice to act pro-environmentally or not, on the apparent costs and benefits for the environment and planet all together (De Groot & Steg, 2008). Considering the aforementioned literature review, this study discovers: do pro-environmental values influence printing? In conclusion, literature review highlights that ICT integration in elementary schools is indispensable. In addition, due to these barriers teachers are reluctant to use the computer at schools. Furthermore, the role of ICT in reducing paper is underlined showing that an appropriate use of ICT, schools can reduce environmental and financial costs. Finally, existing research reveals that values are desirable goals that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives (De Groot & Steg, 2008). Research Method In this study, a pre-coded questionnaire is the instrument used to gather data. To explore teachers’ proenvironmental values orientation, de Groot and Steg’s (2008) value scale is used. While for ICT barriers (fears, skills, knowledge & time) and printing behavior, questions are developed by the author on the basis of the literature discussed in the literature review by using Likert scale ranging from never (1) to always (6). At the end of the questionnaire, demographic features such as age, gender and teaching experience are measured with the aim to understand respondents’ profile. The population of this research is elementary school teachers ranging from 20 to 65 years old, male and female with teaching experience of less than 5 years to more than 25 years. The population size of this study is 108 teachers i.e. the whole amount of teachers working for seven different elementary schools. Therefore 108 questionnaires were send, and 82 Questionnaires were returned which is a response of 76%. As Cohen et al (2000) proclaims, the response rate which is between 40% and 50% is adequate. A total of 18% per cent of the respondents were male and 82% percent female which indicates a real picture of elementary schools under observation and in general all over The Netherlands (CBS report, 2012). Moreover, 69% teachers were above 40 and only 11% were younger than 30 years indicating there are more elderly staff in the elementary schools which is also in line with the population of the schools (CBS report, 2012). Besides, 83% teachers had more than 10 years’ experience, whereas, only 5% had less than 5 years’ experience which demonstrates young teachers as undersized in the elementary schools (see Table 1). Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 1:1 (2016), 38 © 2016 Suleri & Cavagnaro 4 Table 1: Teacher Demographics (N = 82) Findings Results of this study are as follows: Fears The ICT fears of teachers are assessed with six different questions (Table 2). Grand mean and standard deviation of the fear is (Mean = 2,31, SD. 0,87). Moreover, “I am lacking ICT training” is the greatest fear among teachers (Mean = 2,77, SD. 1,16). In contrast, the lowest fear is “I dislike computer technology in teaching” (Mean = 1,96, SD, 1,24. Table 2: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for ICT fears (N = 82) Skills ICT skills among teachers are assessed with twelve different questions (Table 3). Grand mean and standard deviation of the skills is (Mean = 4,28, SD. ,84). Moreover, use of email, printer and computer are among the top three, namely, (Mean = 5,93, SD. =,31; Mean = 5,82, SD. = ,59; Mean = 5,80, SD. = ,69), whereas, drop box, tablet and google docs. are among the last three, namely, (Mean = 1,96, SD. 1,67; Mean = 2,90, SD. = 2,21; Mean = 3,17, SD. = 2,24). This shows that teachers have better skills in using email, printer and computer; however, they need more skills for using Drop Box, tablet and google docs. Table 3: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for ICT Skills (N = 82) Knowledge Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 1:1 (2016), 38 5 © 2016 Suleri & Cavagnaro The teacher’s ICT knowledge is assessed with four different questions (Table 4). Grand mean and standard deviation of the knowledge is (Mean = 4,11, SD. 1,00). Moreover, “I help pupils when they have a problem with computer” scores better (Mean = 4,47, SD. = 1,28), while, “I feel I have sufficient knowledge about ICT” scores minimum (M = 3,73, SD. 1,16) which shows teachers are more confident about their ICT knowledge when it comes to helping pupils; however, they are less confident when it comes to “I feel I have sufficient knowledge about ICT”. Table 4: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for ICT knowledge (N = 82) Time Respondents are asked five queries about time (Table 5). Grand mean and standard deviation of the time is (Mean = 3,38, SD. ,73). Moreover, “I get sufficient time to prepare my lesson” is the greatest time barrier the teachers face (Mean = 4.05, SD. = 1,30); however, “I do not use computers as they are very outdated” scored least (M = 1,54, SD. ,90) indicating the outdated computer as having a less important role for the teachers’ time barrier. author has decided to delete item 4 “More ICT support will motivate me to use more computers in the class.” and 5 “ I do not use computers as they are very outdated” respectively. After deleting these two items, Cronbach Alpha been decided by the author to keep three items for further analysis. Table 5: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for ICT time (N = 82) Printing Behavior Teachers’ printing behavior. Respondents are asked six different questions (Table 6). Grand mean and standard deviation of the printing behavior is (Mean = 4,27, SD. ,70). Moreover, “I read my documents digitally” (Mean = 4,55, SD. = 1,19) stands out. However, the results of rest of five questions are very close to each other. Cronbach Alpha of teac delete item 2 “Before I print I first see the print view.” And item 7 “I print directly from my mail”. After deleting these two items, Cronbach Alpha of teach to this construct. Table 6: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for printing behavior (N = 82) Egoistic Values Respondents are asked five different questions (Table 7) by using De Groot and Steg’s (2008) value scale ranging from against my principle (-1) to extremely important (7). Grand mean and standard deviation of the egoistic values is (Mean = 2,93, SD. 1,02). Moreover, “AMBITIOUS: hardworking, ambitious, aspiring” (Mean = Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 1:1 (2016), 38 © 2016 Suleri & Cavagnaro 6 4,19, SD.= 1,64) are among significant scores while “INFLUENTIAL: having an impact on people and events” (Mean = 3,64, SD.= 1,56) score significantly as well. However, “POWER: control over others, dominance” (Mean = 1,15, SD.= 1,32) scores less. The results indicate that teachers with AMBITIOUS and INFLUENTIAL characteristics have higher egoistic values. Table 7: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for egoistic values (N = 82) Hedonic Values Respondent are asked three different questions (Table 8) by using De Groot and Steg’s (2008) value scale. Grand mean and standard deviation of the hedonic values is (Mean = 5,14, SD. 1,10). Moreover “ENJOYING LIFE: food, sex, entertainment, etc.” (Mean = 5,59, SD.= 1,34) are among significant scores. Table 8: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for hedonic values (N = 82) Prosocial Values Respondent are asked four different questions (Table 9) by using De Groot and Steg’s (2008) value scale. Grand mean and standard deviation of the prosocial values is (Mean = 6,12, SD. 0,73). Moreover, “A PEACEFUL WORLD: free of war and conflict” (Mean = 6,49, SD.= 0,79) is among significant scores. Nevertheless, the means of all items are high which indicate teachers’ positive prosocial values. Table 9: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for prosocial values (N = 82) Biospheric Values Respondents are asked four different questions (Table 10) by using De Groot and Steg’s (2008) value scale. Grand mean and standard deviation of the biospheric values is (Mean = 5,52, SD. 1,01). Moreover, “RESPECT FOR THE EARTH: live in harmony with other species” (Mean = 6,07, SD.=1,03) are among significant scores. Table 10: Cronbach, Mean and Standard deviation for biospheric values (N = 82) ANOVA Test Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 1:1 (2016), 38 7 © 2016 Suleri & Cavagnaro The ANOVA is conducted to compare, first of all, the effect of demographic aspects such as gender, age and teaching experience on ICT barriers such as fear, skills, knowledge, time and printing behavior. Afterwards, the effect of demographic aspects on the value orientations such as egoistic, hedonic, prosocial and biospheric are measured. The significance is tested at the p <0.05 level for all computation. Male teachers have lower ICT fears and higher ICT knowledge than female teachers Table 11 shows a significant difference of ICT fear and knowledge between genders. On the one hand, ICT fears for men (M = 1,76, S.D. = .89) are less than for women (M = 2.43, S.D. = ,82), [F (1,80) =7,99, p = ,01] which means male teachers have less ICT barriers than their counter part female. On the other hand, ICT knowledge for men (M = 5,00, S.D. = .75) is higher than for women (M = 3.91, S.D. = ,94), [F (1,80) =17,46, p = ,00] which indicates male teachers as having more ICT knowledge than female teachers. Though male teachers’ ICT skills and time was better than female teachers, it is non-significant. Table 11: Comparing Gender with ICT barriers (fear, skills, knowledge, time) and printing behavior Younger teachers have higher egoistic and hedonic values orientation and lower prosocial and biospheric values orientation than older teachers Table 12: Comparing Age with value orientations (egoistic, hedonic, prosocial and biospheric values) Table 12 indicates the effect of age on the value orientations such as egoistic values, hedonic values, prosocial values and biospheric values. Results reveal that younger teachers with the age group 20-30 (M = 3,53, S.D. = 1,46) have higher egoistic values than teachers with the age group of 40-50 (M = 2,80, S.D. = ,97), 50-60 (M = 2,70, Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 1:1 (2016), 38 © 2016 Suleri & Cavagnaro 8 S.D. = ,69) and 60-70 (M = 2,20, S.D. = ,72) which is significant at p < ,04 indicating younger teachers to be more self-centered than older teachers. Furthermore, hedonic values result reveals that younger teachers with the age group 20-30 (M = 5,44, S.D. = ,87) have higher hedonic values than teachers with the age group 60-70 (M = 4,56, S.D. = 1,39) which is significant at p < ,00 indicating younger teachers to be more conceited than older teachers. Younger teachers’ values are more aligned with “Care for me” (Cavagnaro & Curiel, 2012). On the other hand, prosocial values result reveals that younger teachers with the age group of 20-30 have lower prosocial values (M = 5,86, S.D. = ,68) than teachers with the age group of 50-60 (M = 6,32, S.D. = ,64) and 60-70 (M = 6,75, S.D. = ,43) which indicates that older teachers are having more prosocial approach by caring for the other as well which is in line with Cavagnaro and Curiel’s (2012) theory “Care for me and you”. Moreover, younger teachers with the age group of 20-30 have lower biospheric values (M = 5,00, S.D. =1,05) than teachers with the age group of 50-60 (M = 5,89, S.D. = ,85), and 60-70 (M = 6,50, S.D. = ,50) showing younger teachers to have less pro-environmental values than older teachers. This means older teachers have more biospheric values than younger teachers which is aligned with Cavagnaro and Curiel’s (2012) theory of three levels of sustainability “care for all. Correlation Matrix The correlation matrix explains many relations but only significant correlation between variables and proenvironmental printing behavior are highlighted. First of all, table 13 indicates that there is a significant relation between fears and pro-environmental printing behavior (r = -0.22, p = 0,04) where the significant level is p< 0,05 which means if teachers’ ICT fears are lower, then they have higher pro-environmental printing behavior. Secondly, biospheric value orientation of teachers have significant relation at p <,001 with pro-environmental printing behavior (r = 0,36, p = 0,001) which means teachers’ higher pro-environmental values have positive influence on pro-environmental printing behavior thus leading to higher pro-environmental printing. Table 13: Correlation and reliabilities of study variable (N = 82) Looking at the outcomes of the correlation analysis, it can be suggested that teachers’ biospheric value orientation has positive influence on the pro-environmental printing behavior as well as teachers’ ICT fears and skills have a marginally positive influence on the pro-environmental printing behavior at elementary school. Regression analyses The regression analysis is conducted to find out the casual relationship between dependent variable like printing behavior and other independent variable such as ICT barriers (fears, skills, knowledge & time) and values orientation such as biospheric, prosocial, egoistic and hedonic. Hypothesis one: Teachers’ higher pro-environmental values orientation enhances higher pro-environmental printing behavior at elementary schools. Table 14 presents the model summary of value orientations such as egoistic and biospheric values (independent variable) and the printing behavior (dependent variable) since only these two values have correlation with printing