Environmental learning in regions: a social capital based approach. The case of Latvia |
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| Authors: | Guido Sechi Dino Borri Viesturs Celmins |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Human Geography, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia;2. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, del Territorio, Edile e di Chimica, Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy;3. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, del Territorio, Edile e di Chimica, Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy;4. Department of Social Anthropology, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK |
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| Abstract: | How do people learn about the environment and behave accordingly? What is the cognitive process at the base of this learning mechanism? The present paper is a pilot work investigating the dynamics of individual environmental knowledge on the basis of social capital theory. Using Tsai and Ghoshal’s findings, a well known framework widely accepted in organizational studies which supports the existence of a relationship between structural, relational and cognitive dimensions of social capital, and between social capital and knowledge exchange, these dynamics are then tested in the context of environmental behaviour studies. The quantitative analysis is carried out by means of a structural equation model based on data collected in the Republic of Latvia. Results support main theoretical hypotheses, but several effects are found to be highly sensitive to control variables (residence place dimensions, ethnic affiliation, age, personal income), leading to hypothesise a strong dependency of environmental learning patterns on the socio-demographic, socio-economic and cognitive context. |
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| Keywords: | Environmental learning social capital micro level Latvia structural equation modelling |
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