Corporate vs. social attitudes toward environmental externalities

In this quasi-longitudinal study, 389 US respondents reported their current attitudes and recollections of their attitudes of five years earlier on the same questions. Respondents were separate samples of corporate executives and 'ordinary consumers'. A contribution of this study is the clear and separate measurement of (trends in) attitudes on public resources, externalities, and the environment. Results show that executives and consumers alike are more concerned about all three of these dimensions in 2009 than in 2004; that 2009 levels of concern about public resources ('the commons') and the environment are equal between the two groups; that there is no difference in attitudes between the two industries studied (aerospace and software); and that there is a significant difference in attitude between executives and consumers on the matter of economic/environmental externalities. Implications for policy and for psychographic communication strategies are discussed. Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.