Factors influencing Khon Kaen university community's participation in environmental management

Abstract

The study identifies factors influencing Khon Kaen University (KKU) communityûs participation in environmental management implemented on campus. It examines KKU communityû s participation and also attitudes toward current environmental management activities. Self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. In total, 1,071 people, including 406 students, 485 faculty and staff members and 180 business owners participated in the study. Approximately, 30% of the participants agreed with current KKUûs environmental management activities. However, 39.42% or about one third of the faculty and staff group just slightly agreed with the activities. The two most critical environmental problems on KKU campus include ineffective solid waste management and traffic congestion together with insufficient parking areas. The majority of all participants (about 44%) moderately participated in KKU environmental management activities. Only 15% obtained a high participation level. A factor influencing environmental management participation of all KKU population groups is attitude towards current KKUûs environmental management activities (p-value< 0.05). Those who agreed upon the activities are more likely to participate. Moreover for the faculty and staff member group, living on or off campus shows significant connection with participation (p-value< 0.05). People living on campus tend to more often participate in KKU activities than those living off campus. Finally, in the student group knowledge and understanding on environmental issues (p-value < 0.05) has significant relation with participation. However, students who obtained a high level of knowledge did not prove having a high level of participation but otherwise.