Assessing general ecological behavior : a cross-cultural comparison between Switzerland and Sweden

The General Ecological Behavior (GEB) scale was developed for cross-cultural applications (Kaiser & Wilson, in press). The present study compares ecological behavior in Sweden and Switzerland. Questionnaire data from 247 Swedish and 445 Swiss participants are presented. Reliability and internal consistency analyses revealed that the GEB scale was applicable to both the Swedish and Swiss samples. In general, Swiss behave more ecologically than Swedes. Nevertheless, several ecological behaviors turned out to be easier to conduct in Sweden than in Switzerland and vice versa. The GEB scale takes differential behavior difficulties into account that are most likely caused by situational influences. At the same time, the proposed behavior measurement approach guides the search for potentially useful political actions that make it easier for people to behave ecologically in some societies and, thus, can be adopted by others.