The nature of choice: unraveling individual decision-making for climate-adaptation, science-participation, and environmental stewardship in Mexico
type: CreativeWork
description: Broadly, this dissertation research assesses the determinants of individual decision making that constrain or enable livelihoods, for science-policy outcomes and environmental behaviors. This research draws on traditional frameworks for behavior change but integrates novel concepts that have been established in other fields as influencing choice. Though the sustainability field has relied on traditional frameworks for over the past 50 years, the conceptualization of internal cognitive factors like climate perceptions and motivations as well as environmental, socio-economic, and demographics factors remains siloed in their respective disciplines of social psychology and environmental psychology. This dissertation addresses these deficiencies through conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions to the field of behavior change research. Conceptually, this dissertation tests the influence of four major frameworks on choice: (1) the theory of planned behavior, which refers to the knowledge, attitudes, and social norms that contribute to behavioral intentions; (2) the volunteer motivations framework, which conceptualizes participation in volunteer programs as due to dispersed motivations to participate; (3) the credibility-relevance-legitimacy framework, which refers to the three components needed for decision-makers to use science for action; and (4) the sustainable livelihoods approach framework that conceptualizes livelihood outcomes as a product of the household assets they control while influenced by their external institutional and environmental vulnerability context. In Chapter 2, I modify the sustainable livelihoods framework by integrating climate perceptions into the livelihood assets that households use to make livelihood decisions, with implications for uptake of adaptation strategies for climate change. In Chapter 3 I integrate the volunteer motivation framework into the credibility-relevance-legitimacy framework, suggesting that both are needed fo…
abstract: Broadly, this dissertation research assesses the determinants of individual decision making that constrain or enable livelihoods, for science-policy outcomes and environmental behaviors. This research draws on traditional frameworks for behavior change but integrates novel concepts that have been established in other fields as influencing choice. Though the sustainability field has relied on traditional frameworks for over the past 50 years, the conceptualization of internal cognitive factors like climate perceptions and motivations as well as environmental, socio-economic, and demographics factors remains siloed in their respective disciplines of social psychology and environmental psychology. This dissertation addresses these deficiencies through conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions to the field of behavior change research. Conceptually, this dissertation tests the influence of four major frameworks on choice: (1) the theory of planned behavior, which refers to the knowledge, attitudes, and social norms that contribute to behavioral intentions; (2) the volunteer motivations framework, which conceptualizes participation in volunteer programs as due to dispersed motivations to participate; (3) the credibility-relevance-legitimacy framework, which refers to the three components needed for decision-makers to use science for action; and (4) the sustainable livelihoods approach framework that conceptualizes livelihood outcomes as a product of the household assets they control while influenced by their external institutional and environmental vulnerability context. In Chapter 2, I modify the sustainable livelihoods framework by integrating climate perceptions into the livelihood assets that households use to make livelihood decisions, with implications for uptake of adaptation strategies for climate change. In Chapter 3 I integrate the volunteer motivation framework into the credibility-relevance-legitimacy framework, suggesting that both are needed fo…
author: Shinbrot, Xoco A., author
author: Jones, Kelly W., advisor
author: Newman, Greg, committee member
author: Ojima, Dennis, committee member
author: Solomon, Jennifer, committee member
language: eng
language: English
keywords: citizen science, environmental stewardship, attitudes, knowledge, climate adaptation
date published: 2019
date modified: 2026-07-27T19:13:06Z
provider: Colorado State University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Colorado State University. Libraries

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10217/197275

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.25675/3.018593