Students’ Perception, Attitude, and Behavior Towards Sustainability

Abstract

This paper is a quantitative analysis of how perceptions and attitudes of university students studying in Islamabad, Pakistan, affect their behaviors towards sustainability and concepts related to sustainability. The research was conducted via a primary-level survey conducted among different departments at the National University of Sciences and Technology. The sample analyzed consisted primarily of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the university's plethora of disciplines. The Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) model is used to establish the relationship between perceptions, attitudes, and practices. From the questionnaire, different groups of questions were taken and aggregated to create an index for sustainability. The overall sustainability index is developed by aggregating the questions about sustainability domains. The findings show that sustainability is affected by whether or not the respondent has or has not taken up an environment-related course in the past. Thus this study recommends that Government should encourage the participation and involvement of youth in the designing and implementation of sustainable environmental policies.