International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education

Vol. 21, No. 1, February 2012, 21–39

Omani students’ views about global warming: beliefs about actions

and willingness to act
Abdullah Ambusaidia, Edward Boyesb, Martin Stanisstreetb and Neil Taylorc∗
a
Curriculum and Instruction Department, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman;
b
Environmental Education Research Unit, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom;
c
School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia

A 44-item questionnaire was designed to determine students’ views about how useful
various specific actions might be in helping to reduce global warming, their willingness
to undertake these various actions and the extent to which these two might be related.
The instrument was administered to students in Grades 6 to 12 (N = 1532) from 12
schools in the Sultanate of Oman. The findings indicated that the majority of Omani
students believe that global warming is happening now, and are concerned about it.
Students are willing to undertake some actions, such as switching off unused domestic
appliances, more than others, such as using public transport, despite the fact that they
believe the latter would reduce global warming. Novel indices were constructed to
explore the relationship between belief and willingness to act for specific actions. The
findings suggest that the link between belief and willingness to act is stronger for some
actions, such as increasing recycling, than others, such as using smaller, more fuel-
efficient cars. This approach allows us to identify pro-environmental actions that may,
in terms of effecting behaviour change, be useful to include in teaching schemes.
Keywords: student attitudes; climate change; environmental education; global warming;
Oman

Introduction
Despite recent controversies relating to climate change research (notably the leaking of
emails at the University of East Anglia and the IPCC’s disputed claims on glacial melting)
and the failure of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change to agree to legally
binding reductions in carbon emissions, there is still a strong consensus amongst the
scientific community that global warming poses a serious threat to our planet and that
we need to take action to ameliorate this threat. Not only would such global warming
result in wide-scale environmental degradation, it would, as a consequence, threaten the
world’s social well-being (IPCC, 1997, 2001, 2007), economic security (N. Stern, 2007)
and political stability (Solana, 2008).
Although data are incomplete (AFED, 2009; Mahmoud, 2009), there are some sugges-
tions about the possible effects of global warming on both Arab countries in general and
Oman in particular. Indeed, Arab countries are likely to be among the most vulnerable to
the negative impacts of climate change in terms of reduction of freshwater supply, decline
in food production, sea level rise, diminishing biodiversity and worsening human health
(AFED, 2009). For example, it is thought that regions close to Yemen will experience

∗
Corresponding author. Email: ntaylor6@une.edu.au
ISSN: 1038-2046 print / 1747-7611 online
C 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2012.639154
http://www.tandfonline.com
22 A. Ambusaidi et al.

increased precipitation, whereas rainfall will decrease in some coastal regions of Oman,
(Husain & Chaudhary, 2008). The latter may well result in water shortages (El-Quosy,
2009), which could in turn have political consequences (Freimuth, Bromberg, Mehyar, &
Khateeb, 2007). In terms of food production, climate change is likely to impact negatively
on agriculture, livestock, fishing and aquaculture (Abou Hadid, 2009). It is believed that
biodiversity in Oman will be reduced by climate change as it has been estimated that 68
animal species, including nine mammalian and 20 fish species, are threatened by the effects
of climate change (IUCN, 2008). Increases in sea temperature have apparently increased the
phytoplankton productively of the Arabian Sea (Goes, Thoppil, Gomes, & Fasullo, 2005),
but the Oman coastline has also been identified as a potential area for coral bleaching
(Talhouk & Abboud, 2009). Furthermore, by combining predicted changes in temperature,
precipitation and humidity with data from epidemiological studies, negative effects of cli-
mate change on human health have been forecast. Such modelling suggests that in Oman,
there will be an increase in all-cause mortality and a rise in disability-adjusted life years
(DALY) – the number of years of life lost due to premature death and/or the years lived
with disability (Husain & Chaudhary, 2008). This increased morbidity and mortality would
be caused by cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses as well as thermal stress. All of these
factors are likely to have financial consequences for the countries concerned. One effective
method of quantifying the economic costs of climate change is the cost of environmen-
tal degradation (COED) analysis, in which the cost is expressed as a percentage of gross
domestic product (GDP). COED figures for Arab countries range between 2.1% GDP for
Tunisia and 4.8% GDP for Egypt (Wardam, 2010, 2011), and for Middle East and North
African countries, between 2.1% GDP and 7.4% GDP, respectively, with an estimated mean
of 5.7% GDP (Hussein, 2008). Although COED figures for Oman are not available, it is
reasonable to assume an estimate close to that of the mean for the economic impact on this
country.
In view of these projected consequences of global warming, implementing measures
for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is seen to be both
important and urgent. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing other environ-
mental problems associated with the environment is a responsibility shared by governments,
corporations, communities and individuals (Boyes, Skamp, & Stanisstreet, 2009). As part
of this process, it is necessary to persuade individuals to reduce their greenhouse gas
contributions, because individuals perform many of the actions that are environmentally
significant (Jensen & Schnack, 2006). There are controversies about the purposes of envi-
ronmental education (Heimlich & Ardoin, 2008), but in view of the pressing need to reduce
global warming, it can be argued that environmental education should engender in learners
a preparedness to act in more environmentally sympathetic ways (Jurin & Fortner, 2002;
Metzger & McEwen, 1999). Key to effecting change in people’s practices is an informed
citizenry, because awareness of an environmental issue is an important precondition to tak-
ing environmental action (Jensen, 2002; Spellman, Field, & Sinclair, 2003). Consequently,
effective environmental education, both formal and non-formal, can be seen as one essential
component in the fight against environmental degradation.
There have been a number of attempts to develop pro-environmental behaviour models
(see Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002, for a summary), but the many factors that interact with
environmental knowledge weaken links between knowledge, attitude and action. These
include, amongst other things, descriptive and injunctive social norms (Cialdini, Reno, &
Kallgren, 1990), physical facilitators and inhibitors (Corraliza & Berenguer, 2000), and
situational influences such as perceived self-efficacy (Devine-Wright, Devine-Wright, &
Flemming, 2004). As a consequence, any reasonably complete model of environmentally
 International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 23

sympathetic behaviour becomes so complex that it will cease to fulfil the role of a descriptive
model, that is, to clarify the factors that influence whether or not a person acts in a pro-
environmental manner, and the interactions between those factors. Furthermore, it has
become clear as workers have attempted to generate models of the drivers of environmentally
sympathetic practices that there are limitations in studying links between environmental
attitudes in general and potential behaviour patterns (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Dietz, Stern,
& Guagnano, 1998; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; P.C. Stern, 1992).
Boyes et al. (2009) developed a novel survey instrument that attempts to circumvent
some of these issues. Firstly, the questionnaire examines just one section of more complex,
overall behaviour models – the link between reported intention to act and a belief in the
efficacy of acting. Secondly, the instrument questions respondents about their intentions to
undertake specific environmental practices and their perceptions of the possible effects of
these particular actions. Thirdly, this was done in the context of the amelioration of one
environmental problem namely, global warming. The study was initiated in the UK, but has
since been extended to a number other countries; here, we report the findings of a study
of secondary students in the Sultanate of Oman. The research was designed to address a
number of research questions:

1. To what degrees do Omani students intend to undertake certain specific pro-

environmental actions? We have termed this measure the Degree of Willingness
to Act.
2. What do Omani students believe about the extents to which various specific actions
might reduce global warming? We have termed this measure the Believed Usefulness
of Action.
3. To what extent are there quantitative relationships between the Degree of Willingness
to Act and the Believed Usefulness of Action for any specific issue? Because such
relationships might indicate changes in practices that may be wrought by increasing
the belief that a specific action is useful, it provides a measure of the Potential
Effectiveness of Education in terms of increasing pro-environmental practice.
4. What differences exist, if any, between these measures and indices across the grades,
and between male and female students?

Methods
Questionnaire design and administration
This study used a closed-form questionnaire originally developed for use in the UK (Boyes
et al., 2009). Before its use in the Omani context, the questionnaire was translated into
Arabic and then back-translated, independently, into English to ensure the integrity of the
translation. Omani teacher educators from the College of Education at the Sultan Qaboos
University validated the content of the instrument. On the basis of this examination, a
number of items were reworded slightly to take account of the local context. For example,
“Even though it cost me money, I would make changes to my home to stop so much heat
escaping” became “. . . to stop so much heat entering”. Furthermore, there are no taxes in
Oman, items referring to taxes had the word “money” placed in brackets to help clarify
this concept. Finally, the word “politician” was replaced with “Shora Council Member” to
reflect the political context in Oman.
Reliability was determined using the Cronbach alpha. For the responses to the whole
instrument, the Cronbach alpha value was 0.82, and for the two main sections of the
24 A. Ambusaidi et al.

instrument concerning the Degree of Willingness to Act and the Believed Usefulness of
Action, it was 0.70 and 0.77, respectively.
The questionnaire was arranged in sections. The coversheet asked students to record
their grade, age and gender. The first major section asked students about their intentions
to act in environmentally sympathetic ways or, in the words of the introduction to the
questionnaire, “Things you might do for the sake of the environment and future of the
Earth”. At this point in the survey, there was no mention of global warming. The items
here each had conditional phrases in them, such as “Even if it was not as fast or luxurious,
I would try to get a car that uses less petrol or less diesel”. These items were to determine
students’ Degree of Willingness to Act. There were 20 such items in this section of the
survey; four were distractors, and the remaining 16 concerned actions that are generally
accepted as having some effect on global warming. The wording of the items in this section
can be seen in the left-hand column of Table 1. The second main section of the survey
probed school students’ perceptions of the extent to which specific actions or patterns of
behaviour would contribute to a reduction in global warming; these items were to determine
students’ Believed Usefulness of Action. There were also 20 items in this section, and these
were paired with the items in the first section. For example, the item exemplified in the
preceding paragraph was paired with a question “If people had smaller cars that used less
petrol or less diesel, global warming would be reduced . . .”. The wording of the items in
this section can be seen in the right-hand column of Table 1. In the actual questionnaire,
the items in the first and second major sections were in a different order so that the pairing
would not have been immediately obvious to the respondents.
The responses to the items in the two main sections of the questionnaire and the ways
in which they were scored are shown in Table 2. In Table 2, it can be seen that just as the
items in the two sections were covertly paired, so the wording of the response options was
designed to be semantically matched in such a way that a person’s willingness to act seemed
reasonable in the light of their belief. This allowed a measure of the relationship between
the degree to which a student would be likely to take an action and the extent to which
he/she believed his/her actions would have a beneficial effect in reducing global warming.
The third, shorter section of the questionnaire contained four more general items. The
first asked the students about their level of concern regarding the adverse environmental
effects of global warming; here, the possible responses were “I am very worried”, “I am
quite worried”, “I am a little bit worried” and “I am not worried at all”. The next item
asked students how much they thought they knew about global warming, with “I know
a lot about global warming”, “I know something . . .”, “I know a little . . .” and I know
almost nothing . . .” as available responses. The third item in this section asked students
to estimate their own level of environmental “friendliness”; the responses here were “I am
very environmentally friendly”, “I am quite . . .”, “I am a bit . . .” and “I am not at all . . .”.
Finally, students were asked whether or not they thought global warming is really happening
now, with “I am sure global warming is happening”, “I think . . .”, “I don’t know whether
global warming is happening or not”, “I think global warming is not happening” and “I am
sure global warming is not happening” as possible responses.
The questionnaire was administered to 1532 students (aged 11–18) from 12 schools
in the Muscat (capital city), Al Dakhlya and Batinah South regions of Oman. Schools in
Oman are structured into Basic Education (Grades 1–10) and Post Basic Education (Grades
11–12). This was a purposeful sample to ensure participants from all of the major centres
in Oman (and not just Muscat, the capital) were included. However, within each centre,
students were selected randomly to participate in the study. With the exception of Grades
1–4, which are mixed gender but taught by female staff, all schooling is single sex, a policy
 International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
Table 1. Wording of the questionnaire items in the two main sections of the questionnaire.
Degree of Willingness to Act (degree to which
student reports being willing to undertake an
action)
Even if it was not as fast or luxurious, I would try
to get a car that uses less petrol or less diesel.
Providing more of our energy was produced from
nuclear power stations, I would be willing to
pay more for electricity.
Even though it cost me money, I would make
changes to my home to stop so much heat
entering.
Even if it was more trouble for me, I would not
drop litter in the streets.
Even if it was more expensive, I would buy food
grown without the use of pesticides (sprays that
kill the insects that damage plants).
To save electricity, I would switch things off at
home when I didn’t need them.
Even if I had to pay more taxes (money), I think
there should be more trees planted in the world.
Even if it was more trouble for me, I would
recycle things rather than just throw them away.
Even if it was more expensive, I would buy food
grown without the use of artificial fertilisers.
Even though it cost me money, I would get air
conditioning in my home.
Even if it was more trouble for me, I would not
drop litter on the beach
Even if it meant that I didn’t always have the latest
“gear” or fashion, I would be prepared to buy
new things less often.
Providing more of our energy was produced from
the wind and waves and sun, I would be willing
to pay more for electricity.
Even if it took me longer and was more
inconvenient, I would try to use buses instead
of a car.
Even if I really liked meat, I would eat fewer
meals with meat in them.
Even if it cost me more, I would buy things for my
home (like fridges and washing machines) that
use less energy.
I would vote for a Shora Council Member who
said they would bring in laws to help the
environment, even though it might stop me
doing some of the things I really enjoy.
I would vote for a Shora Council Member who
asked the government to take tax (money) to
pay for things that would help the environment,
even though it meant me having less money to
spend.
25
Believed Usefulness of Action (extent to which
student believes an action would ameliorate
global warming)
If people had smaller cars that used less petrol
or less diesel, global warming would be
reduced.
If more of our energy was produced from
nuclear power stations, global warming
would be reduced.
If people made changes to their homes to stop
so much heat entering, global warming
would be reduced.
If people stopped dropping litter in the streets,
global warming would be reduced.
If farmers stopped using pesticides (sprays that
kill the insects that damage plants) on their
crops, global warming would be reduced.
If people used less electricity in their homes,
global warming would be reduced.
If more trees were planted in the world, global
warming would be reduced.
If people recycled things more, global
warming would be reduced.
If farmers stopped using artificial fertilisers
with nitrogen in them, global warming
would be reduced.
If more people got air conditioning in their
homes and offices, global warming would be
reduced.
If the pollution in the oceans of the world were
cleaned up, global warming would be
reduced.
If people were prepared to buy fewer new
things and make do with the old ones, global
warming would be reduced.
If more of our energy was produced from the
wind, waves and sun, global warming would
be reduced.
If people didn’t use their cars so much, global
warming would be reduced.
If people eat less meat, global warming would
be reduced.
If people got things for their homes (like
fridges and washing machines) that used less
energy, global warming would be reduced.
If Shora Council Members made the right kind
of new laws, global warming would be
reduced.
If Shora Council Members asked the
government to take tax (money) and spent
the money on the right kind of things, global
warming would be reduced.
(Continued on next page)
26 A. Ambusaidi et al.

Table 1. Wording of the questionnaire items in the two main sections of the questionnaire.
(Continued)
Degree of Willingness to Act (degree to which Believed Usefulness of Action (extent to which
student reports being willing to undertake an student believes an action would ameliorate
action) global warming)

I would vote for a Shora Council Member who
said they would ask the Omani government to
sign agreements with other countries to help
the environment, even though I might have to
change the way I live.
I would like to learn more about helping the
environment, even though it would mean extra
work for me.
If there could be more agreements between
different countries about not putting certain
gases into the air, global warming would be
reduced.
If people were taught more about it, global
warming would be reduced.

Note: Here the items in the two main sections of the questionnaire have been arranged in their pairs, to demonstrate
the ways in which they correspond. In the actual questionnaire, the items within each section were in random
order, apart from the last four items, those about voting and education. Items in italics are distractors and represent
actions that do not, in fact, help to reduce global warming.

that also applies to the teaching staff. The sample for this study came from Grades 6–12, the
equivalent of most secondary or high school systems around the world. It comprised 48%
males and 52% females (735/797) across the seven grades – in which the 1532 students were
evenly distributed (214, 206, 256, 236, 243, 179, 198). The questionnaire was administered
in routine classes by students’ normal classroom teachers and students were assured that
the results would be anonymous.
In Oman, students start to study a number of topics related to energy from Grade 6.
In this grade, student are taught topics including electrical energy and how it is generated.
Furthermore, they explore alternative ways to generate energy (particularly from wind and
solar power). Students are also made aware that Oman generates all of its electricity from
oil. From Grades 6 onwards, students study various aspects of the environment and human
impact on these. Global warming is taught specifically in Grade 10, but this issue appears
periodically as part of environmental education across all grades.

Analysis of results and construction of indices

Following their completion, the responses were scored and analysed using SPSS. The dis-
tributions of responses for the Degree of Willingness to Act and Believed Usefulness of

Table 2. Wording and scoring of the responses to the two main sections of the questionnaire.
Degree of Willingness to Act (degree Believed Usefulness of Action (extent to which
to which student reports being student believes an action would ameliorate global
willing to undertake an action) warming)
Semantic descriptor Score Semantic descriptor Score

Definitely 1.00 By quite a lot 1.00

Almost certainly 0.75 By a fair amount 0.75
Probably 0.50 By a small but useful amount 0.50
Perhaps 0.25 By a small amount – hardly 0.25
noticeable
Probably not 0.00 By nothing at all really 0.00

Note: Responses for pairs of questionnaire items are “matched” using semantic ordinal scales. Thus, other factors
being equal, the more an individual believes an action to be effective, the more “reasonable” it is for them to
undertake it.
 International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 27

Action for the different actions were first calculated. Next, differences in response between
male and female and between students in different year groups were investigated simul-
taneously using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). In order to discuss these differences
below, percentages rather than mean values will be considered, and only where the AN-
COVA suggested that the statistical significance was p < 0.05. Where ANCOVA suggested
a trend with grade, only percentages for the top and bottom grades (Grades 6 and 12) will
be quoted.
Following these procedures on the basic data, various indices were calculated to deter-
mine the relationship between students’ Degree of Willingness to Act and their Believed
Usefulness of Action. First, the Believed Usefulness of Action score was subtracted from the
Degree of Willingness to Act score for each pair of items. This provided an index, the Envi-
ronmental Friendliness Coefficient, which can have a value between –1 and +1. As the two
sets of responses had been semantically matched, this index provides, for each action and for
each student, a measure of the alignment or discrepancy between beliefs about the extent to
which a student believes an action would alleviate global warming and his/her willingness
to take that action. Thus, values close to zero indicate that the intended action of a student
was approximately consistent with his/her belief about the effectiveness of that action. A
positive value means that the students intend to do more than might be expected from their
belief; a negative value means that they are only willing to do less. It is likely, therefore
that students regard those actions with positive scores as being relatively convenient or less
costly, whereas those with negative scores are viewed as less convenient or more costly in
some way. Thus, this index is a measure of “responsiveness” to different actions.
The second index calculated for each action was the Potential Effectiveness of Educa-
tion. This was determined by plotting the values for the Degree of Willingness to Act for
a particular action against the values of the Believed Usefulness of Action for the same
action, and then fitting a regression line. Regression of these ordinal variables is made less
unpalatable statistically by the fact that the scales have been semantically matched. The
slope of the line can be considered to be a measure of the Potential Effectiveness of Educa-
tion, which is an indicator of the amount by which, for this cohort, strengthening students’
beliefs that an action is effective might increase their willingness to undertake that action.
Thus, an action that produces a steep gradient on the regression line will be more likely to
respond positively to educational input than one with a gentle gradient; it could be argued
that education about global warming might be best targeted at those actions represented
by a steep slope. A graph illustrating a hypothetical example of this procedure is shown in
Figure 1. From Figure 1, it can be seen that this method produces two other indices, which
we have designated the Natural Willingness to Act and the Natural Reluctance to Act. The
former index represents what might be identified as an inherent or “natural” willingness,
predicted by the cohort, to undertake an action even when it is believed that it is not at all
effective in reducing global warming. The latter index indicates the extent to which a person
in this cohort might not undertake an action even if they believe it to be highly effective.
Gender and grade differences for two of these indices (gradient and intercept) were ex-
plored using a standard technique of dummy variable creation and multiple linear regression.
The test can compare the gradient and intercept for dichotomous groups such as gender, and
so for grade, the two extreme values (Grade 6 and Grade 12) were chosen for comparison.

Findings
Students’ self-perceptions
The final section of the survey comprised four items that sought background information
about the Omani students’ concerns about global warming, their perceptions of their own
28 A. Ambusaidi et al.

De
initely
Natural
Reluctance
to Act
Degree of
Willingness
to Act

Natural
Willingness
Probably to Act
not
Nothing at all Quite a lot
Believed Usefulness of Action
Figure 1. Schematic plot of values for Degree of Willingness to Act against Believed Usefulness of
Action.

knowledge about global warming, their ideas of how environmentally sympathetic they
are, and whether they believe that the anthropogenic exacerbation of global warming is a
real phenomenon. Approximately three quarters of the students (80%), and more of the
females (82%) than males (78%), were either “sure” or “thought” that global warming
was a real phenomenon. Furthermore, the students exhibited high levels of concern, with
most of them (84%) being either “very” or “quite” worried about global warming. Students
also thought that they were well informed about global warming, with about three quarters
(73%) reporting that they knew “a lot” or “something” about it. More females (75%) than
males (70%), and more of the older students (Grade 6 = 68%, Grade 12 = 80%), thought
that they knew “something” or “a lot” about global warming. The majority of students
(87%) considered themselves either “very” or “quite” environmentally friendly.

Degree of Willingness to Act

Students’ responses to the section of the questionnaire designed to probe their Degree of
Willingness to Act are summarised in Table 3, along with an indication of any gender or
grade differences from the ANCOVA. In the text below, the proportions of students given
are for those who reported that they would “definitely” or “almost certainly” undertake the
action (the first column of Table 3); for brevity, this is described below as “being willing” or
“being prepared” to undertake an action. Where statistically significant differences between
the responses of the male and those of the female students were found, those for the male
students are given first. Statistically significant differences between the responses of students
in different grades (from ANCOVA) are reported by giving only the outer percentages – for
those in Grade 6, followed by those in Grade 12.
Table 3 indicates that, in general, the Omani students who took part in this study
appeared to be most willing to take pro-environmental actions that would cause them
minimal inconvenience or cost. Thus “switching things off at home” when not needed
ranked highest, with 88% of respondents responding in the affirmative to this item. The
majority of students (80%) affirmed the idea of paying for home insulation, about three
 International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 29

Table 3. Omani students’ Degree of Willingness to Act for specific actions (N = 1532).

Definitely + Perhaps + p
almost certainly Probably probably not
(%) (%) (%) Grade Gender

Direct actions
∗∗∗ ∗
Switch off unused devices at home 88 5 6
Install more home insulation 80 13 7
∗∗
Plant more trees 74 17 9
∗∗
Get more efficient domestic 74 15 11
appliances
Recycle more things 64 22 14
Use artificial fertilizers less 58 22 20
∗
Eat less meat 57 21 22
Buy fewer new things 54 27 19
Make more energy from renewable 52 25 23
sources
∗∗∗ ∗∗∗
Use smaller, more fuel-efficient 48 28 24
cars
∗∗
Make more energy from nuclear 32 22 45
power
Use public rather than private 32 18 50
transport
Indirect actions
∗ ∗
More education 80 12 8
∗∗
Vote for pro-environmental 66 17 18
international agreements
Vote for pro-environmental 62 16 22
legislation
Vote for pro-environmental 46 24 31
taxation

Notes: Items have been arranged in descending order of percentages of the top two categories of response
(“Definitely” + “Almost certainly”). Percentages may not add up to 100 because of rounding.
p values are shown only where there are statistically significant differences in the distributions of the responses
for grade and gender using ANCOVA (∗∗∗ p < 0.001; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗ p < 0.05). Details of the differences are given
in the text.

quarters (74%) were willing to pay for more tree planting, and the same proportion (74%)
were willing to pay a price premium for energy-efficient domestic appliances. In these three
cases, it is likely that the students would not envisage themselves being responsible, at least
in the immediate future, for the cost of these actions. A rather smaller proportion, although
still about two thirds (64%), were willing to undertake more recycling. Approximately
half of the students were willing to pay more for food grown without the use of artificial
fertilisers (58%) or to alter their diet to eat less meat (57%). Similar proportions of the
respondents were willing to buy fewer new, fashionable goods (54%) and to pay more
for energy generated from renewable sources (52%). The former of these actions may
impinge more directly on students, who may wish to have the latest fashion or consumer
items. In terms of actions connected with personal transport, only about half of the students
(48%) were willing to use smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, and even fewer (32%) were
willing to use public rather than private transport. Only about a third of the students (32%)
would be willing to pay for electricity generated from nuclear sources. The most popular
indirect action concerned environmental education; some 80% of the students were willing
to take more such education. Two thirds (66%) were prepared to support political moves to
30 A. Ambusaidi et al.

support international agreements, and a similar proportion (62%) would support increased
environmental legislation. Rather fewer, less than half (46%), however, would countenance
the idea of environmental taxes.
There were some statistically significant differences in the responses between the male
and the female students. Males were more willing than females to purchase energy-efficient
domestic appliances (78% vs. 71%) and to consider the use of smaller vehicles (52% vs.
45%). Unlike Saudi Arabia, where females cannot drive, in Oman, they are free to do
so; consequently, this latter finding could have some impact in the future as the number of
female drivers increases. In contrast, females were more willing to turn off unused electrical
appliances (90% vs. 86%), to pay for tree planting (77% vs. 72%) and to undertake more
environmental education (81% vs. 78%).
There were also some differences in the responses across the grades. There was a
tendency for more of the older students to be willing to switch off unused electrical
appliances (90% vs. 79%). Similarly, more of the older students would lend political
support to international agreements (65% vs. 60%). In contrast, for some actions there was
a decrease in support in older students. Fewer of the older students would reduce the meat
content of their diet (49% vs. 62%) or be willing to undertake more environmental education
(76% vs. 79%). Attitudes to personal transport also hardened in the older students; fewer
older students were willing to get smaller, more fuel-efficient cars (44% vs. 56%) or to use
public as opposed to private transport (29% vs. 37%).

Believed Usefulness of Action

The responses to the items in the second main section of the questionnaire, designed to
probe students’ Believed Usefulness of Action, are summarised in Table 4. In the descriptions
below, the proportions of students given are for those who believed that an action would
reduce global warming by “quite a lot” or by a “fair amount”. As above, where statistically
significant differences between the responses of the male and those of the female students
were found, those for the male students are given first. Statistically significant differences
between the responses of students in different grades are reported only when there was a
reasonably consistent trend, up or down, across the grades; the percentages are given for
students in Grade 6, followed by those in Grade 12.
The direct actions that were perceived to be most effective for reducing global warming
were planting trees (78%), using public transport (75%) and using low-energy domestic
goods (72%). Rather fewer of the students, approximately two thirds, thought that driving
smaller, more fuel-efficient cars (66%) and obtaining a greater proportion of energy from
renewable sources (64%) would help to reduce global warming. Just over half of the students
believed that global warming would be diminished by reducing the use of artificial fertilisers
in food production (57%), switching off unused electrical appliances (57%), generating
electricity from nuclear sources (57%), installing home insulation (57%), recycling more
(55%) or reducing the consumption of new fashion items (52%). Relatively few students
(32%) appreciated that reducing meat consumption, and hence production, could contribute
to a reduction in global warming. When it came to indirect actions, approximately three
quarters of the students thought that education (74%), international agreements (74%)
or environmental legislation (74%) could help to reduce global warming. Fewer students
(59%), however, appeared to think that environmental taxation (taxes, for example, to fund
the planting of trees or subsidise solar panels) could make a contribution.
For nine of the actions, there were statistically significant differences in the responses of
male and female students. In all but two items, eating less meat (36% vs. 28%) and increasing
 International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 31

Table 4. Omani students’ Believed Usefulness of Action for specific actions (N = 1532).

A small amount p
– hardly
Quite a lot + A small but noticeable +
a fair amount useful amount nothing at all
(%) (%) (%) Grade Gender

Direct actions
∗∗∗
Plant more trees 78 15 7
∗∗∗
Use public rather than private 75 18 7
transport
Get more efficient domestic 72 17 11
appliances
∗∗∗ ∗∗
Use smaller, more fuel-efficient 66 20 14
cars
∗∗∗
Make more energy from 64 20 16
renewable sources
∗∗∗ ∗∗∗
Install more home insulation 57 23 20
∗ ∗∗
Use artificial fertilizers less 57 23 20
∗∗∗ ∗∗
Switch off unused devices at 57 22 21
home
Make more energy from nuclear 57 21 22
power
∗∗∗ ∗∗∗
Recycle more things 55 29 16
Buy fewer new things 52 25 23
∗∗∗
Eat less meat 32 18 50
Indirect actions
∗∗∗ ∗
More education 75 12 14
∗∗∗ ∗∗
Vote for pro-environmental 74 13 13
international agreements
∗∗∗
Vote for pro-environmental 74 16 11
legislation
∗
Vote for pro-environmental 59 21 20
taxation

Notes: Items have been arranged in descending order of percentages of the top two categories of response (“Quite
a lot” + “A fair amount”). Percentages may not add up to 100 because of rounding.
p values are shown only where there are statistically significant differences in the distributions of the responses
for grade and gender using ANCOVA (∗∗∗ p < 0.001; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗ p < 0.05). Details of the differences are given
in the text.

the proportion of energy generated by nuclear power (62% vs. 53%), females perceived the
actions as more beneficial than did males. Thus, more female believed that global warming
would be reduced by using more fuel-efficient cars (70% vs. 62%), decreasing the use of
artificial fertilisers (60% vs. 54%), switching off unused electrical devices (61% vs. 54%),
recycling more (58% vs. 52%), increasing environmental education (77% vs. 72%), having
more international agreements (77% vs. 70%) or increasing environmental legislation (77%
vs. 70%).
There were also a number of statistically significant differences between grades in
students’ responses to this section of the questionnaire. In all such cases, the trend was for
older students to perceive actions as more beneficial. This was the case for the following
direct actions: planting trees (87% vs. 69%), using public transport more (83% vs. 66%),
using smaller cars (73% vs. 58%), generating energy from renewable (71% vs. 60%) or
nuclear (69% vs. 60%) sources, producing food without the use of artificial fertilisers
32 A. Ambusaidi et al.

(67% vs. 53%), switching off unused electrical devices (62% vs. 52%) and recycling
more (70% vs. 48%). Thus, there was an increasing appreciation across the grades of
the usefulness of actions that would contribute to a reduction in global warming. There
was also an increasing confidence in the usefulness of indirect actions across the grades.
Thus, environmental education (78% vs. 63%), international agreements (79% vs. 61%)
and environmental taxes (66% vs. 59%) were all seen as more valuable, in this context, by
students in the higher grades.

Environmental Friendliness Coefficient

The values of the Environmental Friendliness Coefficient for each pair of items are pre-
sented in Table 5. The overall mean for this index for all students and all 16 actions was
very small (–0.02), suggesting that the semantic matching of the two sets of items was
reasonable for this cohort. For each individual action, an Environmental Friendliness Coef-
ficient value close to zero indicates a strong degree of consistency between students’ beliefs
and their willingness to act; several actions such as increasing recycling, buying fewer new
fashion items and using artificial fertilisers less had such values. Other actions had Envi-
ronmental Friendliness Coefficient with higher values, indicating that students were more
prepared to take action than their beliefs in their effectiveness in reducing global warming

Table 5. Indices to demonstrate the quantitative relationships between Omani students’ Degree of
Willingness to Act and the Believed Usefulness of Action for specific actions (N = 1532).
Mean
Environmental Potential Natural Natural
Friendliness Effectiveness Willingness Reluctance
Coefficient of Education to Act to Act
Direct actions
Switch off unused devices at home 0.24 0.08 0.83 0.09
Eat less meat 0.23 0.11 0.59 0.30
Install more home insulation 0.18 0.13 0.71 0.16
Recycle more things 0.05 0.17 0.58 0.25
Get more efficient domestic 0.04 0.05 0.73 0.22
appliances
Buy fewer new things 0.01 0.08 0.57 0.35
Use artificial fertilizers less 0.00 0.22 0.50 0.28
Plant more trees –0.02 0.26 0.56 0.18
Make more energy from renewable –0.11 0.10 0.52 0.38
sources
Use smaller, more fuel-efficient cars –0.12 0.04 0.55 0.42
Make more energy from nuclear –0.20 0.13 0.35 0.52
power
Use public rather than private –0.35 0.16 0.29 0.55
transport
Indirect actions
More education 0.04 0.13 0.70 0.17
Vote for pro-environmental –0.07 0.13 0.58 0.29
international agreements
Vote for pro-environmental –0.08 0.22 0.50 0.28
legislation
Vote for pro-environmental taxation –0.10 0.26 0.38 0.36

Note: Items have been arranged in descending order of mean for Environmental Friendliness Coefficient.
 International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 33

might warrant. Switching off unused electrical devices, eating less meat and installing
home insulation were actions of this type. In contrast, other actions had Environmental
Friendliness Coefficient with values lower than zero, implying that they were less willing
to undertake the actions than their belief might justify. Generating energy from nuclear or
renewable sources, using smaller private vehicles or using public transport were actions
that fell into this category. This would suggest that there are relatively strong disincentives
to undertaking these particular actions.

Potential Effectiveness of Education

Values for the Potential Effectiveness of Education, the Natural Willingness to Act and the
Natural Reluctance to Act indices (explained in relation to Figure 1), are shown in Table 5.
The values for the Potential Effectiveness of Education for all actions were positive, suggest-
ing that increasing students’ appreciation of the usefulness of reducing global warming by
any of these actions might be partially effective in increasing their willingness to undertake
them. However, many of the values were low; that is, the gradient of the regression line was
shallow. For example, there appears to be little advantage in increased education about the
importance of switching off unused electrical devices, because the Potential Effectiveness
of Education is low. Examination of the data in Table 5 shows that this is because the
Natural Willingness to Act is high – students are prepared to undertake this action already.
Similarly, the value for the Potential Effectiveness of Education for using public transport
is low. In this case, however, this is because the value of the Natural Reluctance to Act is
relatively high. Thus, even when students appreciate that using public rather than private
transport can make an important contribution to reducing global warming, they are still
reluctant to do so. For some actions, however, the values for the Potential Effectiveness
of Education were higher. Tree planting, reduction of artificial fertiliser use and increase
in recycling were actions that fell into this category. In these cases, then, education that
convinces more students about the usefulness of the actions in reducing global warming
might prove effective in terms of changing students’ practices.
In population terms, the extent to which education might be useful depends not only
on the degree to which it might be effective but also on the relative size of the potential
audience, that is, the proportion of students who would not already take the action. This can
be visualised by plotting the Potential Effectiveness of Education against the proportion of
students who would “probably not” or only “perhaps” take that action (Figure 2). Actions
to the left of the graph are those with a relatively low Potential Effectiveness of Education,
suggesting that even if more people were convinced of the usefulness of such actions for
reducing global warming through education, they would not be willing to undertake them.
Actions that lie towards the bottom of the graph indicate that only a small proportion of
individuals are currently unwilling to undertake the action; here, the cohort for having their
behaviour changed is relatively small. The two actions that appear in the upper part of the
graph and reasonably to the right, generating more power from nuclear sources and using
public transport to reduce the extent of private transport use, are those for which education
might be most beneficial on a population basis.

Discussion
In general, most adults in the Arab countries, and Oman in particular, believe that global
warming is a real phenomenon and that human activities are contributing to its increase
(Saab, 2009). These beliefs are mirrored in those of the Omani secondary school students
34 A. Ambusaidi et al.

Figure 2. Scatter graph of Potential Effectiveness of Education (abscissa) and the percentages of
Omani students who would “probably not” or only “perhaps” undertake the action (ordinate).

in this study, where more than three quarters of the students thought that global warming
is a real phenomenon. In the affective domain, a majority of Omani citizens believed that
climate change resulting from global warming is a serious problem (Saab, 2009) and this
too is paralleled by the responses of students in this study, in which a majority expressed
a concern about the environmental impacts of global warming. Thus, it appears that an
awareness of, and a concern about, global warming appears to develop early in young
people in Oman. This level of concern is also shown by young people in India (Chokkar,
Dua, Taylor, Boyes, & Stanisstreet, 2011), whereas similar age groups in Australia (Boyes
et al., 2009) and Spain (Rodriguez, Boyes, & Stanisstreet, 2010) appear less concerned.
In part, this higher level of awareness and apprehension amongst Omani students might
be because the Sultan of Oman and his government are concerned about environmental
problems and have put in place a number of strategies to protect the environment, most
recently, by forming the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (Ambusaidi &
Al-Rabaani, 2009). Furthermore, environmental education is embedded in the curriculum,
although global warming is not specified.
The majority of the students thought of themselves as being environmentally friendly.
However, when the responses to the items designed to probe their reported willingness to
undertake specific actions were examined – their Degree of Willingness to Act – it was clear
that there were considerable differences in the willingness of students to undertake different
actions. So, for example, the majority of the students were willing to switch off unused
electrical devices at home or to consider installing home insulation, but only about a third
were willing to pay a price premium for electricity generated from nuclear sources or were
willing to use public rather than private transport. A variety of factors other than perceived
environmental impact influence students’ decisions in these areas. For example, switching
off unused electrical appliances is not particularly inconvenient and may be supported by
 International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 35

parental exhortations to “save electricity”. A willingness to install home insulation may be

driven, in part, by an idea of a cooler, more comfortable domestic environment. Increased
use of nuclear energy, although a relatively low-carbon option, might be associated with
fears about the health and environmental consequences of radioactivity. When it comes to
the reluctance to use public rather than private transport, physical inhibitors probably play
a role. Oman is a very car-orientated society. Cars in general are relatively inexpensive as
they incur no duty or tax and are often purchased at even lower prices in neighbouring
United Arab Emirate countries. Driving is also inexpensive due to the low cost of fuel,
partly because fuel is not taxed. In addition, the road network between major centres is
excellent with relatively low volumes of traffic. As a consequence, many Omanis own
large, air-conditioned, four-wheel drive vehicles that consume considerable amounts of
fuel. In contrast, the public transport system is limited and largely comprises older, far
less comfortable vehicles that are often extremely crowded, and can increase journey times
considerably; these are used mainly by migrant workers. Thus, it is not surprising, when
temperatures may be around 40◦ C, that using public transport is unappealing. For attitudes to
change in Oman, then, it may require the government to contribute to acceptable alternatives,
such as a more comfortable and efficient public transport system, as well as environmental
education. There were some differences in the willingness of male and female students to
undertake some actions, although whether males or females were more willing depended
on the particular action. Thus, whereas studies in other countries have tended to find that
females are generally more “ecocentric” than males (Boyes et al., 2009; Jenkins & Pell,
2006), in Omani culture, this characteristic appears to be dependent on the nature of the
action involved.
Students considered themselves generally well informed about global warming, with
about three quarters reporting that they knew “a lot” or at least “something” about it.
However, there was some variation in terms of students’ knowledge – their Believed
Usefulness of Action – about specific actions that would mitigate global warming. For
example, the majority of students realised that planting trees, using public rather than
private transport and using energy-efficient domestic appliances would make a contribu-
tion to reducing global warming. In contrast, fewer students appreciated that recycling,
reducing the number of new goods purchased or eating less meat could help to ameliorate
global warming. In the case of the former actions, there is a reasonably direct link with
carbon dioxide, either in terms of carbon sequestration by plants or reduction of carbon
dioxide emission by limiting the use of fossil fuels or economising on the use of elec-
tricity. Students in general appear to be familiar with carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas
(Boyes & Stanisstreet, 1993, 2001; Schreiner, Henriksen, & Hansen, 2005), probably be-
cause this gas receives attention in popular media accounts of global warming. The term
“carbon footprint” also re-enforces this idea in the minds of students. In the case of the
latter actions, however, the links to carbon dioxide emissions are less direct and, in one
case, the greenhouse gas involved is not carbon dioxide, but methane, which is less well
known to students (Boyes & Stanisstreet, 1993). Encouragingly, belief in the effectiveness
of some actions that would, in reality, reduce global warming appeared to increase across
the grades, an observation consistent with comparisons between primary and secondary
students in Australia (Skamp, Boyes, & Stanisstreet, 2009). Students’ ideas about the ef-
fectiveness of various actions to mitigate global warming may also be compared with those
of adults. When asked to name actions that would reduce global warming, the actions
most frequently raised by Omani adults were reducing energy consumption (raised by 65%
of respondents), improving environmental awareness (54%) and arranging international
treaties (45%) (Saab, 2009). Interestingly, additional environmental education and voting for
36 A. Ambusaidi et al.

pro-environmental international agreements were also supported by the majority of students,

suggesting that confidence in education and political systems might develop early in young
Omanis.
Calculation of Environmental Friendliness Coefficient for different actions revealed
which actions students might be disinclined to undertake, even given an appreciation
of their usefulness to ameliorating global warming. In particular, these actions concern
personal transport and those to do with power generation. In view of the social norms
(Cialdini et al., 1990) of large cars and inexpensive fuel in Oman, it is perhaps unsurprising
that students are less willing to accept smaller vehicles or public transport, especially in
view of the poor nature of the latter. It is also reasonable to suggest that fears about the
association of radiation with environmental and human health consequences might act as a
disincentive to supporting nuclear energy generation (Driver, Stanisstreet, & Boyes, 2010).
Indeed, some students appear to believe that radiation can exacerbate global warming
(Boyes & Stanisstreet, 1993). It is less obvious what objections students might have to
power generation from renewable sources. In all of these cases, it would be worth exploring
in more detail just what disincentives might influence students, and how they might be
overcome or circumvented.
The Potential Effectiveness of Education index, as calculated here, gives insight into
the probable advantage, in terms of changing young people’s actions and future practices,
of persuading students about the effectiveness of different pro-environmental actions in
reducing global warming. For example, in the Oman context, it appears that increased
publicity or teaching about the advantages of switching off unused domestic products may
not be very effective – the Potential Effectiveness of Education for this action is low. In this
case, this is because students are already willing to undertake this action; that is, students
have a high Natural Willingness to Act. Teaching about the advantages, relative to global
warming, of nuclear power generation may also be relatively ineffective. Here, however,
this is because students have a high Natural Reluctance to Act – they are unwilling to
support this even if they are persuaded that nuclear power generation would contribute to
a reduction in global warming. In this case, the role of environmental advocacy to reduce
global warming might take the form of re-assuring students about the relative safety of
nuclear power. Yet other actions had relatively high Potential Effectiveness of Education
values, suggesting that investment in teaching about the usefulness of these actions might
increase their willingness to change practice. Tree planting, reduction in use of artificial
fertilisers and increase in recycling were such actions.
Given the magnitude, consequences and urgency of global warming as an environmen-
tal problem, together with the competing aims of and limited resources for environmental
education, it is important to ensure that education for behaviour change is as effective as
possible. In general, it is thought that there is a gap between environmental attitudes and
actual behaviour, although it does appear that self-reported pro-environmental behaviour
can act as an indicator of environmental attitude (Kaiser, Oerke, & Bogner, 2007). Fur-
thermore, two general theories, the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) and the
value-belief-norm theory (P.C. Stern, 2000 inter alia) both offer predictive insights into
environmental action (Kaiser, Hübner, & Bogner, 2006. The present study explores a small
segment of such models of behavior, but in doing so, demonstrates a value of exploring
students’ beliefs about and willingness to undertake specific pro-environmental actions,
and the links between these two parameters for particular actions. Those actions where
a link between these two parameters have been demonstrated may be identified as suit-
able topics for environmental advocacy; if students are persuaded that particular actions
are environmentally effective, they are likely to be willing to undertake them. For other
 International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 37

actions, it is likely that the discrepancies between belief and willingness to act originate in a
variety of other, sometimes non-environmental, incentives and disincentives. For example,
whether or not an action is undertaken is partly dependent on action competences (Jensen
& Schnack, 2006), and a student’s knowledge base is only one component of this. It would
be interesting, in further research, to investigate the details of what restrains or encourages
individual actions, remembering that a wide variety of factors are likely to be involved (P.C.
Stern, 2000), and that these will almost certainly differ for each action under consideration.

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