IN DEGREE PROJECT INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT,SECOND CYCLE, 15 CREDITS

, STOCKHOLM SWEDEN 2020

Students' perspective on environmental sustainability: a reality check.

ROXANA IONESCU

NEMA ALI

KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYSCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

Students' perspective onenvironmental sustainability:

a reality check.

by

ROXANA IONESCUNEMA ALI

Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2020:193

KTH Industrial Engineering and Management

Industrial Management

SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM

Master of Science Thesis

TRITA-ITM-EX 2020:193

Students' perspective onenvironmental sustainability:

a reality check.

Roxana Ionescu

Nema AliApproved

2020-06-12Examiner

Kristina NyströmSupervisor

Kent ThorénCommissioner Contact person

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is clearly one of the most ardent problems that societies arefacing today. The new face of the world seen from globalization perspective, sometimes results incorporations being stronger than states, by twisting the politics to play in their favour.

It is important that highly educated employees contribute more to push the organizationalenvironmental performance and mitigate for measures being adopted to tackle the climate changeissues. Generations Y and Z are playing a key role in stopping this crisis, as they're the majority ofthe working population worldwide for the present decade.

This study aims to indicate which factors mainly influence pro-environmental intention ofcurrent students in various European universities, when considering a job. The literature and latestacknowledgements from the job market portray a tendency that the job seekers and hiringcompanies should have compatible core values in order to attract and nourish long-termcollaborations. The correlation between the students being sustainability savvy and their criteriaswhen looking for employment needs to be checked, because this could be a source of radicalchanges in the job market and the companies' models of running their businesses in the future.

Key-words: Environmental sustainability, students perspective, students employment, job seeking students, theory of planned behavior, environmental attitudes, work intention

Examensarbete TRITA-ITM-EX 2020:193

Students' perspective onenvironmental sustainability:

a reality check.

Roxana Ionescu

Nema AliGodkänt

2020-06-12Examinator

Kristina Nyström

Handledare

Kent ThorénUppdragsgivare Kontaktperson

Sammanfattning

Miljömässig hållbarhet är en av de mest akuta utmaningar samhällen står inför idag.Globalisering resulterar ibland i företag som är starkare än stater, genom att de påverkar politiskabeslut för sin egen fördel.

Det är viktigt att högutbildade medarbetare bidrar till att ökad miljöprestanda ochminska klimatpåverkan i sina organisationer. Generation Y och Z spelar där en nyckelroll i attstoppa klimatkrisen, eftersom de detta decennium utgör majoriteten av världens förvärvsarbetare.

Denna studie syftar till att finna de faktorer som huvudsakligen påverkarmiljöpositiva intentioner hos nuvarande studenter vid olika europeiska universitet, när de övervägeren anställning. Litteraturen och arbetsmarknaden visar på vikten av kompatibla kärnvärden mellanföretag och arbetssökande för att attrahera och nära långsiktiga samarbeten. Men korrelationenmellan elevers miljökunnande och deras kriterier för företagsval behöver studeras djupare,eftersom det kan vara en källa till radikal förändring av arbetsmarknader och företagens arbetssätt.

Table of content

Introduction 1 Background 1 Problem 2 Research question 3 Assumptions and delimitations 3 Sustainability 4

Theoretical framework 4

Literature review 5 Workplace attraction 6 Understanding individuals behaviour around sustainability 8

Methodology 11 Research Strategy 11 Data Collection Method 12 Research Quality and Ethics 13 Limitations 13

Analyzing Results 14 Descriptive Statistics 14 Reliability test 14 Age groups and intention 15 Multiple regression 17

Background variables and TPB 18 Influence of environmental attitudes on intention 18 Influence of subjective norms on intention 19 Influence of perceived behavioral control on intention 19 Influence of background variables on intention 19 Education and work intention 20

Conclusions, discussions and suggestions 22

References 24

Appendix A: Survey 29

Appendix B: Descriptive results 32 Table B-1: Participants background variables 32 Table B-2: TPB Constructs 33

Appendix C: Mann-Whitney U test Diagnosis Check 34

Table C-1: Normality test for Age Groups 34 Figure C-2: Normality histograms for Age Groups 34

Appendix D: Regression Diagnosis Check 35 Figure D-1: Residuals’ dispersion 35 Table D-2: Correlation matrix 36 Table D-3: Multicollinearity test of Independent Variables 37

List of figures Figure 1: Proportion of workers by generation

Figure 2: Theory of planned behaviour

Figure 3 TPB Specifically for this thesis analysis

List of tables Table 1: Processing summary

Table 2: Reliability test results

Table 3 : Ranks of Mann-Whitney U test

Table 4 : Mann-Whitney U test results

Table 5 : Model summary of multiple linear regression analysis predicting intention

Table 6 : Hierarchical multiple regression analysis to predict intention (N = 102)

Table 7 : Model summary of multiple linear regression analysis of knowledge predicting intention

Table 8 : Multiple regression analysis of background variables to predict intention (N = 102)

List of abbreviations SDGs - Sustainable Development Goals

EU - European Union (27 countries)

UN - United Nations

TPB - Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985)

EA - Environmental Attitudes

SN - Subjective Norms

PBC - Perceived Behavioral Control

WI - Work Intention

NGOs - Non-Governmental Organisations

COP 21 - Conference of Parties (30Nov.-12 Dec.2015)

COVID-19 - CoronaVirus pandemic which started in 2019

CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility

1. Introduction This chapter includes an introduction to the research study, a description of the discussed

problem and the research question to be investigated, as well as assumptions and delimitations and a sustainability section.

1.1. Background

The severity of the environmental changes that humanity is facing today mandates a totality of efforts in order to find feasible and sustainable solutions for those challenges. A major misconception is that sustainability is limited to the environment. Consequently, it was associated with fighting climate change, carbon emission, being vegan or reducing meat consumption, being organic, and yes, everything that was associated with the word ‘Green’ was perceived as sustainable (Yanarella, Levine and Lancaster, 2009). Shortly after, it was clear that there are more dimensions to environmental sustainability: social, financial and political.

Attaining environmental sustainability demands the necessity for capable and responsible individuals to bear on the responsibility of abiding life changing and knowledgeable choices in their daily life. As well as taking the required actions, along with governments, in order to create conditions for social, economic and environmental sustainability, both locally and globally (Fitzgerald & Meacham, 2017). The domain of individual behaviours that contribute to environmental sustainability is referred to as pro-environmental behaviours. These were defined as individual behaviours contributing to environmental sustainability, such as limiting energy consumption, avoiding waste, recycling, and environmental activism (Ones et al., 2015). The pro-environmental activities can be categorized according to physical space: at work (being part of an organization environmentally friendly) or at home (saving energy). In a conceptual space, activities could be classified as: personal (being an activist) or community (petitioning on environmental issues) (Homburg & Stolberg, 2006).

On a global scale, the COP 21 - Conference of Parties (30Nov.-12 Dec.2015) took place in Paris, ended up with signing the Paris Agreement in 2016, April 22 by 188 states (UNFCCC, 2015). In parallel to this, the UN’s 2030 vision to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their related 169 targets, is providing a global policy framework for tackling global challenges such as poverty, climate change and inequalities. In all European countries and the UK, the status in achieving these goals is reported every semester (Eurostat, 2016).

In a recent large scale survey on the Totaljobs platform in the UK, 2,000 workers and 250 senior decision makers shared their opinions on different aspects related to their work intentions and benefits when the environmental policies of a hiring company were in discussion (October 2019). This is one of the UK’s market leading job portals, formed in 1999, attracting 20 million visits every month.

Whilst the details of the Paris Agreement or COP 21 may be less known to the public, as registered by this survey’s results, only 32% of the 2250 respondents being aware of these, the subsequent international movements are well-known among the interviewees in the UK (Cartwright, 2019). The environmental movement seemingly started by Greta Thunberg in Sweden in August 2018, by refusing to go to school in one of the hottest, driest summers in the

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past two and half centuries in Sweden, had a global impact, as 69% of the respondents in the UK knew about her. Another movement, Extinction Rebellion (XR), started in the same period, May 2018 in the UK, by 100 academics signing a call to action manifesto for nonviolent civil disobedience, was known among 57% of the people interviewed. This is an indication of the important role of individuals in the fight for protecting the environment, when backed-up by the power of the media.

One of the core challenges in understanding pro-environmental behaviour, is exploring the determinants of engaging in such behaviour. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) developed by Ajzen (1988) is utilized to explain the complexity of the relationship between human behavior and its relevant determinants. According to this theory (Ajzen, 1988), there are three factors directly affecting intention: attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. This means that the three antecedents mentioned above strongly influence a person’s intention to perform a behavior. TPB is applicable in many areas of interests, specifically in understanding certain types of behaviors, such as engaging in different activities, leisure, purchasing, drinking behavior etc.

In the context of job searching, the number of environmentally related jobs and jobs created by the transition to a greener economy increases (Jones et al., 2014). In 2014, researchers Jones et al. conducted a study among the participants of a career fair, where almost 50 organizations were present. Job seekers were asked about their motivation to work for a certain organization. The results showed that the organization’s environmental practices were a major source of attraction. Overall, the organization’s sustainable practices were a source of pride for job seekers and they were able to connect the organizational values with their own personal values. Millennials (born 1980-2000) and Gen Z (born 1997-2012) representatives are leading a universal movement to spread awareness about the climate crisis, initiate debates, discussions and require policy makers and business owners to take a role in fighting for the environment.

1.2. Problem One of the most important decisions most students have to make is that of finding a job.

Choosing the right organisation in which to be able to integrate and evolve can be a tough decision. Lately, the individuals gained a different perspective about the ecological issues and they feel more empowered to act upon their intentions of reducing the negative impact on the natural environment. This has extended into the workplace space also, thus demanding that organizations bear their environmental and social responsibility and, as aforementioned, these turn out to be also major attraction points for job seekers. In recent years, organizations realized this shift earlier, since they’ve identified that a positive action towards the environment is attracting new talent towards companies. Also, keeping the talents longer engaged within a company will enhance the firm's performance (Greening & Turban, 2000). Furthermore, due to the global environmental concerns, organizations are now feeling more and more pressed by the public and investors to communicate their environmental practices.

A recent case study of Brink and Larsson (2019), has analysed the answers of 59 employees with respect to workplace values, sustainable employment and turnover intention from a generational perspective. It was of interest to find out which are the retention factors that keep them engaged with that particular company and reduce the turnover rate. The results

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showed that the quality of leadership, and the social support were highly ranked by Gen Y (majority were Millennials) and seen as impacting all the aspects of their jobs.

More relevant is the study of Mancha and Yoder (2015), which focused on identifying the cultural antecedents of green behavioral intent of students. Their samples for the online surveys totaled 306 respondents from 13 countries, mainly from USA and India, but also few from Canada, Macedonia and Romania. The results indicated that students' intended behaviors are strongly influenced by perceived social pressure.

Another study which analyzed the motivational factors influencing engineering students when applying for a job was conducted in two technical universities from Sweden and Finland by Jeskanen and Madariaga (2008). Their questionnaire had 70 respondents in total and the hiring company’s interest in environmental issues was of really low concern in students' opinions. For Swedish students it scored less than 15%, and for the Finnish ones, less than 10%. The information is abundant on the Millennial generation behavior, however, there seems to be a lack of information about the topic of how a company’s environmental policies are viewed by students seeking employment. Their preferences towards organizational values and environmental practices should benefit from more attention at European scale, since they represent the majority of the workforce. This study will contribute to understanding and reducing the gap between students' interests when seeking employment and the companies that are willing to hire them. The research is presented in the context of environmental sustainability from two dimensions: an actor and a space. The actors in this case are students in higher education institutions, the personal space is looking for a job. The findings are interesting to study in order to get an insight whether the students’ concern about environmental sustainability affects their intention to work for an organization that supports the same scope. It is also an occasion to reflect on the similarities and differences of these results versus previous studies.

1.3. Research question

The Theory of Planned Behaviour can be employed as the point of departure to gain an insight into what factors influence student intention to work for an organization that supports environmental sustainability.

Research question

● What influences students' intentions to work for an organization that supports environmental sustainability?

1.4. Assumptions and delimitations

This is a research based on primary data, and the answers are assumed to be sincere because: the respondents have read an agreement paragraph, in order to participate, regarding the collected data being anonymous and the engagement voluntary; there were no incentives or higher grades at stake; they had no access to the results in order to be influenced by others opinions and they could drop completion of the survey at any time.

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Due to the larger percentage of high education level of these generations, and the fast dissemination of information via internet channels, it is assumed the students would also have more knowledge about the aspects and problems of climate change. And because it’s a pressing subject for the decades to come, affecting the planet and especially these generations, hence more willingness in being part of the solutions should be spotted in their intentions.

It is expected that most of the Millennials would have already had contact with employers, due to age factor, even though they are currently studying. Thus, their answers to the questionnaires employed might represent a significantly more realistic perspective when compared to the ones of Gen Z.

The focus of this thesis is to spot the predictors influencing students’ perspective on environmental sustainability when seeking employment. It can’t determine whether the intention to work for a green company will actually turn into behavior.

The results' interpretation and conclusions are subject to geographical delimitations, thus applicability should be limited to the studied regions. Any extrapolation may not be relevant for other areas. Since this is a deductive study, meant to test the constructs of the theory of planned behavior employed, the analysis’ results can’t be generalized anyway.

1.5. Sustainability

The concept of sustainability is a core part of this research study, specifically environmental sustainability. The goal is to add to the understanding of human behaviour, namely students, when seeking employment. It is undeniable that there is a close relationship between employment and the environment whether it is a direct relationship, where jobs rely on using natural resources (agriculture and mining), or indirect, where it is a part of an ecosystem that is coupled with consuming natural resources (ILO, 2018). Around 18 million jobs are being created worldwide in the economy as a result of nations committing to the Paris Agreement (ILO, 2018). The new venues for the new economy presents valuable options for those who are well informed and committed to contributing in protecting the environment.

2. Theoretical framework

For this research paper, we drew inspiration from TPB (Ajzen, 1985) to examine some elements in relation to the students intention to work for a company aligned with their environmental preferences. The intention to work in an organization supporting environmental causes and goals is determined by three components: their attitudes towards environmental sustainability, how they are viewed by others when engaging in a behaviour supporting environmental sustainability and their perceived behavioural control. Each of those constructs are predetermined by a set of salient (readily accessible) beliefs about the behaviour; in this case working for a green organization.

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Attitudes are determined by behavioural beliefs about the consequences of executing the behaviour and whether the outcome is viewed as positive or negative. For example, working in an organization that is aligned with their vision of protecting the environment, will have a positive impact since the feeling is of adding a positive contribution to the solution.

Subjective norms are determined by normative beliefs, meaning the views of others. It occurs when others are thinking that an individual should engage in a certain behaviour or not. For example: if friends think that one should search for a job in an environmentally sustainable organization, the intention could appear as a result of social pressure.

The third construct, perceived behavioural control, is a function of control beliefs about the existence of factors that may ease or obstruct performance of the behaviour. For instance, having the skills required to search for a job. Students are likely to search for a job in an environmentally sustainable organization if they believe that it will lead to outcome their value (feeling good about the environment or feeling like contributing to the environment), if they believe that people whose opinions they value (friends, family, etc.) think they should engage in the behavior, and if they feel that they have the necessary skills and opportunities to perform the behavior.

The extended model proposed by Ajzen (2010), discusses the role of background variables in affecting the three main constructs. In the context of this research study, the background of variables of interest are: age, gender, education and knowledge. Age, gender and education are of interest because it is worth identifying the differences in age groups, gender and education (how many years an individual spent in education).

Theory of planned behaviour is suited to explain a student's intention towards seeking employment in environmentally sustainable organizations. Supported by the background variables, it provides an overview about what factors influence students' decisions. In the context of this research study, the theory constructs are defined as follows:

○ Environmental Attitudes (EA): is the equivalent to attitudes constructs in TPB and it is mainly concerned with the students attitudes towards environmental sustainability;

○ Subjective Norms (SN): is defined as the social pressure from others for students to engage in a behaviour that supports environmental sustainability;

○ Perceived behavioural control (PBC): is the related to students beliefs that protecting the environment is under her or his control;

○ Work Intention (WI): defines the intention to engage in the behaviour that is at focus which is the intention to work for an organization which supports environmental sustainability.

3. Literature review

This section provides a description of the concepts related to this research study. Initially, employees' attraction to the workplace is discussed as well as the generational differences when evaluating attractiveness. Next, this section looks into the concept of sustainability. Finally, different studies linking sustainability to human behaviour are presented.

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3.1. Workplace attraction

Companies want their employees to be content and satisfied regarding their workplace, so that they will collaborate longer, and the company will benefit from more return on their investment. A study of Buzza (2017) on millennial students, showed how important work-life balance and job advancement are to them, when analysing job attractiveness. The presented results indicated that millennials are significantly more interested in jobs with high levels of work-life balance, but weren't significantly more attracted to those available positions when it came to career advancement. This is easily understandable since the workplace can be a stressful place due to deadlines, conflicts etc. Personal life can also be hectic sometimes and having both important areas of life being more demanding at the same time can damage one's mental and physical health, thus employees will tend to protect themselves from even more stress generated by career advancement.

For example, the Swedish start-up Airjobb platform is using the preferences of future employees to fit them with their dream job (The Hub, 2020). Their experience shows that values matter for 75% of millennials, which consider a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability contribution before taking a job.

Using Generational theory, which involves a characterization of cycles occurring in the same order and identifying significant events that shape generational characteristics, helps predicting attitudes and behaviors of different generations (Strauss & Howe, 1991). Millennials, also called Gen Y, Generation Me, and Nexters (Costanza et al., 2012; Lub et al., 2012; Parry & Urwin, 2011) were born between 1980 and 2000. Whereas the current cohort of students consists mainly from young people of Gen Z (born between 1997-2012) and only partly from Gen Y, analyzing both generations preferences for the workplace is relevant from the perspectives explained below. The results will reveal how their actual knowledge in sustainability acts as a determinant factor upon the job market, as they're being the main stakeholders for the employees nowadays.

The general set of characteristics of each generation are decisive in determining what is attractive in terms of job offerings (Lub et al., 2012). The Millennials entering the workforce were described by Researchers at Pew Research Center (2010a) as being confident, liberal, upbeat, self-expressive and open to change. They are less religious and are less likely to have served in the military, while being also more ethnically and racially diverse than the older generations. For example, Bialik and Fry showed in a comparison analysis of millennial life with prior generations’ (2019), that this became the most educated generation in American history. 39% of Millennials have a Bachelor’s or higher degree, compared with just 29% of prior Gen X.

For companies, understanding the motivators of their employees and which are the determinants in keeping a job, is essential for business success. The succession and shares of different generations on the labor market is presented in Figure 1: Proportion of workers by generation.

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Figure 1: Proportion of workers by generation (source: Cushman & Wakefield website, 2020)

Generation Alpha: Born from 2013 to present Silent Generation: Born from 1928 - 1945

Working age population defined here as aged 15-64 years

A category of people that is taking initiative in changing situations involves behaviors that break the mold or reject the status quo. Performing these behaviors implies a level of personal risk in advancing environmental sustainability. In this category, the following are included: lobbying and activism, initiating new environmental programs or policies, as well as placing environmental interests first. Also, entrepreneurship, risk-taking and self-sacrifice are hallmarks of these behaviors.

For example, in the survey of Totaljobs career website in the UK, out of the 2250 people who answered, the results showed that an impressive 74% of Millennial employees care about the climate crisis. 50% of millennial employees respondents are likely to quit their current jobs in order to work for greener companies, and are even willing to suffer the highest salary cuts, compared to older generations, in order to make that change. Meanwhile, two thirds of Millennials would actually consider not working for a company that damages the environment. This powerful trend should also be spotted among students looking for jobs. And researches in order to analyse if there is a link between students' education and this trend in job seeking are an important step to further influence the companies sustainability and environment credentials in the future.

The money employers spend replacing an employee could be spent on retention strategies, as the cost of replacement is about 1.5 times the employee’s annual salary (Palanski et al., 2014). Other authors state that employee replacement could cost even up to 200% the annual payment only for recruitment and training (Allen et al., 2010). And it grows significantly higher when considering the disruption created in the operations (Ton & Huckman, 2008), increases accident rates (Shaw et al., 2005) and decreases customer service and quality (Hancock et al., 2013). These costs underline once more the importance of meeting Millennials’ and following generations' job expectations. Adding the societal implications when valuable talent is lost, whereas constricting the pipeline for future women and minority leaders and worsening a looming shortage of engineers and scientists (Becker & Cropanzano, 2011; Nyberg, 2010), a negative impact could arise due to these mass changes.

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3.2. Understanding individuals behaviour around sustainability

The theory of planned behaviour as in Figure 2: Theory of planned behaviour, is a theoretical framework to understand the factors that influence the decision to carry out a specific behaviour (Ajzen, 2010). The main component of the theory is the intention to conduct a behaviour. It can be defined as the level of commitment that an individual possesses to perform a certain behaviour (Ajzen, 2010). It is influenced by three main constructs: attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. Attitude can be defined as the degree to which conducting a behaviour is perceived positively or negatively by an individual. For instance, the feeling that a behaviour is beneficial represents a positive attitude towards engaging in the behaviour. Subjective norm is concerned with the perceived social force to carry out a certain behaviour. Beyond that, an individual might be pushed to engage in a certain behaviour under social pressure (Jager et al., 2000), however, there is more to it, where subjective norm provides individuals with information about the appropriateness of behaviour under consideration. Combining those two constructs provides a good explanation for the behavioural intention and hence, carrying out the actual behaviour. The third construct, Perceived Behavioural Control, is about an individual's perception of the level of difficulty when engaging in a certain behaviour and the level of competences that assures their control over the behaviour. It is simply concerned with individuals competence (knowledge, ability, control) to actually implement a certain behaviour.

Figure 2: Theory of planned behaviour

The theory of planned behaviour has been used in the context of evaluating individuals engagement in pro-environmental behaviours. In the context of food choices, Saba and Messina (2003) explored attitudes towards the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables, and

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consumers' perception of risks and benefits associated with pesticide residues on food. Another study (Tarkiainen & Sundqvist, 2005) has identified a strong relationship between attitude and subjective norms towards intention to buy organic food. The results showed that attitude had a significant relationship with the intention to buy organic food. This is driven by the effect of subjective norms on the individual’s attitude where those who buy organic food influence those who don’t. Additionally, the study recognizes the role of perceived behavioural control (price consideration) and perceived availability of organic food as both constructs have no effect on individuals buying intention which means that price was an irrelevant factor in decision of buying organic food.

In the same context of food choices, another study (Yazdanpanah and Forouzani, 2015) explored what motivates students to buy organic food, using the Theory of planned behaviour. The study sample consists of 389 students from two universities in Iran. In addition to the main constructs of the theory, researchers added the possibility of investigating two more constructs, normal beliefs and Self identity. Exploring the different constructs of the theory, the results showed that attitude is the most significant factor that affects a student's intention to buy organic food. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between intention to purchase organic food and attitude, moral norm and self-identity. Moreover, the results revealed that perceived behavioural control and subjective norm did not have significant relationships with intention to purchase organic food. Among Iranian students, the role of personal attitude, moral norms and self-identity, are important in terms of predicting intention towards purchasing organic food.

In the energy saving context, researchers Tan et al. (2017) studied consumers’ attitude toward purchasing energy-efficient household appliances. The study indicated the existence of a positive relationship between consumer’s attitude and consumers’ purchase intention toward energy-efficient household appliances. Which simply means that consumers who have positive attitudes toward energy-efficient household appliances would generally intend to purchase such appliances. Other studies also applied the theory of planned behaviour in the context of environmental behaviour in households where a total 180 students living in 67 rooms, randomly selected from the dormitories in a university were surveyed (Chao, 2012).

In the construction industry, other researchers (Begum et al., 2009) explored contractors' attitude towards recycling and waste management. The results showed that the contractor's attitude towards waste management affects the contractor's behaviour regarding waste management. Furthermore, those attitudes are subjected to contractor size, organizational culture and waste management policies. In the consumer markets a study conducted by (Kumar et al., 2017) used the theory of planned behaviour to examine consumers’ purchasing behaviour for environmentally sustainable products. In another study published by (Karim Ghani et al., 2013), the theory of planned behaviour was employed to analyse factors that influence public participation in separation of food waste in households. The results showed that, when provided the opportunities and knowledge, the public has a positive intention towards engaging in such pro-environmental behaviour. Additionally, facilitating the process of separating food waste (providing food waste bins and food waste collection centres in neighbourhoods), has a positive impact on adopting the behaviour.

After exploring the literature related to the application of TPB in different contexts, this research study is adopting the framework presented in Figure 3: TPB Specifically for this thesis analysis (source: Authors). An additional relationship that is being tested is the direct

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relationship between background variables and the behaviour intention, which is, in the context of this research study, the intention to work for an environmentally sustainable organization. This is inspired by a research study performed by (Hasan et al., 2019), where the relation of the background variables is tested with the intention to seek pharmacist-provided medication therapy management services. In addition to that, a total of five hypotheses are identified as it follows:

○ Hypothesis 1 (H1) students' environmental attitude would be a significant predictor for the intention to work for environmentally sustainable organization.

○ Hypothesis 2 (H2): students' subjective norms associated with environmental sustainability would be a significant predictor for the intention to work for an environmentally sustainable organization.

○ Hypothesis 3 (H3): students perceived behavioural control associated with environmental sustainability would be a significant predictor for intention to work for environmentally sustainable organization.

○ Hypothesis 4 (H4): students' background variables would be a significant predictor for the intention to work for environmentally sustainable organization.

○ Hypothesis (H5): students’ education should be a good predictor of intention to work for greener companies.

Figure 3: TPB Specifically for this thesis analysis

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4. Methodology Detailed descriptions for the research strategy and data collection method are provided in

this chapter, in order to have a comprehensive view of the results. The research quality and ethics and limitations sub-chapters were also included here.

4.1. Research Strategy

In order to explain the adequate research strategy and methods for this study’s evolution, a description of deductive and inductive logics of approach are described first. When conducting research study , it is common among researchers to follow deductive or inductive reasoning (Antwi and Kasim, 2015). In inductive research, the initial process is collecting data that is relevant to their topic of interest. When a substantial amount of data has been collected, they will start looking for patterns in it, working towards developing a theory that might explain those patterns (Antwi and Kasim, 2015). This means that researchers taking an inductive approach, will begin with a set of observations, moving from data to theory and from specific to general. In contrast, the deductive approach means going from general to more specific, and is usually associated with scientific investigation (Antwi and Kasim, 2015). The researcher acknowledges what has been done already on the studied phenomenon, understands existing theories and tests the hypotheses emerged from them. A deductive approach is appropriate for this study, as it starts with the compelling theory of planned behavior (Ajzeen, 2010), and continues with testing its implications with the data gathered.

Secondly, the methodology options of qualitative or quantitative research and motivation of choice for this study, are presented in more details. Qualitative research is primarily exploratory discovery and process oriented, has a high degree of validity, is less concerned with generalization and is more concerned with a deeper understanding of the research problem (Antwi and Kasim, 2015). Can be useful in uncovering trends in thoughts or opinions, and also for diving deeper into problems. Since it provides detailed insights, it can develop ideas or hypotheses for further potential quantitative research (Guba and Lincoln, 1994). For a small sample size and a given quota, qualitative data collection methods can vary from focus groups to individual interviews and observations. Quantitative research means that numerical data is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors and could be transformed into statistics (Denscombe 2010). Quantitative data collection methods have a more structured form, compared to the qualitative data collection methods. The quantitative methods include surveys – online, offline, mobile and kiosk surveys, face-to-face or telephone interviews, online polls, longitudinal studies etc. (Denscombe 2010).

It is important for the researcher to choose a research strategy that is convenient to the scope of the research study. Generally, as mentioned in (Denscombe 2010, p.79), there is neither good nor bad, right nor wrong research strategy. When the aim of the research study is exploring relationships between different variables, some dependent and some independent it is beneficial to adopt an experiment research strategy (Denscombe 2010, p.65). Additionally, it requires to run the experiment in a controlled setting to better understand the relationship and its properties; however, the criticism for this approach is that indirect relationships that take place in the real world are hard to capture in controlled settings (Denscombe 2010, p.77). For this research study

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the use of experiments is not convenient since this research study is exploring the direct and indirect relationships to get a better holistic view about the factors that affect students seeking employment for an environmentally sustainable organization.

Another research strategy that is suitable to inspect the social exchange within a culture, is an ethnographic research study (Denscombe 2010, p.79). The researcher utilizes direct observation methods to gain a complete picture of the situation (Denscombe 2010, p.80). In such settings the researcher is able to have access to the environment as well as access to raw primary material to gain an in-depth view of the performed study. For the purpose of this research study it is hard to employ direct observations to understand students behaviour when searching for a job due to resource limitation. In some research studies an explanation of personal experiences is required, therefore adopting a phenomenology research strategy is preferred (Denscombe 2010, p.93). In other scenarios where the research study produces new theories, then a ground theory research strategy is employed. Furthermore, an action research strategy is used when attempting to find answers for practical problems and where participants play an important role in the research study. Finally, following a systematic review allows the researcher to gain an overview of a specific problem (Denscombe 2010, p.23).

In order to answer the research question “What influences students' intentions to work for an organization that supports environmental sustainability?”, is necessary to identify which factors account for influencing students when seeking employment in an organization that is environmentally friendly. To address such factors adopting a survey research strategy is beneficial. As mentioned in Denscombe (2010, p.8), adopting a survey research strategy supports the researcher to collect mass data from a large number of individuals in a timely efficient way. Additionally, it is suitable to be used when the researcher has insights of the important factors in a research study and what type of information is needed to carry out the research (Denscombe 2010, p.9). Since this research study aims at identifying the relevant important factors that affect students' intention to seek employment for an environmentally sustainable organization -which are those employed by the theory of planned behaviour- then adopting a survey research strategy is convenient.

4.2. Data Collection Method

There are different ways to collect data when performing a research study. Generally, the selected research strategy dictates the choice of data collection methods. For instance, when conducting a case study, where it is important to get an in-depth knowledge, a mixed method data collection strategy is adopted where researchers use both interviews and questionnaires. For this research study, only an online survey was used to gather data from participants, also due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic situation of COVID-19. A popular concern associated with using questionnaires as a data collection method is being able to achieve a high response rate to the questionnaire that is meaningful. Nevertheless, as mentioned in Denscombe (2010), using online questionnaires allows the researcher to reach out a wide range of participants in a timely, cost effective manner. Furthermore, with the current use of social media, researchers are able to reach a wider spectrum of participants.

The questionnaire was built using Google Forms and the web link was shared with students and their friends and colleagues in different universities around the EU and UK via

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e-mails, social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook) and applications (WhatsApp, Viber). The questions are presented in Appendix A.

The questionnaire was divided into two main parts. The first part of the questionnaire aimed at gathering background data about the participants (social, individual, information). These questions had “YES or NO” type of answers, simple selection or multiple selection, depending on the necessity. In the second part, the questions were based on the theory of planned behaviour constructs. Thus, they were divided into four sections to capture the corresponding information of TPB constructs: attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control and, finally, the intention to seek employment for an environmentally sustainable organization. Participants are asked to specify their level of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements using a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1: Strongly disagree to 5: Strongly agree. All measures were adopted from previous studies and altered to suit the context of this research study: students' attitudes towards environmental sustainability adopted from the “New Ecological Paradigm Scale” (Dunlap et al., 2000), information about subjective norms and information related to students' perceived behavioural control are adopted from Mancha and Yoder (2015). Finally, to measure the constructs of the intention of seeking employment in an environmentally sustainable organization, the participants are asked about environmental sustainability practices that they consider valuable when choosing to work for an organization.

4.3. Research Quality and Ethics

The research study followed the ethical guideline provided in (Denscombe, 2010). The identity of the participants would remain anonymous and the participants could quit the survey at any time. Additionally, no personal information was required or collected. In the email sent to participants, and the posts posted on social media, the researchers assured that the collected data will not be used for purposes other than the scope of this research study and will not be redistributed for financial gains. The validity of a research study is concerned with ensuring that the data gathered represent reality (Denscombe, 2010). It addresses the accuracy of the data collected and the data collection methods used. As for this research study, the measures selected to measure the various constructs of the theory represent reality as it is adopted from New Ecological Paradigm Scale (Dunlap et al., 2000) and other research studies in the context of employing the theory of planned behaviour in the context of environmental behaviour (Manchaand Yoder, 2015). As a result, this is encouraging to promote the use of questionnaires as a data collection method suitable for this research study. Since reliability of the research study is concerned with the research instruments will produce the same data if run again, a reliability test is run to ensure the reliability of the different scales used in the questionnaire which yielded high value of reliability.

4.4. Limitations

This is a Master thesis of 15 ECTS and the timeframe limitations were the dominant constraint regarding the acquired number of respondents. The 102 students for the online survey are from universities located in 7 countries in the EU, plus the UK. There were 2 predominant countries as number of answers (Sweden and Romania), where the authors had more contacts among students. It can be considered a small sample, given the scale of impact a study at

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European level should have. Nevertheless, it provides an insight on the factors affecting students' intention to select a certain type of company, supporting the environment when making important decisions, such as workplace and career evolution choices.

The overlapping of the research in Spring Semester 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic situation can be considered a limitation factor only to being able to employ other methods than the quantitative online survey, but it can’t be considered as an influencing factor over the results.

The survey has a language barrier, as it is only carried out in English, thus only students possessing at least Intermediate level of English skills can take it. This is a foreign language for both authors too, however with Advanced English level.

The analysis for Gen Z separately wasn’t conclusive, as there was a too small sample of representatives for that age interval, hence more data is needed for clearer results on generational differences.

5. Analyzing Results The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 26

(SPSS 26) from International Business Machines Corporation (IBM Corp.), with a student's licence.

5.1. Descriptive Statistics

A total of 102 participants (Male=66, Female=36), were part of this research study. The age groups are divided in two parts: GenY which constituted 81.4 % of the participants while GenZ represented the rest 18.6%. Participants' education level varied from Bachelor’s degree (11 respondents) to Master’s (83) and Doctorate degree (8). Participants reported the number of years in formal education and were re-grouped in two larger categories for SPSS analysis purposes: 47 reported that they possess less than 16 years, while the rest 55 reported more than 16 years of school education. Majority of the participants are studying in universities in Sweden (68 students), the second largest group of participants are studying in Romania (18), then in the UK (7), in France (5) and Finland, Italy, Belgium and Portugal (each with 1). The results are presented in Appendix B; Table B-1: Participants background variables. Additionally, the theory of planned behaviour constructs description are presented in Appendix B, Table B-2: TPB Constructs .

5.2. Reliability test

In order to test the reliability of the scales used in the survey a Cronbach’s alpha measure is used. Developed by Lee Cronbach in 1951, Cronbach’s alpha (α or coefficient alpha) test is recommended to see if a multiple-question Likert scale survey is reliable or not. This way the survey’s design is checked in order to know if it actually measures what it’s supposed to measure. The latent (unobservable or hidden) variables such as a person’s openness, conscientiousness or neurosis can be difficult to assess. Thus, the values of Cronbach’s alpha show if the designed test is accurately measuring the variable of interest.

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It provides a measure to test the internal consistency of a test scale and the scores vary from 0 to 1, where measures closer to 1 are viewed as better results (Tavakol and Dennick, 2011). After running the reliability test in SPSS on the total of the 24 items (6 questions for each construct of the TPB) as shown in Table 1, the Cronbach's Alpha presented on Table 2 is equal to 0.955, which is a really high value.

Table 1: Processing summary

Table 2: Reliability test results

This value of Alpha coefficient means that the employed survey is reliable for further

analysis, since it has high internal consistency in measuring the work intention of students to work for environmentally sustainable companies (WI).

5.3. Age groups and intention

The issue of protecting the environment is of great importance for both Gen Y and Gen Z. As a result, it is interesting to explore the differences between the 2 groups in relation to WI, specifically, the difference between the medians of WI for Gen Y and Gen Z.

In order to know which tests can be further employed, a closer investigation of the data is required. The Shapiro-Wilk test is the most powerful in order to assess the normality of distribution of the data, and the results are presented in Appendix C, Table C-1. The value of p=0.183 being greater than 0.05 required for the chosen confidence interval of 95% for Gen Z, means that this age group has a WI that follows a histogram closer to normal distribution (Appendix C, Figure C-2). Gen Y has a value less than 0.05 and a very skewed diagram (Appendix C ).

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Since the data collected does not follow a normal distribution, a non-parametric statistical test has been employed, more specifically a Mann-Whitney U test. In 1945, Wilcoxon first proposed a test for equal sample sizes, which was extended in 1947 by Mann and Whitney to cover different group sizes. Hodges and Lehmann discussed further in 1963 the properties of median difference estimators (Berry, Mielke and Janis, 2012). Generally, a Man-Whitney U test is used to compare the difference between two independent groups in relation to a dependent variable (Nahm, 2016). In this research study the independent variable is age group (Gen Y and Gen Z) and the dependent variable is the intention to work for an environmentally sustainable organization (WI).

In order to run the Mann-Whitney U test, the design of the survey and the data are proved to meet the 4 assumptions below:

○ Assumption #1: The dependent variable (WI) is measured at continuous or ordinal level (Likert 5-point scale is an ordinal variable).

○ Assumption #2: The independent variable consists of two categorical, independent groups (Age Groups are a dichotomous variable).

○ Assumption #3: The independence of observations means that there is no relationship between the observations in each group (there are different participants in each of the Age Groups).

○ Assumption #4: The distribution of scores for both groups have a different shape (as detailed in (Appendix C, Figure C-2). The results can be interpreted as, the group with the highest mean rank is the one with the

higher intention to work for an environmentally sustainable organization, in this case Gen Y with mean rank =56.45; Table 3: Ranks of Mann-Whitney U test.

Table 3: Ranks of Mann-Whitney U test

Moreover, the results of the statistical test, Table 4: Mann-Whitney U test results, show that intention was statistically significantly higher among the Gen Y group (U=377.500, p<0.05) compared to Gen Z.

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Table 4: Mann-Whitney U test results

Because the p-value associated with Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) row is less than 0.05, there seems to be evidence of a statistically significant difference in the outcome variable between the two independent groups. But since the sample size for Gen Z is smaller than 20, it is not enough to conclude about this difference. Hence, more compelling would be running a multiple linear regression analysis based on the entire group of N=102 respondents, since this sample size satisfies both preconditions about the residuals normality distribution and there are more than 20 respondents for each variable (dependent or independent) in place.

5.4. Multiple regression

In order to explore the relationship between the theory constructs, the background variables and the intention to work for a sustainable organization, a multiple regression test is employed. The reason is that it allows the researcher to explore the relationship between dependent and independent variables. More specifically, in order to examine the unique contribution of TPB and background variables in explaining the work intention (WI), a hierarchical multiple regression is employed where two models are specified. Model 1 includes testing of the independent variables EA, SN and PBC. In Model 2, the background variables are added in addition to EA, SN, PBC. In both models the dependent variable is intention to work for an environmentally sustainable organization. In SPSS, intention is a measure constructed by grouping the median of six statements on a 5 Likert scale varying from 1-Strongly disagree to 5-Strongly agree.

For the regression, the normality of the residual errors of the dependent variable (WI) is assumed according to the “Central Limit Theorem”. As the number of respondents increases, the distribution of these errors is estimated to approach normality (Pituch and Stevens, 2016). This is also supported by Bock (1975), stating that for sums of 50 or more observations a normal distribution can be considered. This means that non-normality of residuals in medium and large sample sizes should not negatively affect the usual underlying procedures (Bartlett, 2013). Furthermore, a visual inspection of the data showed that the collected data passed the homoscedasticity test by taking values only between -3 and +3 on both axis as shown in Appendix D (Figure D-1) . Next, a correlation test is run to address the correlation between independent variables as shown in Appendix D (Table D-2 ). Then the multicollinearity of the

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independent variables (EA, SN, PBC and Background) are tested to identify the intercorrelation among those variables. The values of variance inflation factor (VIF) are as presented in Appendix D (Table D-3) : 2.895, 2.041, 3.447 for EA, SN and BPC respectively. As a rule of thumb, VIF values should not exceed 10, in order to be able to run the regression test (Hankins, French and Horne, 2000). Similarly, the VIF values of the background variables are also shown to be less than 10.

5.4.1. Background variables and TPB

As mentioned earlier, the dependent variable is the intention to work for an environmentally sustainable organization (WI): a measure constructed by grouping the median of six statements on a 5 Likert scale varring from 1-Strongly disagree to 5-Strongly agree. In Model 1, the constructs of the theory of planned behaviour: EA, SN, PBC are specified as predictors for work intention (WI). In Model 2, more variables were added in addition to the theory constructs. More specifically values of background variables: age, gender, educational level, years of formal education, university location and source of knowledge about sustainability (media, family etc). Adding background variables is of interest to examine if those variables are strong predictors of intention. The values of the models are presented in Table 5.

Table 5: Model summary of multiple linear regression analysis predicting intention.

Examining the values of adjusted R², the three independent variables EA, SN and PBC account for 60.7% of the variance in the students intention to seek employment in an environmentally sustainable organization. While in Model 2, adding the background variables accounted for 64.6% of the variance in intention. Moreover, when background variables were added this led to an increase in the explained variance in intention by only 3.9% (R square change =0.039) to a total of 64.6%. However, this increase was not statistically significant by the F change test, F (13,85) =0.727, p =0.732. This suggests that the addition of the background variables did not lead to an increase in the explanatory model significantly and that the first set of predictors (EA, SN and PBC) are more powerful in predicting intention.

Influence of environmental attitudes on intention

To assess the influence of students' attitudes towards environmental sustainability, the Hypothesis 1 (H1) students' environmental attitude would be a significant predictor for the intention to work for environmentally sustainable organization is checked. The results of the

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hierarchical regression analysis are presented in Table 6. Model 1 showed that attitudes towards environmental sustainability is a statistically significant predictor of intention, β=0.334, t=3.554, p<0.05. Even in Model 2, after adding the background variables, attitude is a significant predictor of intention with β=0.268, t=2.445, p<0.05.

Influence of subjective norms on intention

The second hypothesis to be tested is Hypothesis 2 (H2): students' subjective norms associated with environmental sustainability would be a significant predictor for the intention to work for an environmentally sustainable organization. As shown in Table 6, in Model 1 subjective norms associated with environmental sustainability are not statistically significant: β=0.134, t=1.758, p=0.082. As for Model 2, it is also not statistically significant as it shows values of β=0.159, t=1.727, p=0.088. As a result, in both models, students' subjective norms associated with environmental sustainability is not a good predictor for the intention to seek employment in an organization that supports environmental sustainability. Then it means that Hypothesis H2 is rejected.

Influence of perceived behavioral control on intention

Next, the third hypothesis is tested, Hypothesis 3 (H3): students perceived behavioural control associated with environmental sustainability would be a significant predictor for intention to work for environmentally sustainable organization. In Model 1, the results of the regression show that PBC associated with environmental sustainability is a statistically significant predictor of the intention: β=0.415, t=4.358, p<0.05. Also in Model 2, after adding the background variables, PBC is still a statistically significant predictor of intention β=0.407, t=3.399, p<0.05 as shown in Table 6.

Influence of background variables on intention

The fourth hypothesis to be tested is related to measuring the influence of background variables, as previously stated, Hypothesis 4 (H4): students' background variables would be a significant predictor for the intention to work for environmentally sustainable organization. In Model 2, all background variables were found insignificant in predicting students’ intentions, as all values of “p” were higher than the significance level of 0.05, as shown in Table 6.

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Table 6: Hierarchical multiple regression analysis to predict intention (N = 102)

Noticing that the factors related to education did not show any reliable influence on WI

overall, but instead Knowledge related to sustainability from Media source had the closest value (p=0.068) to significance level, another regression can be run to check just for the background variables’ power of influence on intention, separately from EA, SN and PBC.

5.4.2. Education and work intention

In order to test the fifth Hypothesis (H5): students’ education should be a good predictor of intention to work for greener companies, a multiple linear regression test is carried out. The regression analysis is adequate in order to see which of the background constraints directly related to education (years of formal education, education level, university location) would show

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higher dependability. This is done based on the premises for this test being already met as presented in previous paragraphs. First, assessing the portion of variance in intention that is predicted by background related variables, the R² value of the model is explored as shown in Table 7. The results show that these variables account for predicting 43% of the variance in intention: R²=43.6%.

Table 7: Model summary of multiple linear regression analysis of background variables predicting intention

Because of the results of the multiple regression analysis available in Table 8, H5 is rejected as none of the 3 factors directly related to education (education level, number of years spent in school, university location) didn’t show any significant influence.

Table 8: Multiple regression analysis of background variables to predict intention (N = 102)

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Moreover, when assessing each component of the knowledge related variables, it shows that knowledge about EU 17 SDGs and knowledge about sustainability gained from media are statistically significant: knowledge about EU 17 SDGs (β=0.397, t=3.403, p<0.05 ), knowledge from media (β=0.305, t=2.990, p<0.05). Knowledge from the workplace (β=0.250, t=1.962, p=0.053) is close enough to being significant.

6. Conclusions, discussions and suggestions

The importance of knowing the preconditions for certain behaviors and choices can not be stressed enough. As shown in previous chapters, it is also of great importance for the employers to know exactly which factors influence certain behaviors in order to adjust their offers to keep employees working for them for as long as possible. This is an especially pregnant matter since the costs of replacing employees is high and the millennials are 50% more likely to quit their position for a greener organisation, even when salary setbacks are involved.

It’s also important for the stakeholders in education, governments and media because they can assess measures towards improving their performance and attaining better results.

In this case, the influence of education on students’ intention to work for organisations caring for environmental sustainability has been researched. With a 95% accuracy of the results, it can be argued that environmental attitudes and perceived behavioral control are good predictors for the intention of students to work for environmentally responsible companies. The subjective norms and background variables didn’t show significant influence when a regression analysis is run according to the Theory of Planned Behavior model.

It has also been presented why education is not a great predictor for the intention of students to work in environmentally friendly organizations, while other knowledge sources not linked to the education system are more likely to influence current and future generations behaviours. In this study, students were more than 80% aware of the 17 EU/ UN SDGs adopted as a derived consequence of the Paris Agreement in 2015 compared to only 32% of the 2000 workers in the UK survey (Cartwright, 2019). But the impact of Media and Social Media found in this study as a powerful indicator of shifting students attention towards alternative sources of knowledge, confirms the findings in the aforementioned Totaljobs survey.

This study is also a confirmation for the individual differences in environmental attitudes (Gifford & Nillson, 2014) described as influencing factors, students intentions differing in other ways than whether they’ve had an environmental education class or not.

The researchers recently discovered, some people engage in pro-environmental behavior without having any of its presumed prerequisites, such as knowledge, childhood experiences, perceived behavioural control, not even behavioral intention (Whitmarsh, 2009). While pursuing a totally different goal, they also side-benefit the environment (Gifford, 2011).

As future recommendations, the authors are arguing that the influence of the media could be engaged towards answering education needs. In order to attract future generations towards classical education systems/ Academia, appropriate models should be run in universities. One suggestion could be using the mass-media and social media means for advertising about Sustainability knowledge gained in courses from universities across the EU & UK. This is valid also for getting more publicity around great results achieved by former or current students and

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researchers too. And it is especially recommended for the developing countries, since these universities don’t get as much visibility as the ones with well established status. In order to gain a more attractive image among its possible candidates, co-creation or exchange programs with highschools and communities could be conducted over some courses. Of course, all the claims in the ads should be realistic and also, could be backed up by statistics regarding the number of remarkable results achieved per number of students tutored.

Another idea that could be easily implemented is including more practical activities with respect to the sustainable theoretical training students get. Testing Labs and working in mixed teams over captivating scopes of projects can trigger their problem solving skills on more levels than just with linguistic-verbal intelligence. This is highly supported by Howard Gardner’s theory of 8 types of intelligences and its applicability can be extended over having more video-lessons regarding the impact of climate change over the planet or even more classes out in the nature, as everything can be taught in more than one way. Researcher Mindy L. Kornhaber suggested that this theory of multiple intelligences is popular within education because of validating educators' experience: students think and learn in many different ways. And also it can provide to the educators a different framework for organizing and assessing the curriculum and pedagogical practices.

Taking a position regarding civil society’s action, to which service normally the education is put to, will help getting more media coverage implicitly. In the case of the two movements earlier described, started in 2018 to mitigate against climate change, it seems that they’ve positioned themselves in one way or another vis-a-vis education systems. It is time for education to reposition itself and generate more change in this field.

For further investigation in determining more of the underlying factors driving the changes in students intentions, bigger samples from various countries using the same type of survey or similar questionnaire could be used to identify a trend. Other methods could be employed or combined with, in order to obtain results that can be generalized.

The timeframe constraints imposed on this thesis did not allow waiting for more data gathering, and due to the positive feedback received over the survey and analysis, the authors decided to re-open the Google docs link for the survey. Because it can be considered the beginning of a large-scale study at European level, the other students who haven't participated will be given the chance to do so in the meantime.

The students and researchers who would like to work with this data, adding new perspectives to its synopsis or include the results in meta-analysis, are welcome to contact us by e-mail in order to share the information at: roxana-nema@outlook.com.

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Appendix A: Survey

Survey on Students' employment intentions The severity of the environmental changes that humanity is facing today mandates a totality of efforts, in order to find feasible solutions for these challenges. The aim of the current research study is to explore this ardent topic in the context of students seeking employment. This is a cross-country survey, taken at EU and UK level, and focused on measuring impact on environmental sustainability from two dimensions: an actor and a space. The actors are students in higher education institutions and their personal space (searching for a job), where it's important to understand what factors affect a student's decision when seeking employment. The survey is divided into several sections. General questions about background are asked initially. Answers showing your level of agreement shall be provided to questions that measure attitudes, normative beliefs and perceived control. Finally, you will be asked to answer questions about your employment intentions. Answering the whole questionnaire will take about 10 minutes. The survey will be available until May 11th, 2020. This file will neither ask for, nor record, any personally identifiable information. I have read the information provided and I consent to be a participant in this study.

● Yes ● No

Section 1: Background information What is your age?

● <20 ● >20 - <25 ● >25 - <30 ● >30 - <35 ● >35

What is your gender? ● Male ● Female

Are you currently employed? ● Yes ● No

I am studying for my ... ● Bachelor’s degree ● Master’s degree ● Doctoral degree

Where is your current university located? ● List of EU countries and the UK

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How many years of school education have you accumulated? ● <14 ● >14 - <16 ● >16 - <18 ● >18 - <20 ● >20

Do you have knowledge about environmental sustainability? (multiple answers accepted)

● Family ● Media ● Friends ● School ● Workplace ● Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) experience ● Other: _______

Did you know about the EU goals for sustainability?

● Yes ● No

Section 2: Attitudes towards environmental sustainability (EA) Please indicate whether you agree/disagree with the following statements Likert scale (1: Strongly disagree, 2: Disagree, 3: Unsure, 4: Agree, 5: Strongly agree)

● We are approaching the limit number of people Earth can support. ● Humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs. ● Human ingenuity will ensure that we do NOT make the Earth unlivable. ● Nature's balance is strong enough to cope with the impact of modern industrialization. ● Despite our special abilities, humans are still subject to the laws of nature. ● If things continue on their present course, we will soon experience an ecological

catastrophe.

Section 3: Subjective Norms (SN) Please indicate whether you agree/disagree with the following statements

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Likert scale (1: Strongly disagree, 2: Disagree, 3: Unsure, 4: Agree, 5: Strongly agree) ● Most people who are important to me think I should protect the environment. ● Most people who are important to me want me to be environmentally friendly. ● Most people whose opinion I value think that it is important to reduce waste. ● Most people who I respect engage in environmentally friendly behaviors. ● Most people who are important to me protect the environment. ● I feel under social pressure to preserve the environment.

Section 4: Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC)

Please indicate whether you agree/disagree with the following statements Likert scale (1: Strongly disagree, 2: Disagree, 3: Unsure, 4: Agree, 5: Strongly agree)

● I find it easy to be friendly with the environment. ● I am confident that I can protect the environment. ● I am fully capable of protecting the environment. ● I am good at leading a green lifestyle. ● It is NOT easy for me to stick to my sustainability goals and preserve the environment. ● Being friendly with the environment is out of my hands.

Section 5: Intention to work for an environmentally friendly organization (WI)

Please indicate whether you agree/disagree with the following statements Likert scale (1: Strongly disagree, 2: Disagree, 3: Unsure, 4: Agree, 5: Strongly agree)

● I think it's a good idea for my employer to support the environment. ● When I search for a job, I check the organizations' environmental policies. ● The company’s sustainability accomplishments are important to me. ● The environmental practices in workplace are important to me. ● I have NO intention to work for companies missing ISO 14000 Certification. ● I would consider changing my job for a greener organization.

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Appendix B: Descriptive results

Table B-1: Participants background variables

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Table B-2: TPB Constructs

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Appendix C: Mann-Whitney U test Diagnosis Check

Table C-1: Normality test for Age Groups

Figure C-2: Normality histograms for Age Groups

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Appendix D: Regression Diagnosis Check

Figure D-1: Residuals’ dispersion

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Table D-2: Correlation matrix

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Table D-3: Multicollinearity test of Independent Variables

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TRITA TRITA-ITM-EX 2020:193

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