This paper presents a total survey of the characteristics and changes over time (1990–2010) within the entire population of Swedish non-industrial private forest owners (NIPF owners). By charting the changed demographic, socio-economic and geographic profile of the NIPF owners, it also provides a baseline for a discussion and analysis of potential implications for forest management, policy and values. NIPF owners differ in important ways from the general population of Sweden. However, the gap has narrowed over time with regard to, e.g., educational level and sex composition. The ongoing urbanization process is evident in the growing share of non-residential NIPF owners who live at a distance from their forest property and who differ from their residential (rural) peers through, e.g., higher education, higher income and a higher prevalence of co-ownership of their forest holdings. Although these changes might translate into updated views on forest values among NIPF owners, there could be a delay before this impacts on forest management practices and output.
In-house family ties at workplaces occur in most contexts, and are associated with both advantages and disadvantages. On the basis of 40 interviews with human resource managers at Swedish workplaces, the values and risks of in-house family ties and their importance within the workplace are analyzed jointly, thus allowing for a holistic perspective. The interviews reveal values and risks on a strategic level, for day-to-day operations, for the social work environment, and on the level of individuals. Crucially, even when in-house family ties are perceived as uncomplicated, there is a latent risk that problems might arise. The interpretation of the role of in-house family ties is also strongly related to whether they are paired with asymmetrical (vertical) power relations. It also depends heavily on the chosen perspective-that of the organization, the social work environment, the individual, or the broader society-and the perceived advantages tend to come with corresponding inverted disadvantages.
Transportation accounts for a large and growing part of carbon dioxide emissions. With an increasing vehicle fleet worldwide private car use is becoming an acute problem in need of urgent attention and action. Policy interference and cleaner cars are not enough; alternative fuel vehicles such as electric vehicles need to be adopted by consumers as well. Previous research on pro-environmental consumer behavior and sustainable consumption has proven the importance of norms and pro-environmental attitudes. However, little research has focused on understanding interpersonal influence found influential in consumer behavior research relating to innovation adoption. Consumer opinion leading and opinion seeking are two such interpersonal influence attitudinal constructs that have not been empirically analyzed in relation to sustainable consumption and alternative fuel vehicles. The main aim of this study is thus to analyze the influence of a set of attitudinal constructs on electric and flexfuel vehicle adoption: personal norms, social norms, ecological attitudes, opinion leading, and opinion seeking. Data from a questionnaire survey on three groups of electric vehicle adopters and non-adopters is used (N=1,192). The results confirm the importance of personal norms, opinion leading and opinion seeking in the three groups also when controlling for socio-demographic factors. The main contribution of this study is that it shows the importance of both interpersonal influence and attitudinal factors as drivers for eco-innovation adoption. The study also contributes in showing that electric vehicle and flexfuel vehicle adopters differ in relation to non-adopters on several factors.
In this study a model was applied on consumer acceptance of commonly implemented EV focused measures. The model is based on a norm-activation process as defined in the Value-Belief-Norm theory and the Norm-Activation Model. The study was based on a questionnaire survey study on three groups of car owners; conventional fossil fuel vehicle owners (CV, n = 312, owners of vehicles run on alternative fuels except electricity (AFVnon-electric, n = 386), and owners of some form of electric vehicle (EV, n = 494). The results indicate that activating a personal normative reasoning in people can have a positive influence on the level of acceptance of EV aimed policy measures. It is important that policy makers develop policies that are perceived as just and effective, which as a consequence are then more acceptable to citizens.
The development of city regions can be regarded as both a driving force behind and a consequence of increased interaction between firms and people in a region. This paper focuses on people's place attachment to different geographic levels - neighbourhood, residential municipality, and city region - and the relationship between place attachment and mobility. In the present paper, the issues of whether attachment differs between residents in small versus large regions, between the centre and hinterlands, and of whether there is a relationship between attachment and mobility (commuting and migrating) are in focus. The analyses are based on a questionnaire distributed in 2009 to 6000 citizens in the city regions Goteborg and Umea in Sweden. The study shows a relationship between mobility and attachment to the neighbourhood and residential municipality but not with the city region. Satisfaction with the social life in the neighbourhood and public services in the residential municipality were shown to be important for the respondents, place attachment.
Although the number of different types of EVs is increasing, they still constitute only a small share of the total vehicle market. There are a number of barriers to car owners' adoption of an EV: travel needs, charging infrastructure, the individual car owner's socio-economic characteristics, attitudinal factors, and environmental concern. In this study, the characteristics and geographic location of all private car owners in Sweden (N = 4,447,118) are charted. Through analysis of survey data (N = 1192), the importance of socio-demographic attributes, geographic conditions, car interest, personal and social norms, and environmental concern is estimated. Mapping EV ownership shows that, so far, EV adoption has mainly occurred in metropolitan areas and also to some extent in hotspots outside the metropolitan areas, and that these hotspots are tourist regions that may be exposed to EVs via, for example, Norwegian tourists in the Swedish case. Logistic regression analyses show that age and education level have positive impacts on EV ownership. Residential area also has an influence to some extent, pointing to a slight neighborhood effect in EV adoption. However, the most important factor influencing EV ownership is the individual's personal norms. In addition to showcasing EV adoption patterns in Sweden, the contribution of this study is to point to the importance of the attitudinal factor of personal norm even when geographical conditions and socio-demographic characteristics are controlled for. Implications of the findings are discussed.