Environmental attitudes, motivations, and contingent valuation of nonuse values: a case study involving endangered species

This paper explores relationships among environmental attitudes, nonuse values for endangered species, and underlying motivations for contingent valuation (CV) responses. The approach combines techniques from the attitude-behavior and economic valuation literature. Attitudes are measured with the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, and economic values are derived from a referendum; CV survey for peregrine falcons and shortnose sturgeons. Respondents with stronger pro-environmental attitudes are found more likely to provide legitimate yes/no responses, while those with weaker attitudes are more likely to protest hypothetical CV scenarios. Analysis reveals environmental attitudes as a significant explanatory variable of yes/no responses: whereby stronger pro-environmental attitudes result in higher probabilities of responding 'yes'. Pro-environmental attitudes are also shown to result in higher estimates of mean willingness to pay (WTP). Significant relationships are found between environmental altitudes and nonuse motivations. Specifically, pro-environmental attitudes are associated with stronger reliance on ethical motives for species protection. These results are discussed as they relate to testing predictions in the literature about potential bias in CV studies and to supporting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recommendations for improving CV reliability. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.