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Article

A Tale of Two Cities: How Can We Use Social Media to Engage Young People with an Environmentally Friendly Lifestyle in Hong Kong and Guam?

by
Kevin K. W. Ho
1,*,
Yaoqin Chen
2,
Kristina L. C. Sayama
3 and
Dickson K. W. Chiu
2
1
Institute of Business Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tokyo 112-0012, Japan
2
Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
3
School of Business and Public Administration, University of Guam, Mangilao, GU 96923, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2024, 16(16), 7182; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167182
Submission received: 20 July 2024 / Revised: 17 August 2024 / Accepted: 19 August 2024 / Published: 21 August 2024
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Abstract

:
There has recently been a growing concern about developing an environmentally friendly lifestyle (EFL) through suitable education arrangements on different media types. In this study, we propose a research model to compare the effectiveness of using traditional media and social media in promoting and engaging young people with such educational information. We collected survey data from 400 participants from Hong Kong and Guam to test the proposed model using structural equation modeling. Our findings show the effectiveness of social media in engaging young people to practice an EFL through environmental involvement and other practicing concerns, as well as through value co-creation on social media. Yet, traditional media is a more effective tool for disseminating such information to young people than social media. The relatively consistent results obtained from data collected from Hong Kong and Guam show the generalizability of the research model, showing the importance of using both traditional media and social media to engage with young people with EFL information. Our findings, therefore, provide insights for stakeholders as foundations for further research in using social media to disseminate EFL information to society.

1. Introduction

The United Nations has recently raised a growing concern about developing a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle (EFL) to fulfill Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through suitable education arrangements [1]. In the past, governments and non-government organizations (NGOs) would use traditional media to disseminate information regarding EFL to society [2]. With the rapid development of social media (SM), researchers are actively investigating how to use it to engage with members of the public to disseminate these messages [3,4,5,6]. Indeed, promoting and communicating an EFL to the public have been discussed through the lens of environmental management [7], marketing [8], and communications [9]. These studies aimed to improve public awareness of the importance of environmental sustainability and eco-friendly living styles, mainly focusing on integrating household recycling and waste reduction behaviors into daily routines to decrease municipal waste generation.
Previous research has underscored the media’s role in promoting a green lifestyle [2,10], with much more recent investigation concerning SM [11,12]. To understand the difference in effectiveness between traditional and SM for such purposes, we investigate the following research question (RQ1):
RQ1. 
How effective is EFL information disseminated to the public comparing SM to traditional ones?
Prior research also suggests SM supports effective value co-creation [13], which enables information senders and receivers to co-create the value of a product or service. When promoting an EFL, its value should be able to be co-created through interactions between information senders (i.e., governments and NGOs) and the information receivers of the public on SM. As a result, our second research question (RQ2) is as follows:
RQ2. 
Can information senders and receivers create the value of an EFL through SM?
To understand whether the development of an EFL would have a localized effect, we conducted this study in Hong Kong [14] and Guam [15,16], i.e., a metropolitan city versus a small island community, both facing a severe waste management problem due to the scarcity of land in handling waste management. With such a comparison, we can gain more insights into developing a comprehensive model for promoting such knowledge to the community.

2. Background

2.1. Social Media Growth

Social media, which allows convenient creation and dissemination of user-generated content [17], has demonstrated significant impacts on various areas of society, such as education [18], healthcare [19], and politics [20]. Due to the vast population of SM users [21], research of various domains has focused on SM usage, drives, and impacts. Such findings propose that environmental and individual factors [22], perceived online attachment motivations, perceived online relationship commitments [23], and users’ capability, perceived ease of use, playfulness, and perceived usefulness [24] drive SM usage. Additionally, SM use impacts users’ political behavior [20], well-being [22], gain in social capital [25], and information distribution behavior [26].

2.2. Social Media Value Co-Creation

Prahalad and Ramaswamy [27] developed the concept of value co-creation, referring to the value of a service generated collaboratively by service providers and users. Recently, this concept has been applied to various fields, such as marketing, service science, and engineering [13]. The core idea is encapsulated in the statement, “The customer is always a co-creator of value” [28].
Notably, See-To and Ho [13] argue that SM platforms are well suited for value co-creation, particularly brand value, through trust and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), ultimately driving product and service purchases. Furthermore, they identify behavioral alignment and empowerment and control as potential constructs [29] that are particularly relevant to value co-creation on SM platforms.

2.3. Factors Impacting EFL

An environmentally friendly lifestyle (EFL) entails adopting or promoting goods, services, laws, guidelines, and policies that cause minimal or no harm to ecosystems or the environment [30]. Recent research has provided extensive discussions and varying definitions of such lifestyles. For instance, Librova [31] highlights simplicity as essential, while Black and Cherrier [32] emphasize sustainable consumption. Generally, living in an EFL can involve various sustainable activities, such as proactive waste reduction, reuse, and recycling [33], conserving domestic water and energy [34], implementing sustainable wastewater treatment [35], and purchasing more green products and services [36], among others.
With growing awareness of sustainable living and EFL, governments and researchers from various disciplines are increasingly investigating the drivers and effects of such lifestyles. Embracing an EFL addresses vital environmental issues like prolonging landfill lifespans [10] and mitigating the impact of greenhouse warming [33]. This is especially crucial for places with limited premises for waste management, like Hong Kong [37] and Guam [10].
Previous studies have indicated that social norms [38,39,40] (attitudes, preferences, behaviors, etc.) and perceived benefits [10] significantly influence the adoption of EFL, such as home-based waste reduction. Yet, most have focused on how traditional media (television and newspapers) influence society to encourage these practices. As a newer media form, SM has been studied inadequately in this context. Therefore, this research develops a conceptual model to explore the application of SM to promote an EFL.
In addition, to address the generalizability of this model, this research includes data collected from Guam and Hong Kong to validate the model. This selection is because, as mentioned, both places face waste management problems [10,37] but have different cultural backgrounds, as presented by Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions (see Table 1). Therefore, this comparison can test the generalizability of our model.

3. Research Model Development

Figure 1 depicts the Integrated Waste Reduction Model of Nishio and Takeuchi [2] to illustrate the effect of media contact on waste reduction attitudes through EFL involvement in Japan, including the perceived costs, benefits, rule acceptability, and subjective norms. This model has been widely utilized in various research on waste recycling and management [10,42]. Thus, we extend this model by incorporating additional factors associated with the practice of such lifestyles regarding SM impacts and value co-creation [10], as shown in Figure 2.
SMs are recognized as effective tools for creating social capital and enabling public social issue engagement [20,43]. Since promoting an EFL requires civic engagement [44], we anticipate that SM is crucial in disseminating EFL messages, similar to traditional media [2]. Thus, this research considers both traditional media and SM as useful for publicity. Previous studies suggest that both media types serve differently in publicity and impact sales in a commercial context [45]. Specifically, Caldieraro et al. [45] found that eWOM on SM can drive related activities on traditional media. Bruhn et al. [46] also noted that traditional media and SM impact brand equity differently: traditional media are more effective in increasing brand awareness, while SM substantially impacts brand images.
Applying this research result to promoting an EFL (as a form of “brand equity”), we hypothesize that traditional media may be more effective in raising awareness about the importance of living sustainably (by highlighting benefits, costs, subjective norms, and rule acceptability) than SM. Prior research also suggests that social and traditional media often compete. For instance, Meraz [47] found that the agenda-setting power of traditional media, particularly newspapers, has diminished due to the growing influence of SM, which empowers the public to voice their ideas. Therefore, studying how SM and traditional media promote EFLs differently is valuable.
In this regard, we conjecture that SM will positively impact EFL involvement, where EFL involvement refers to “a user’s involvement in leading an environmentally friendlier life” [2,48]. Previous research [2,10] has shown the positive influences of traditional media on environmental involvement. Therefore, the function of SM for promoting an EFL should be similar to traditional media, albeit with potential competition [47] or synergistic effects [45]. Thus, we propose the following proposition:
Proposition 1. 
Like traditional media, SM can help engage people to participate in EFL. Therefore, the EFL information sent to young people through SM (i.e., SM contact, SMC) will increase their environmental involvement.
Thus, we have the Hypothesis 1 (H1) as follows:
H1. 
The EFL information sent to young people through SM (i.e., SM contact, SMC) will increase their environmental involvement (EI).
Previous models [2,10] included perceived benefits (PB), perceived cost (PC), subjective norm (SN), and rule acceptability (RA) in their research model and proposed that traditional media would influence these constructs via EI. Ho and So [10] also reported that traditional media could directly influence these constructs. This research expands the scope of factors to be investigated based on more recent research findings. First, Mancha et al. [40,49] reported that green perceived behavioral control (PBC) would impact green behavioral intentions. In addition, Han et al. [38] showed that environmental behavioral beliefs (BB) also have such an influence. Therefore, we propose including these two constructs, as they are possibly influenced by EI and subsequently affect a person’s attitude toward having an EFL.
On the other hand, prior research [45,46] observes that traditional media and SM impact a campaign differently, likely applicable to EFL promotion. However, traditional media and SM interactions may influence other constructs differently. Notably, Ho and So [10] observe that traditional media contact directly impacts perceived cost, based on data collected from Guam, rather than using environmental involvement as a mediator, as in Nishio and Takeuchi’s model [2]. Therefore, the following proposition is proposed:
Proposition 2. 
Traditional media contact and SMC directly interact with the following constructs: perceived benefits (PB), perceived cost (PC), subjective norm (SN), rules acceptability (RA), green perceived behavioral control (PBC), and environmental behavioral beliefs (BB). These constructs have direct interactions with attitudes towards waste reduction (ATT).
Thus, we have our Hypotheses 2 and 3 as follows:
H2. 
Traditional media contact directly interacts with (i) perceived benefits (PB), (ii) perceived cost (PC), (iii) subjective norm (SN), (iv) rules acceptability (RA), (v) green perceived behavioral control (PBC), and (vi) environmental behavioral beliefs (BB).
H3. 
SMC directly interacts with (i) perceived benefits (PB), (ii) perceived cost (PC), (iii) subjective norm (SN), (iv) rules acceptability (RA), (v) green perceived behavioral control (PBC), and (vi) environmental behavioral beliefs (BB).
One significant difference in using SM for promotion is that it allows users/customers to interact with the firm, leading to more active engagement compared to traditional platforms [50]. Furthermore, both Hanna et al. [50] and See-To and Ho [13] propose that SM is ideal for value co-creation. Therefore, using SM to reach young people with information about an EFL can serve as a platform for co-creating EFL value.
As such, SM messages can provide information and suggestions about the potential value of an EFL while users co-create the value. This happens through their participation in EFL practices and interactions with other active users. Since such a process is unique to SM platforms [13], it serves as a connecting construct between SMC and practice, such as practicing recycling and reducing waste. Thus, it acts as a mediator between SM and EFL outcomes. Therefore, our third proposition is as follows:
Proposition 3. 
SM is suitable for value co-creation, which acts as the mediator between SMC and attitudes toward waste reduction, as well as the EFL behavior (practicing recycling and reducing waste) of young citizens.
Therefore, we have our last hypothesis as follows:
H4. 
Value co-creation (measured by behavioral alignment (BA) and empowerment and control (EC)) acts as the mediator between SMC and attitudes toward waste reduction, as well as the EFL behavior (practicing recycling and reducing household waste) of young citizens.

4. Methodology

4.1. Survey Instruments

This research used online survey data collected from Hong Kong and Guam to test the proposed research model. The survey instrument included two parts: (i) the demographics and mobile service usage information of our respondents and (ii) survey items developed from the prior literature (see Supplementary S1 in the Supplementary File). Survey items comprise the following themes: (i) household recycling and waste reduction behavior from Nishio and Takeuchi [2] (34 items); (ii) green perceived behavioral control from Mancha et al. [49], and environmental behavioral beliefs from Han et al. [38] (11 items in total); (iii) SM contact modified from Nishio and Takeuchi [2] (5 items); and (iv) value co-creation from Ng et al. [29] (6 items). All survey items were using 7-point Likert scales. The ethical committees of the University of Guam and the University of Hong Kong both approved this research.

4.2. Data Collection

We employed an online sample-size calculator suggested by Westland [51] to ensure that adequate samples were collected. Based on a medium effect size, a statistical power level of 0.8, and a probability level of 0.05, with 14 latent variables and 56 observed variables, the calculator recommended the minimum sample size should be 208. Thus, this research was planned for about 400 respondents, with around 200 each from Guam and Hong Kong. Eventually, we recruited over 220 participants from each university by convenient sampling, as our target participants were young people. After removing cases with incomplete responses, we collected a total of 400 responses, with 193 from Hong Kong and 207 from Guam.

4.3. Demographics

Table 2 summarizes the respondents’ demographics from Guam and Hong Kong. In both locations, there were more female participants than males. The average age of participants in Hong Kong was older than that of Guam (25.48 vs. 22.65 years old). As a result, their education years were also longer (16.62 vs. 14.61 years).

4.4. Validity of Survey Instrument

We used SmartPLS 4.1.04 to analyze the data collected [52]. The results of factor analysis showed that PCB4, R1, R3, R5, RHW1, and RHW2 do not converge well and have low loadings. Therefore, these items have been removed from our analysis. The resulting factor analysis shows that convergent validity is achieved since all t-values of the factor loadings are significant with p < 0.01 and all Cronbach’s α values > 0.70 except for perceived benefit (0.632) and recycling (0.674). However, as their composite reliability values are both >0.7 (perceived benefit = 0.844; recycling = 0.859), we consider convergent validity to be achieved (see Supplementary S2 in the Supplementary File). The discriminant validity is also achieved as all items of the instrument have a loading > 0.7 on their associated factors and have a low loading on other factors [53], and the square root of the average variance extracted from each latent construct (see Supplementary S3 in the Supplementary File). We also checked whether common method bias would be a concern of our analysis. We conducted Harman’s one-factor test, which confirms no substantial concern regarding common method bias as the variance extracted was 30.3%, much smaller than the threshold value of 50.0% [54,55].

5. Data Analysis

To obtain the optimal model, we first analyze the overall model, then remove those paths from those with high p-values one by one until p < 0.10. Table 3 summarizes the results, showing that Hong Kong and Guam data were highly similar. However, we also observed the following differences. First, the following paths can only be found in Hong Kong: (i) the positive relationships of SMC with SN and RA, (ii) the positive relationship of RA with ATT, and (iii) the positive relationship of BA with R. In addition, the following paths can only be found in Guam: (i) the positive relationship of MC with RA, (ii) the positive relationship of SMC with BB and PBC, and (iii) the negative relationship of PC with ATT.
Table 4 summarizes our findings based on the hypotheses proposed. Our data collected supported H1, i.e., showing that SMC has a significant positive relationship with EI. Concerning H2, which hypothesizes that MC significantly impacts the six practicing concerns, we only observed that MC has significant relationships with SN and RA for the overall dataset and RA and PBC for the Guam dataset. For H3, which mirrors with a focus on studying the effect of SMC, it has significant relationships with SN, RA, PBC, and BB for the overall dataset; SN, RA, PBC for the Hong Kong dataset; and PBC and BB for the Guam dataset. Comparing the results from H2 and H3, we can conjecture that SMC is more influential in affecting these practical concerns.
H4 focuses on the mediating role of value co-creation factors. While our results show that SMC has positive relationships with the two value co-creation factors BA and EC, only BA has effects on RHW (for overall, Hong Kong and Guam datasets) and R (for overall and Hong Kong datasets).

6. Discussion

This research is developed based on Nishio and Takeuchi [2], which focuses on how traditional media influences people living in Japan to practice EFL. We enhanced the model by including SM contact and hypothesized that it would have a direct impact on EI and other practicing concerns and indirectly influence attitudes toward waste reduction, recycling, and reducing household waste through value co-creation factors as mediators. We discuss the findings based on the data collected from Hong Kong and Guam in the following subsections.

6.1. Comparison with the Base Model

Nishio and Takeuchi’s [2] model presents their findings using data collected in Japan back in 2005, and Ho and So [10] used the same model to explore data collected from Guam in 2016. Table 5 summarizes the results obtained in these studies and presents our current findings side-by-side.
As shown in Table 5, our findings are more similar to Ho and So [10] than Nishio and Takeuchi [2]. The results indicate no influence of EI on PC in Hong Kong (and it may cause the negative finding of the overall result) like Ho and So [10]. In addition, we also cannot observe the influence of PB on ATT. Yet, the result of RA on ATT, which is not observable in Ho and So’s study [10], is found to be significant in our Guam dataset.
In brief, the findings related to the base model are generally consistent with prior research. Concerning the difference between the Hong Kong and Guam datasets, our results reflected that the participants from Guam are similar to those in Japan. Their environmental involvement can help them understand the importance of living an EFL and motivate them to take up the costs of practicing it (as shown by the negative coefficient of EI → PC). However, the perceived benefits of practicing an EFL cannot inspire our participants from Hong Kong and Guam to live such a lifestyle, which is similar to the findings of Ho and So [10]. Lastly, similar to Ho and So [10], this research also reconfirms their findings that rule acceptance does not influence Guamaians to practice an EFL.
For the two new practicing concerns included in our base model, we observe that EI significantly influences PBC and BB. However, PBC is the only one that influences ATT.

6.2. Using SM Contact as a Method to Enhance Environmental Involvement (H1)

Our H1 proposes that SMC would have a positive influence on EI. Our data collected from Hong Kong and Guam both support this hypothesis, and the coefficients are statistically indifferent (see Table 3). We conducted post hoc t-tests to check and compare the coefficients of MC → EI and SMC → EI for both datasets and presented our results in Table 6. For both situations, as the coefficient of MC → EI is statistically higher than that of SMC → EI in both cases; the results indicate that the influence of MC on environmental involvement is more significant than that of SMC in Hong Kong and Guam.

6.3. Using Media Contact and SM Contact to Influence Practicing Concerns (H2 and H3)

Among the six practicing concerns in our model, we discovered that neither MC nor SMC directly influence PB and PC in our model. In addition, MC does not directly influence any of these practicing concerns for Hong Kong participants and only directly influences RA and PBC for Guam participants. These findings provide partial support for our H2.
The results indicate that SMC interacts differently with practicing concerns between Hong Kong and Guam participants. For Hong Kong participants, SMC can influence their SN, RA, and PBC, whereas for Guam participants, SMC influences their PBC and BB. As a result, H3 is also partially supported by our data.
Combining the findings, we conjecture a difference in the behaviors of participants from Hong Kong and Guam. The Hong Kong participants’ concerns about practicing are only influenced by SMC, whereas both MC and SMC influence those of the Guam participants. Such an observation is partially due to the different Internet penetration rates in Hong Kong (93.0% of the population in 2021) and Guam (80.5% of the population in 2021) [56]. The higher Internet penetration rate in Hong Kong may provide a better environment for connecting and influencing people via SMC than MC and may cause insignificant results of MC influences. In addition, cultural background differences may also play an important role. As people from Hong Kong have a higher long-term orientation and lower individualism compared with people from Guam, this cultural difference may lead to the significant result of SMC → SN for Hong Kong participants (as they care about their relationships with others and will follow the norms) but not for Guam participants.

6.4. Mediating Role of Value Co-Creation between the Influence of SMC on EFL(H4)

H4 hypothesizes the meditating role of value co-creation in our model. Our findings indicate SMC influences the value co-creation constructs of BA and EC. However, BA is the only value co-creation construct that further influences RHW (for both Guam and Hong Kong) and R (only for Hong Kong). Therefore, our H4 is partially supported. A further post hoc t-test was also conducted, showing that BA’s influence on R was more substantial than on RHW (see Table 7). Therefore, based on these findings, we can partially confirm that, as it only shows in data collected from Hong Kong, SM can be used as a platform for value co-creation and to help governments and NGOs disseminate EFL to young people and encourage them to practice RHW and R.

6.5. Practical and Theoretical Contributions

This research has the following practical and theoretical contributions. Firstly, the results show the influence of SMC on enhancing people’s environmental involvement using our data collected from Hong Kong and Guam (i.e., H1). With the findings from our post hoc test, we suggest that, at least currently, traditional media is still a more effective tool for disseminating EFL information to young people than SM. Therefore, when governments and NGOs would like to develop programs to promote an EFL, they should put effort into both traditional and SM. We also suggest that governments and NGOs continuously review the situation (i.e., the effectiveness of EFL information) and adjust their portfolio to educate our society on the importance of this issue.
Results also indicate that MC and SMC do not influence all of the six practicing concerns directly, but EI would have such influence, as shown by the Guam dataset. These results suggest that educational program developers should tailor EFL information to emphasize these areas of concern to engage with our society.
Lastly, this research also shows that value co-creation can be a significant moderator between SMC and practice. This result echoes the prediction of See-To and Ho [13] that SM is suitable for value co-creation. This finding provides insight for governments and NGOs to use SM platforms to engage with our society and co-create an EFL forum for discussion. Therefore, more resources may be needed to provide relevant NGOs and government agencies with developing SM channels for engaging young people to practice EFL.

6.6. Limitations and Future Research Direction

Yet, this research also has some limitations. First, our data collection was conducted through convenient sampling, and we noted that there were more female respondents than males, which may have some impact on the findings. Therefore, we suggest that further research is necessary with a more balanced gender profile. While the current survey only covers Hong Kong and Guam, with highly similar findings, more data should be collected to confirm the generalizability of the model. In addition, new SM applications are developed every year, with people using them in different contexts, probably based on their cultural backgrounds [57]. Even though Guam and Hong Kong both have a strong influence from Western culture, their own social structure and local culture may have some influence on the behavior of their people. Therefore, we suggest that further research should examine the impact of different types of SM in disseminating EFL information. In addition, with the increasing popularity of infographics in disseminating educational information [58], further research should also explore the effect of infographics on disseminating EFL information. Furthermore, prior research also reports that young people’s online behavior is related to the SM apps they use [57]. Therefore, future research should also study the impact of different SM apps on the dissemination of EFL. Last but not least, further research should examine how SM can promote EFL and influence business cooperation to be more involved in sustainable development [59] by enhancing people’s awareness of the issue, as well as enhancing people’s awareness of eco-health risks due to pollutants [60,61,62,63].

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/su16167182/s1, Supplementary S1: Survey Items; Supplementary S2: Factor Loadings; Supplementary S3: Correlation Matrix.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, K.K.W.H.; methodology, K.K.W.H.; validation, K.K.W.H.; formal analysis, K.K.W.H.; investigation, K.K.W.H., D.K.W.C. and Y.C.; writing—original draft preparation, K.K.W.H.; writing—review and editing, K.K.W.H., D.K.W.C., K.L.C.S. and Y.C.; supervision, K.K.W.H. and D.K.W.C.; project administration, K.K.W.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Guam (CHRS#18-205) for the data collection in Guam and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong for the data collection conducted in Hong Kong and China.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors upon request.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the editor and reviewers for their assistance in developing this work. We would also like to thank Toru Takagi, Shaoyu Ye and Cheuk Hang Au, who were involved in the early stages of the development of this project. The first author would like to take this opportunity to dedicate this paper to the late Mark A. Lander, Assistant Professor of Meteorology and the late Joseph D. Rouse, Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Guam, who mentored him after he joined his M.S. in Environmental Science Program there. They were excellent ex-colleagues, mentors, and dedicated researchers who devoted their lives to advancing knowledge in water and environmental research in the West Pacific. Their guidance and passion have left an indelible mark, influencing not only the first author but countless others in the pursuit of excellence in research. In addition, the first author would also like to dedicate this paper to the late Paul Fleming, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Guam, a dedicated researcher and a close family friend who tragically passed away recently.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Sustainability 16 07182 g001
Figure 1. Nishio and Takeuchi’s [2] research model.
Figure 1. Nishio and Takeuchi’s [2] research model.
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Sustainability 16 07182 g002
Figure 2. Our proposed research model.
Figure 2. Our proposed research model.
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Table 1. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions score of Guam and Hong Kong.
Table 1. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions score of Guam and Hong Kong.
Power DistanceIndividualismMotivation toward Achievement and SuccessUncertainty AvoidanceLong-Term Orientation
Guam1186.525.955.439.8
Hong Kong6850572993
Note: Scores for Hong Kong: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison-tool?countries=hong+kong, accessed on 15 July 2024; Guam: Perez et al. [41].
Table 2. Demographics.
Table 2. Demographics.
DemographicsGuam
(n = 207)		Hong Kong
(n = 193)		Total
(n = 400)
Gender
Males81 (39.1%)43 (22.3%)124 (31.0%)
Females126 (60.9%)150 (77.7%)276 (69.0%)
Average Age22.6525.4824.02
Average Education Years (from 1st grade)14.6116.6215.58
Table 3. PLS results.
Table 3. PLS results.
PathOverallHong KongGuamDifference between Hong Kong and Guam
Environmental Involvement (EI) (R2adj.)0.4040.4320.374
   MC → EI0.476 ***0.515 ***0.472 ***0.043
   SMC → EI0.241 ***0.190 *0.251 ***−0.062
Perceived Benefits (PB) (R2adj.)0.1380.1390.134
   EI → PB0.374 ***0.379 ***0.371 ***0.008
Perceived Cost (PC) (R2adj.)0.00900.035
   MC → PC0.137 # 0.0320.213 #−0.182
   EI → PC−0.132 #−0.012−0.241 **0.228
Subjective Norms (SN) (R2adj.)0.2840.3610.221
   SMC → SN0.184 **0.345 ***0.1050.241 *
   MC → SN0.142 *0.0630.097−0.034
   EI → SN0.312 ***0.290 **0.362 ***−0.072
Rule Acceptability (RA) (R2adj.)0.260.3160.229
   SMC → RA0.160 **0.275 **0.0550.220 #
   MC → RA0.190 **0.1340.232 **−0.098
   EI → RA0.264 *** 0.250 **0.287 **−0.037
Green Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) (R2adj.)0.3480.4350.277
   SMC → PBC0.283 ***0.465 ***0.157 *0.307 **
   MC → PBC0.104 #−0.0590.203 **−0.262 *
   EI → PBC0.318 ***0.340 ***0.294 **0.046
Environmental Behavioral Beliefs (BB) (R2adj.)0.1740.1930.167
   SMC → BB0.125 *0.0760.190 *−0.114
   EI → BB0.346 ***0.402 ***0.299 ***0.103
Behavioral Alignment (BA) (R2adj.)0.2830.3220.252
   SMC → BA0.534 ***0.570 ***0.506 ***0.065
Empowerment and Control (EC) (R2adj.)0.1690.180.148
   SMC → EC0.413 ***0.429 ***0.390 ***0.039
Attitude Toward Waste Reduction (R2adj.)0.5730.5970.585
   EI → ATT0.383 ***0.281 ***0.441 ***−0.150 #
   PC → ATT−0.097 **−0.039−0.123 **0.084
   SN → ATT0.256 ***0.327 ***0.258 ***0.068
   RA → ATT0.117 *0.197 **−0.0140.212 *
   PBC → ATT0.168 **0.149 *0.220 **−0.071
Reducing Household Waste (RHW) (R2adj.)0.1840.2990.21
   ATT → RHW0.301 ***0.415 ***0.356 ***0.059
   BA → RHW0.238 ***0.249 **0.230 **0.019
Recycling (R) (R2adj.)0.2410.3230.179
   ATT → R0.434 ***0.410 ***0.434 ***−0.024
   BA → R0.144 **0.285 ***−0.0060.291 **
Note: *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05; # p < 0.1. Adjusted R2 values are shown in bold as the first number in each group.
Table 4. Summary of the findings based on hypotheses.
Table 4. Summary of the findings based on hypotheses.
HypothesisOverallHong KongGuam
H1: SMC → EI√√√
H2
   (i): MC → PB×××
   (ii) MC → PC×××
   (iii) MC → SN√××
   (iv) MC → RA√×√
   (v) MC → PBC××√
   (vi) MC → BB×××
H3
   (i): SMC → PB×××
   (ii) SMC → PC×××
   (iii) SMC → SN√√×
   (iv) SMC → RA√√×
   (v) SMC → PBC√√√
   (vi) SMC → BB√×√
H4
   (i) SMC → BA√√√
   (ii) SMC → EC√√√
   (iii) BA → ATT×××
   (iv) BA → RHW√√√
   (v) BA → R√√×
   (vi) EC → ATT×××
   (vii) EC → RHW×××
   (viii) EC → R×××
Table 5. Comparison of current findings with prior results.
Table 5. Comparison of current findings with prior results.
HypothesisNishio and Takeuchi [2]Ho and So [10]OverallHong KongGuam
MC → EI0.680.6180.4760.5150.472
EI→ PB0.480.5650.3740.3790.371
EI → PC−0.31n.s.n.s.n.s.−0.241
EI → SN0.680.3860.3120.290.362
EI → RA0.70.5280.2640.250.287
EI → PBC––0.3180.340.294
EI → BB––0.3460.4020.299
EI → ATT0.610.4070.3830.2910.441
PB →ATT0.12n.s.n.s.n.s.n.s.
PC → ATT−0.08n.s.−0.097n.s.−0.123
SN → ATT0.20.2610.2560.3270.258
RA → ATT0.09n.s.0.1170.197n.s.
PBC → ATT––0.1680.1490.22
BB → ATT––n.s.n.s.n.s.
ATT → RHW0.670.5490.3010.4150.356
ATT → R0.550.5870.4340.410.434
Table 6. Post hoc t-test for comparing the coefficients of MC → EI and SMC → EI.
Table 6. Post hoc t-test for comparing the coefficients of MC → EI and SMC → EI.
HypothesisMC → EISMC → EIt-Value
Coeff.SDCoeff.SD
Hong Kong (n = 193)0.5150.0740.1900.08141.15 ***
Guam (n = 207)0.4720.0480.2510.06041.38 ***
Note: *** p < 0.001.
Table 7. Post hoc t-test for comparing the coefficients of BA → RHW and BA → R.
Table 7. Post hoc t-test for comparing the coefficients of BA → RHW and BA → R.
HypothesisBA → RHWBA → Rt-value
Coeff.SDCoeff.SD
Hong Kong (n = 193)0.2490.0720.2850.078−4.711 ***
Note: *** p < 0.001.
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Ho, K.K.W.; Chen, Y.; Sayama, K.L.C.; Chiu, D.K.W. A Tale of Two Cities: How Can We Use Social Media to Engage Young People with an Environmentally Friendly Lifestyle in Hong Kong and Guam? Sustainability 2024, 16, 7182. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167182

AMA Style

Ho KKW, Chen Y, Sayama KLC, Chiu DKW. A Tale of Two Cities: How Can We Use Social Media to Engage Young People with an Environmentally Friendly Lifestyle in Hong Kong and Guam? Sustainability. 2024; 16(16):7182. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167182

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ho, Kevin K. W., Yaoqin Chen, Kristina L. C. Sayama, and Dickson K. W. Chiu. 2024. "A Tale of Two Cities: How Can We Use Social Media to Engage Young People with an Environmentally Friendly Lifestyle in Hong Kong and Guam?" Sustainability 16, no. 16: 7182. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167182

APA Style

Ho, K. K. W., Chen, Y., Sayama, K. L. C., & Chiu, D. K. W. (2024). A Tale of Two Cities: How Can We Use Social Media to Engage Young People with an Environmentally Friendly Lifestyle in Hong Kong and Guam? Sustainability, 16(16), 7182. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167182

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