Intentions of Environmentally Friendly Behavior Among Sports Club Members: An Empirical Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior Across Genders and Sports

Environmentally friendly behavior has become increasingly important in recent years to reduce the speed of climate change and its negative impacts. Individual behavior, including environmentally friendly behavior, is largely formed by behavioral intentions. This study draws on the theory of planned behavior to examine the effects of attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on intentions of environmentally friendly behavior. It also investigates differences between genders and among sports. The study is based on data from a nationwide online survey of community sports club members in Germany in five team/racket sports (n = 3,036). Existing measures to operationalize the constructs were adapted to the present research context. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that the theoretical assumptions of the theory of planned behavior were largely supported by the data, implying that the antecedents of environmentally friendly behavioral intentions can be applied to club members. Furthermore, gender- and sports-specific differences in the antecedents–intention relationship were detected. This study is among the first to examine environmentally friendly behavioral intentions in community sports clubs. It adds to an increasing body of research investigating environmental sustainability in sports.