How environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the Australian cattle industry
Livestock grazing covers half of Australia and vast areas of global terrestrial ecosystems. The sustainability of the beef cattle industries are being scrutinised amid ongoing environmental concerns. In response, industry discourse has identified public trust as critical to avoiding reactive environ...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe1f7 |
| _version_ | 1797747758611824640 |
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| author | G B Witt G Althor R M Colvin K J Witt N Gillespie R McCrea J Lacey T Faulkner |
| author_facet | G B Witt G Althor R M Colvin K J Witt N Gillespie R McCrea J Lacey T Faulkner |
| author_sort | G B Witt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Livestock grazing covers half of Australia and vast areas of global terrestrial ecosystems. The sustainability of the beef cattle industries are being scrutinised amid ongoing environmental concerns. In response, industry discourse has identified public trust as critical to avoiding reactive environmental regulation. However, public perceptions of the cattle industry’s sustainability performance and trust are largely unknown and speculative. We present the first model of public attitudes toward the Australian cattle industry ( n = 2913). Our results reveal that societal perceptions of the industry’s environmental performance strongly predict trust in the industry. However, trust only weakly predicts a perceived right for societal oversight and has only an indirect relationship on need for environmental regulation. Environmental values influence perceptions of industry performance and the perceived right for societal oversight. We conclude that effective industry governance must be values literate and recognise that strong environmental performance is critical for public trust. Public trust is high but does not translate to support for a relaxed regulatory environment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:56:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e58c11dc64df4c578654cadccee1a056 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:56:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-e58c11dc64df4c578654cadccee1a0562023-08-09T14:56:21ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-0116303400610.1088/1748-9326/abe1f7How environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the Australian cattle industryG B Witt0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5282-8227G Althor1R M Colvin2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2011-5433K J Witt3N Gillespie4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6101-2123R McCrea5J Lacey6T Faulkner7School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Faculty of Science, The University of Queensland , St Lucia, QLD 4072, AustraliaFenner School of Environment and Society, College of Science, Australian National University , Acton, ACT 2601, AustraliaCrawford School of Public Policy, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University , Acton, ACT 2601, AustraliaCentre for Natural Gas, The University of Queensland , St Lucia, QLD 4072, AustraliaSchool of Business, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, The University of Queensland , St Lucia, QLD 4072, AustraliaCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) , Dutton Park, QLD 4102, AustraliaCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) , Dutton Park, QLD 4102, AustraliaSchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Faculty of Science, The University of Queensland , St Lucia, QLD 4072, AustraliaLivestock grazing covers half of Australia and vast areas of global terrestrial ecosystems. The sustainability of the beef cattle industries are being scrutinised amid ongoing environmental concerns. In response, industry discourse has identified public trust as critical to avoiding reactive environmental regulation. However, public perceptions of the cattle industry’s sustainability performance and trust are largely unknown and speculative. We present the first model of public attitudes toward the Australian cattle industry ( n = 2913). Our results reveal that societal perceptions of the industry’s environmental performance strongly predict trust in the industry. However, trust only weakly predicts a perceived right for societal oversight and has only an indirect relationship on need for environmental regulation. Environmental values influence perceptions of industry performance and the perceived right for societal oversight. We conclude that effective industry governance must be values literate and recognise that strong environmental performance is critical for public trust. Public trust is high but does not translate to support for a relaxed regulatory environment.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe1f7sustainabilityagriculturebeeftrustpublic perceptionsnational survey |
| spellingShingle | G B Witt G Althor R M Colvin K J Witt N Gillespie R McCrea J Lacey T Faulkner How environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the Australian cattle industry Environmental Research Letters sustainability agriculture beef trust public perceptions national survey |
| title | How environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the Australian cattle industry |
| title_full | How environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the Australian cattle industry |
| title_fullStr | How environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the Australian cattle industry |
| title_full_unstemmed | How environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the Australian cattle industry |
| title_short | How environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the Australian cattle industry |
| title_sort | how environmental values influence trust and beliefs about societal oversight and need for regulation of the australian cattle industry |
| topic | sustainability agriculture beef trust public perceptions national survey |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe1f7 |
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