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Incorporating green building into architectural education: what can we learn from the value-belief-norm theory?

Xiaohuan Xie (School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China)
Shiyu Qin (School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China)
Zhonghua Gou (School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia)
Ming Yi (Shenzhen General Institute of Architectural Design and Research Co.Ltd, Shenzhen, China)

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

ISSN: 1467-6370

Article publication date: 3 February 2021

Issue publication date: 22 February 2021

524

Abstract

Purpose

Aiming to find out how to incorporate green building into the architectural curriculum, this study aims to explore the psychological path for cultivating architectural students’ awareness and motivation to learn the green design concepts and related technologies.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a global review of relevant architectural courses in universities, a set of green building learning behaviors was proposed and a survey was conducted in architectural schools in South China to verify the “value-belief-norm” theory through the lens of green building learning behaviors. The psychological path that affects students’ green building learning behaviors was analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results showed that biospheric and altruistic values could directly affect students’ motivation to learn green building, while personal norms served as the mediating condition for personal values and beliefs, and ultimately improved motivation.

Practical implications

The study suggests that the cultivation of environmental awareness and a sense of the ecological crisis should be developed through foundation courses, by establishing an ecological architecture curriculum, to more effectively guide students to learn and practice green building.

Originality/value

This study, for the first time, applied the “value-belief-norm” theory, which was developed to explain the psychological path for pro-environmental behaviors, to green building learning behaviors of architectural students.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Committee of Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation [grant numbers 2020A1515010606]; the Shenzhen Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau [grant numbers 000445]; and The University of Shenzhen, China [grant numbers 000002110334].

Citation

Xie, X., Qin, S., Gou, Z. and Yi, M. (2021), "Incorporating green building into architectural education: what can we learn from the value-belief-norm theory?", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 457-476. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2020-0200

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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