Social Determinants of Responsible Environmental Behavior (Case of study: Citizens of Shush) with an Emphasis on KAP Model

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the social determinants of responsible environmental behavior of citizens with emphasis on independent variables of environmental knowledge, environmental attitudes and spatial attachment. The research method was survey and the statistical sample included 382 citizens aged 15 to 65 years in the city of Shush who were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. The research data collection tool was a questionnaire. The descriptive findings of the study showed that the average level of responsible environmental behaviors of the citizens of Shush was moderate (59.88). The results of path analysis showed that the variables of sense of spatial belonging (0.194), environmental awareness (0.456), environmental attitude (0.225) have a direct impact on responsible environmental behavior. According to the research findings, the variable of sense of place belonging through environmental attitude had 0.176% indirect effect on the research problem. Overall, the variables included in the model could explain 0.35% of the changes in responsible environmental behavior. Comparison of beta coefficients showed that the effect of total environmental awareness (0.476) was greater than the other variables included in the model on the research problem.