Author(s)

Michael Myung Jeong¹, Younghan Jung², Dan Daehyun Koo³

¹Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Management, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA.
²Department of Engineering Technology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA.
³Department of Engineering Technology, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Understanding college students’ perception of sustainability is paramount as today’s students will soon be driving our economy and taking on the responsibility of maintaining a sustainable society. This study conducted a survey of college students attending two regional universities in the United States to capture their current experience levels, expectations, and perceptions with regard to various aspects of sustainability utilizing a questionnaire consisting of structured questions about sustainability knowledge/familiarity levels, green product purchase behavior, attitude-behavior relationship, and sustainability education. The results reveal useful insights into the students’ views on these topics and the demographic data collected were further analyzed to identify any differences due to educational background, academic standing, and gender. The study’s findings support the growing importance of encouraging sustainable behavior among college students and provide a benchmark against which to measure the effectiveness of future efforts to improve sustainability education and foster sustainable behaviors.

Greener Product, Sustainability, Purchase Behavior, Involuntary Use, Sustainable Education

Jeong, M., Jung, Y. and Koo, D. (2015) College Students’ Perceptions of Sustainability: A Regional Survey. Journal of Building Construction and Planning Research, 3, 209-220. doi: 10.4236/jbcpr.2015.34021.