An article by Carrol Haggard, associate professor of communication studies, and two collaborating faculty members was the lead article in a recent issue of the Journal of International Business Research.
“Impact of Gender and Political Ideology on Chinese and U.S. College Student’s Responses to Climate Change Advocacy Advertisements” was written by Haggard; Qingjiang (Q. J.) Yao, a former Fort Hays State University faculty member who now teaches at Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas; and Luyan Cai, Guangdong Teachers’ College of Foreign Language and Arts, Guangzhou, China.
The article compares Chinese and U.S. students in their responses to and perceptions of advertisements which advocate action in regard to the climate change issue. The article examines the effect that gender and political ideology have on the positions the students selected to support.
The results indicate that U.S. liberals are more likely to agree that climate change is happening and indicate a personal intention to do something about it than are conservatives. This study, in
contrast to previous research, did not find a sex difference in environmental attitudes in the United States. In China, results indicated that males were more likely to agree that climate is
changing and express a personal intention to do something about it. Ideological differences along liberal-conservative lines were not evident in the Chinese sample.
The sample was 162 Chinese students and 156 U.S. students.