Disclosing situational constraints to ecological behavior : a confirmatory application of the mixed Rasch model

The present paper explores whether differential endorsement probabilities are related to the behavioral consequences of certain environments, rather than being solely indicative of method bias. One's living environment is among the more salient contextual factors affecting ecological performance. By applying the mixed Rasch model confirmatorily, we aimed at disclosing valid situational influences that can be held responsible for facilitating and constraining people's ecological behaviors in three particular residential environments. A cross-sectional survey of 895 Swiss residents living in various residential contexts revealed that living in urban and rural environments resulted in three distinguishable arrays of behavioral consequences, each the result of situational factors, such as an environment's particular performance opportunities, the predominant features of its public transportation systems and its respective social climate. Remarkably, an environment's being suburban has no apparent uniform significance for people's ecological behavior